Tailgating Recipe: Brandon’s Burgers – The Italian Stallion

Pizza SauceImage by Curt via Flickr

What is it? A sausage based cheeseburger with provolone and pizza sauce, on a garlic buttered bun.

Ingredients:

1lb Your favorite Italian Sausage (I stay away from “sweet” sausage but if you like it, then go for it)
4 Slices Provolone Cheese
4 tsp pizza sauce
1/4 Cup Softened Butter
6 cloves finely minced cloves of garlic
4 Hamburger Buns

Preparation

Pre-Game Prep:
Divide and form sausage into four, 1/4lb patties.  (I buy uncased meat but if you have links you can always cut the casings and squeeze the meat out.)  The objective is to make them about a quarter inch thick.  Before moving on make sure you thoroughly clean your hands and work space. Remember that you are dealing with raw pork. Make your garlic butter by simply mixing the butter and garlic and that’s it.  Put meat, butter, and cheese in fridge or cooler.  If you are using sauce that is already opened, make sure you put that in there too.

At the Tailgate Party:
Remove butter, cheese, pizza sauce (if refrigerated) and meat from the cooler and let sit for about 30 minutes. This will help take some of the chill out of those ingredients and reduce cooking time. Start your grill and get it crazy hot. When the grill is ready, reduce the heat to medium and grill sausage patties until well done. The time will vary based on the grill but it should take approximately  4-6 minutes per side. While those are grilling spread the garlic butter on the buns and set off to the side.  When burgers are cooked reduce heat to a low-medium and put a slice of cheese on each burger and place buns on grill buttered side down and cover grill. It should take about 1-2 minutes for the cheese to melt and to make nice grill marks form on buns. To assemble put a patty on a bun and top with a teaspoon of pizza sauce.

Enjoy!