Summer Barbecue

Is it a burger bun without sesames?

I never really thought to make my own buns, until my my good friend and maker-extraordinaire Trevor posted some of his very own brioche buns. I figured, if I'm hosting a barbecue, then making my own buns means that I control the stack!

Burger-style, I baked them close so they baked up touching. There's something satisfying about the tactility of ripping them apart. The recipe I followed recommended eight servings per batch; I would recommend getting a few more and making them smaller. They're pretty, but it's a lot of bread competing with delicious burgers.

Mmm... Bacon

Bacon is a delicious addition to almost any burger. It would even kick up the veggie burgers that I made, with tofu, black beans, and quinoa. Whether this defeats the purpose depends on the eater I suppose...

Grilled corn salad

I didn't know what I would be serving at the barbecue, so I flipped though Bon Appétit's 67 Summer Recipes Everyone Should Know How to Cook. This one recipe for gilled corn salad with hot honey-lime dressing caught my attention as it solves the problem of, "how do you serve delicious corn on the cob without the mess of mostly-eaten cobs everywhere?"

But do you think I could find a Serrano pepper to save my life? The finger chilli I used in its place I think was a harsher spice, but the creaminess avocado and the lime juice helped balance it down. It was a hit!

Watermelon in a salad? How ridiculous-ly awesome!

This salad stands in cool contrast to the bright and spicy corn. Watermelon and arugula kinda go well together! This is a salad I learned to make last year when we were used Hello Fresh food boxes for a few weeks. The best part is that you get these high quality recipe cards for reuse. Feta was to the side because I'm not a fan, personally.

The complete stack

Having different dietary considerations with which to contend, I made a slew of beef patties, a bunch of turkey burgers, and a swath or veggie burgers – all from scratch, something I've never done before!  I tasted as I went, frying up burgers to make sure they tasted good (spoilers: they did). It was my first time working with tofu, and boy was it a challenge to wring out all that water.

Each of the burgers held up on the grill! Thankfully the effort, which was a great learning experience, paid off as everyone seemed to really enjoy the end results.

Can you call it a barbecue without lemonade?

And a little homemade Lemonade for good measure!

• Bring 1 c water,
• 1 scant cup sugar, and
• 1 cup lemon juice to a boil

Once fully combined, pour over ice and fill with cold water until desired dilution is reached.