$200 hamburger deliciousness

last weekend we purchased a charcoal grill and we love it! i'm not sure how much we'll use our gas grill this summer after tasting the deliciousness that comes off this grill!  matt and i were inspired after watching primal grilling and bbq university on pbs late one saturday night. we learned a lot of grilling tips and some neat recipe ideas. steven raichlen is teh host and he's fun to watch. crazy hair, down to earth guy who has every kind of grill imaginable. his whole yard has grills everywhere and they're all going at once. you should watch him if you're interested in new grilling techniques. unfortunately, lately he has only been on at 2:00 in the morning so we've not been able to watch. tonight, however, i found him on at 8. good stuff! and, usually, he doesn't make the annoying "mmmm" sound after tasting his food. tonight he did, but it was mild. enough about primal grilling and on to us, specifically matt.

matt loves fire...in the winter he could just sit and watch our fire place for hours. grilling is just as much fun for him, poking, monitoring flames and smoke, basking in the aroma of the cooking meat and or smoking hickory chips. here he is lifting the lid to flip what we called our $200 burgers. after all was said and done: grill, charcoal, hickory chips, chimney starter, and food, it was a $200 meal. but soooo worth it. yummo!

                                                                                



we seasoned the burgers with gates original rub. first mixing it in the hamburger and then rubbing it on top to make sure there was enough flavor. gates seasoning is good stuff. we did use the gas grill that night too and grilled some onions brushed in olive oil mixed with garlic powder. i never thought i would enjoy just eating onions. i like them mixed in things but alone, not so much. grilled onions, caramelized were so delicious and made the hamburger that much better!

                                                                            as matt was cooking he kept commenting that they were going to be good and juicy. that they were. it helped that we didn't buy good hamburger...85% lean so there was a fair amount of fat floating around in there. hamburger is so expensive.... i was glad matt went into the store with me so he could see just how much groceries cost and why our weekly bill is so high, so often.

we paired our juicy burger with bush's baked beans and steak fries. i gave it 9/10 stars, it was that good. i wanted a second burger even though i was stuffed....i resisted and had another for dinner the following evening. unfortuntaly, it didn't live up to it's expectaions reheated so next time i may just have to indulge in two!  i should add that after the burgers were finished we still had hot coals and cooked some bone-in chicken breasts, also seasoned with gates original rub, for lunch the next day. oh my goodness, they were good too! the chicken tasted like it had been in a smoker. so moist, and delicious. and, unlike the burger, did not loose any flavor when reheated.