The Ultimate Super Bowl Porter BBQ Sliders

Super Bowl Sunday is coming up quick, and now that we’ve got the buns handled, I feel I can move on to this post, which is the meat of our situation.  You want to bring the best sliders to your Super Bowl party, and these are IT, baby! The thing about sliders is that you can’t mess with them too much. My idea of a slider is finger food that is not only delicious, but you won’t necessarily need a million napkins for. It simply cannot hold all the toppings like lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion, cheese and whatever else you normally like on your burg. It’s my philosophy that a slider should be carefully crafted with minimal toppings to maximize ease-of-eating pleasure. Bun. Sauce. Cheese. Maybe ONE veg. This leads me to the point that every component must blow-your-mind.

Enter the Porter BBQ Slider. Even though you have minimal toppings, every single thing counts bun, beef, cheese, sauce, and optional veg. Which brings me to the first point of business:

Put forth the extra effort, and make your own buns.

Yes, I said it. It’s not as scary as it sounds, I PROMISE. You’ll thank me later, trust me. To test this recipe, I first got store-bought dinner rolls, and it was god-awful! My husband said it best when he said they were gluey. I don’t know if that’s a word, but he was right, the rolls were like glue, and there was no way in hell that shit was going to fly. Here are the Arrogant Bastard Ale Slider Buns that I made for these sliders. I ain’t gonna hate on ya if you get store-bought buns, but please don’t just do the grab-and-toss into your grocery basket. Try to find the best ones you can. It will make the slider experience that much better.

Get Some Good Beef

For all burgers, I try to go for grass-fed organic ground beef. It tastes better, and I know I’m getting the most natural beef out there. We don’t need any extra chemicals up in here! Here’s where the scale comes in handy – the ideal patty size is 2 ounces weight. If you’re going to do two pounds of meat, you’re going to end up with 16 patties. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, don’t fret dear one! My advice is to start with the two pounds of ground beef, and divide as equally as you can until you’re left with 16 balls of glory. Form them into about 1/4 inch thick patties, and press your finger in the center making a dimple. This will help keep your patties flat and glorious. Place them on a cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until ready to cook up.

Distinct, Flavorful Sauce is Key

The BBQ is real simple – saute the onions and garlic in oil until translucent, then add the beer and reduce by half. Add in the rest of the ingredients and heat through. Then, careful not to burn yourself, place in a blender, and blend until the sauce is smooth.

Toppings

Our veg this time is whiskey caramelized onions. Say whaaat! This is a full booze-worthy burger! And there HAS to be cheese. I really love Kerrygold’s reserve cheddar. It’s sharp, and will let you know it’s there. I can’t stand it when I can’t taste cheese on a burger – it feels like a waste! I like to just melt it. If it’s too melted, the beautiful flavors of the cheese wane.

Proper Cooking of the Beef Patties

When it comes to cooking these little baby burgers, you want to keep them in the fridge until you’re ready to grill them up. I used a cast iron skillet to grill these up – there’s more surface area to char! Using an outdoor grill would work fabulous too! Just get it as hot as you can. Make sure your cheese is sliced and ready to go before the meat hits the heat, because this is going to happen super fast! As a matter of fact, make sure EVERYTHING is ready to go – i.e. buns sliced and sauced, condiments ready for assembly, and cheese sliced.

There’s one last thing to do before we place these puppies on the grill. Salt and pepper the meat! Don’t be shy, but don’t be too over aggressive. If one thing will ruin a slider it will be the lack of seasoning. Trust me, you don’t want a bland burger. Place seasoned side down on the grill and then immediately season the other side. Cook two minutes on the first side, then flip, and put your cheese on. Cook two more minutes, and you’ll be left with a perfect medium burger patty! It really helps to have a timer, so you don’t get too wrapped up in a play. The second thing that will ruin a burger is it being over done. No dry burgers. Say it with me now, “NO DRY BURGERS!”

The only thing left is assembly. Bun, slider w/ cheese, whiskey caramelized onions. Stick a spear in that puppy so it stays together. DONE!

Now, go forth and kick some slider ass, sweets!