I took 3/4 lb lean hamburg and mixed in 1/2 lb Jimmy Dean sausage, added some chili powder and garlic salt and formed patties. Then cooked them on my George Foreman grill.
When they were done I threw on a sliced yellow pepper to cook while I microwaved some baked beans.
With all that done, I assembled the burgers: sausage-burger patty, white american cheese, grilled onion, lettuce and ketchup on a lightly toasted bun.
Man, were they good! Like really, really good! No, really!
It may help that I hadn’t eaten since 9:00 this morning, but still, the flavor was incredible.
That’s a good idea…I’ve never thought about adding sausage to ground beef for burgers. Sounds yummy. Did you suffer more flareups (shit, just realized it was a closed Foreman grill) than usual? I wonder if the extra fat content would cause issues on a standard grill.
In Green Bay, WI, where I grew up, a lot of restaurants serve “brat burgers” – a hamburger in which the patty is made from bratwurst meat. I’ve not seen it offered anywhere else (though I imagine it’s likely available elsewhere in Wisconsin, where bratwurst have always been popular). I love how they taste, though they’re pretty greasy.
We sell something like that at my store (in WI). Our ‘homemade’ sausage comes in both brat and patty. The patties are great for people that A)don’t want something as big as a brat and B)for various reasons don’t like the casing.
My standard burger is 2/3s lean ground beef and 1/3 Jimmy Dean Hot with a cup and a half of blue cheese. I like the sausage to supply the fat better then the beef I think the flavor is richer.
There’s a local place (Schultzy’s on the Ave in Seattle) that makes their own sausage and has been selling sausage burgers for years (they also serve links). My standard order is a Cajun-style patty with fried onions and cheddar.
Another newer place (Lunchbox Laboratory) has a really nice mild sausage burger made from pork and duck. The guy calls it the “dork” burger.
I used to buy President’s Choice brand sausage burger patties at the supermarket. They were a bit greasy, but I liked them. I don’t know if they even make them any more.
A local restaurant here (incidently my favorite first date restaurant) called Ceiba used to have a chorizo burger on its lunch menu. 2/3 beef, 1/3 chorizo, 100% spectacular.
As mentioned I love that place, and would often use it for interview lunches. My favoritism for it waned a little however when (stud that I am) I had three first dates in about an 8 day period. I got the same waitress each time, and on the third time she actually commented on it in front of my date. I was an unhappy man about this. Not that this has anything to do with sausage burgers or drooling.
Another tip: if you’re someone who prefers burgers at their bloodier stages of doneness (I like my thick burgers medium rare, but the thin patties I don’t care), you can still take advantage of some of these ideas by cooking the sausage meat separately and using it to top the burger.