Gary Whitehouse leads off with his Fourth of July choices:
Whenever I put a sausage on the grill, it’s from the Pepper Tree Sausage House right nearby in Albany, Oregon. They make all their own sausages, and the pork varieties are from locally-sourced pork. Probably my favorites for grilling are the Southwestern Chicken, full of garlic and spices but fairly mild; and the Anduille Cajun, which is pretty spicy. (In addition to selling sausage in bulk, they also serve breakfast and lunch, and you can check up on all the action in-house with Sausage Cam.) I like to have ‘em hot off the grill (charcoal, please) on a multi-grain bun with some sweet onions off the same grill, some sweet relish and plenty of Sriracha hot sauce.
To wash it all down? There are literally dozens of great Oregon microbrews to choose from. One of my current favorites is Smoky Bobtober, a nicely smokey Oktoberfest-style lager from Pelican Brewery in McMinnville over on the coast in Pacific City.
Denise Dutton doesn’t like ketchup on her sausage. Really.Truly.
My favorite sausage? Apple Chardonnay Chicken Sausages by Bilinsk. I pick up several packs every time I hit Trader Joe’s (sadly, I can’t seem to find them here in Baltimore.) If I can’t grill it, I’ll split it in half lengthwise (still leaving them attached on one side) and sear ‘em on the old cast iron skillet. Throw in some onions to sautee along with, then pop the mess onto a whole wheat bun with some sweet peppers and mustard. Not ketchup. That’s a sausage sin right there, at least it is with the flavors of this sausage. Pop open an Old Chubb Scottish ale and I’m fine for awhile. Which, loosely translated, means that the combination of sausage and 8 AVB brew will have me in a happy haze for an hour or two.
Robert Tilendis naturally does it Windy City style:
I haven’t done it for a while, but I’ve been known to go all Chicago-style:
Good hot dogs, kosher from your favorite deli is best, and be sure to grill the buns for a bit, too. Then the fun starts:
Mustard, the spicier the better (natch — I put mustard on just about anything, or at least I’m willing to try), ketchup, relish, onions (good strong ones), diced tomato, pickle, sweet peppers, hot peppers, and if you can find room, sauerkraut.
If I’m going to do hamburgers, I like to keep it plain but fancy — good lean beef mixed with garlic, basted with a nice sauce diable on the grill, with more of the sauce for eating.
And for a side dish, you’ve got to have some nice potato salad.
Nothing fancy to drink. Lemonade (homemade) will do fine.
Richard Dansky says:
I go classic.
Hebrew National or Nathan’s hot dogs over charcoal on my tiny tailgate-sized grill.
Sometimes, it doesn’t pay to mess with perfection.
Vonnie Carts-Powell is hosting a lot of people today so she notes:
I don’t eat them myself, but we’re preparing to host about 50 of our closest friends in the Boston area, so for them we have Fenway Beef Franks, relish, and a variety of mustards: hot, dijon, bright-yellow, and honey. (Also catsup for those inclined that way.) They’ll be served on the cheapest plain white bread buns we could find. The smooshability of the bread is, I’ve been informed, an important part of the experience.
We’ll be drinking home-made lemonade garnished with mint and lemonbalm from the garden. Also, cheap lager. Not that I usually like lager, but there’s nothing quite like it for hot days that I spend mostly on my feet outdoors.
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