Burgers

Categories: Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Hot off the Grill, SausageTags: Carny food, Exhibition Food, Fair FoodFew things I appreciate more than some family out slinging ‘hash’ at small town festivals, county fairs, and the like.  Today’s occasion was a ginormous flea market in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, held several times over the course of the summer. (dates).  Reminded me of one Mrs. Burgerdogboy and I stopped at in Central Washington a couple [...](Read more...)

Categories: Hot Dogs, Hot off the Grill, SausageTags: Frankfurters, Hot Dogs, Oscar MeyerWhoa, that’s a long name.  Saw these the other day for the first time, when I was in the hunt for my usual brands, premium casing dogs like Usingers or Vienna Beef. These were $3.99, for a 14 oz, 8 frank package;  they are bun length, and a bit redder in color than most grocery [...](Read more...)

Categories: Hot off the Grill, Miscellany, Pizza, SausageTags: @_SammysPizza, Duluth Pizza, Minnesota PizzaNot much more I can say about Sammy’s, the small regional chain in the Upper Midwest, I’ve written about them a couple times.   Here’s the point:  I’ve had pizza all over the world, from Naples, Florida, to Naples, Italy;  from Boise to Beijing.  And Sammy’s is still my favorite, and worth a couple day drive [...](Read more...)

Categories: Hamburgers, Hot off the Grill, MiscellanyTags: Frozen Burgers, Heat & Eat, Heat and EatI’ve  reviewed a lot of these frozen patties, and to date, I’ve liked Ball Park brand the most, even though they are a ‘heat and eat’ product, not a raw patty. Extra Value is an economy brand, manufactured by the Holten Meat Company, outside of St. Louis. I bought a package of a dozen quarter [...](Read more...)

Categories: Ham & Bacon, Hot off the Grill, Miscellany, OtherTags: Fresh Market, Grocery StoresNice to pop into one of these recently in suburban Chicago.  I had no idea the company had sprouted so many locations in the past few years. I first became acquainted with the chain in New Orleans, Mrs. Burgerdogboy and I were having kind of a funky / downlow Thanksgiving, and we wondered into the [...](Read more...)

Categories: Ham & Bacon, Hot off the Grill, PizzaWe used to call it “soup town” tho I have no knowledge as to why.  My best memories of Superior is that it was a bridge away from my home town, and for a period, had a legal drinking age of 18.  We used to frequent one particular bar, and a glass of beer was [...](Read more...)

Categories: Hot off the Grill, Other, SausageTags: Beef jerky, Beef Snack Sticks, slim jimsWe used to drive down US 53 out of Superior Wisconsin, for winter family ski trips to Telemark, or some jaunts to various Wisconsin lakes.   At the time, Minong, about 30 miles south, was a one horse town with a car dealer, grocery, and gas station, and a small butcher shop and cattle pen called [...](Read more...)

Categories: Hamburgers, Hot off the Grill, SandwichesTags: US Highway 53, Wisconsin Cheeseburger, Wisconsin HamburgerWinding our way through the backwoods of Wisconsin, back and around my old stomping ground of LaCrosse, where I had my first job after college.  Cruising up US 53 north out of LaCrosse, and feeling a might puckish as the noon hour was approaching.   We had passed through Sparta, WI, earlier, home of F.A.S.T. Enterprises, [...](Read more...)

The lineup at Urban Stack Burger Lounge, Chattanooga, Tenn. That American Craft Beer Week (May 13-19) falls within National Burger Month is only fitting: the synergy between craft beers and craft burgers has helped both these businesses grow rapidly in the past decade. In his BurgerBusiness.com interview earlier this week, Slater’s 50/50 Co-founder Scott Slater said, “I attribute much of my success to craft beers. Four years ago, craft beer was just starting, as were better burgers.” The two have grown up together. The Brewers Association estimates that craft beer sales totaled $10.2 billion in 2012, up from $8.7 billion in 2011. Researcher Mintel puts 2012 sales at $12 billion, double the $5.7 billion it estimates in 2007. And Mintel forecasts continued growth, expecting craft-beer sales to total $18 billion 2017. The fastest growing segment? Hard cider, which Technomic says grew by 31.3% in 2011. Milwaukee Burger Company Even if craft beers’ contribution to restaurants and taverns is just the 54% of beer sales that the Beer Institute says go to on-premise accounts, that’s $5.7 billion in 2012 coming from craft beers at a time when restaurant customer traffic is flat. The overall U.S. beer market grew by 1% in 2012, the Beer Institute estimates. The beer industry relied on craft beers for growth the same way the restaurant industry needed breakfast gains to offset flat sales later in the day. Bareburger, New York City The largest craft breweries? The Brewers Association top 50 list begins with Boston Beer Co., Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., New Belgium Brewing Co, The Gambrinus Co. (Shiner and Bridgeport) and Deschutes Brewery. Tellingly, these five are in five different states. California leads with 268 craft breweries; Washington is next with 136. In total 2,347 craft breweries operated for at least part of 2012, comprised of 1,132 brewpubs, 1,118 microbreweries and 97 regional craft breweries. Who’s drinking craft beers? Your youngest legal-age drinkers. Mintel says craft beers find favor with 49% of Millennials, 40% of GenX, 29% of baby boomers and 22% of the WWII generation. Millennials are also more likely to prefer a domestic craft beer over an import that are GenXers 10 years their senior. Taste shift quickly. Have a chalkboard or table tents? Mintel says 45% of craft-beer drinkers say they would try more craft beers if they knew more about them. Still haven’t crafted a craft-beer menu? It’s never too late and Technomic’s Christine LaFave Grace offers six good pointers on the researcher’s site.

The Hungarian version, with grilled pork. McDonald’s new Premium McWrap is more than a new menu item, it is, in restaurant parlance, a new “platform,” meaning different varieties can be added. Part of its appeal is that almost anything can be rolled in a flour tortilla and added as a McWrap LTO without requiring major crew retraining. The first three varieties are Chicken Ranch, Sweet Chili Chicken and Chicken Ranch. What will it try next? In Canada, where the product is branded Signature McWrap, the initial line includes a Fiesta Chicken wrap with grilled or crispy chicken, shredded cheese, lettuce, tri-color tortilla strips, tomato salsa and mayo. In Belgium, Tzatziki McWrap is chicken. But if McDonald’s really wants to keep to its stated intention of importing global flavors, it could try the Tzatziki McWrap. Interestingly, McDonald’s this month has begun offering three different versions of the product, all featuring the Greek-style yogurt sauce. In Hungary the Tzatziki McWrap has grilled pork, “Mediterranean cheese,” red onion and bell pepper with tzatziki. In Sweden the Tzatziki McWrap is seasoned ground beef, lettuce, fresh cucumber, red onion rings, cheese and tzatziki. Want it in chicken? The version now offered at McDonald’s in Belgium wraps crispy chicken, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, fried onion and tzatziki in the tortilla. Any of these could work. There’s no indication McDonald’s has plans to bring the Tzatziki McWrap to the U.S., but there’s also no reason it couldn’t or shouldn’t. McDonald’s likes Mediterranean flavors. In July it offered a Mediterranean Chicken Snack Wrap with feta cheese in Canada. It also has tried Thai Shrimp and Chili Beef McWraps in Austria and an Omelette Wrap in Germany. After all, what good is a platform if you can’t try new things?