Product Review: Kirk's new Albukirky Anchonero Hot Rub and Sauce

Kirk Muncrief is a longtime fellow Egghead and BBQ food blogger friend of ours.  He also makes and sells a few rubs and sauces.

His Albukirky's Green Chile Rub has long been a favorite of ours.  It has a bold but simple flavor profile of black pepper, green chile, garlic and salt that is fantastic and outside of the usual rub flavor profiles. This Summer Kirk has introduced his latest concoction - Albukirky's Anchonero Hot Rub and Hot BBQ Sauce.  

It wakes up food with the fire of habanero and the smoke of ancho chiles.

When I was writing up my notes, one sentence said it all - It wakes up food with the fire of habanero and the smoke of ancho chiles. Those two chiles are the namesake and foundation of both the rub and sauce.  Ancho chiles are dried/smoked poblano chiles which are pretty mild and as a dried ground chile add a sultry smokiness to foods but not too much heat.  Habanero chiles are a small orange chile that packs a lot of heat with a slight citrus-like flavor.  

I used the rub and sauce on some bone in pork chops and grilled them on my Grill Dome kamado grill.

These weren't thick pork chops so I just grilled them direct at 400°f about 5-6 minutes per side.  The grates pictured are from Craycort.  Those inserts come out and you can put in griddles, chicken thrones, or a vegetable wok.

I grilled some corn as a side but went with a sweet rub on that.

Wow!  This rub announces itself with authority.

This past weekend we made a couple of Tex-Mex style smoked pork butts.  I seasoned one butt with just the Green Chile Rub, which is always a favorite of ours.  I seasoned the other pork butt with a moderate layer each of the Green Chile and Anchonero rubs.

I had thoughts that I might have used too much of the Anchonero rub but pork butts have a lot of meat volume to surface area ratio so you can go heavier with seasonings compared to say - a pork chop.

I smoked both butts on a Grilla pellet cooker.  I was going to use one of my kamados but I had an unrelenting migraine and needed this cook to be as easy as possible.

The butts developed a nice color.

We got quite a smoke ring from the pellet cooker.  Pulled the meat and since we were using it for tacos at work, shredded it.

For work, we served them food truck style with the Tex-Mex pork, cilantro-lime slaw, pico de gallo, and topped it off with the Anchonero sauce.

This is not your same old Southern BBQ sauce.  It had Kirk's golden Albukirky touch and a Southwestern flare.

Before I give my thoughts on these, I should explain my heat preference.  I like foods that the general public would consider spicy but chileheads would find laughable.  So I like things such as Cholula hot sauce or ground chipotle powder.  

Anchonero Hot BBQ Rub ($6 per 6 oz shaker)
For the Anchonero Hot BBQ Rub, it is on the upper range of my heat tolerance.  It has sugar, paprika, and garlic but the predominant flavors are heat and a smoky-earthiness.  The texture of the rub is fine and it brings a nice bright red color to foods.  Depending on your heat preferences, I'd say go lightly with it on small cuts like chicken and chops.  It absolutely rocks on big cuts like the pork butt.  Everyone at work gave me very favorable feedback about it.  This is definitely a great "something different" for pork butts.  Anchonero pork butts are perfect for tacos, nachos, and heuvos rancheros.  

Anchonero Hot BBQ Sauce ($6 per 16 oz bottle)
For the Anchonero Hot BBQ Sauce, I'd say Kirk nailed the name - it is part hot sauce, part BBQ sauce.  For me, it starts off warm, picks up heat and finishes with a kick in the back of the throat.  It has turbinado sugar in there but you won't get a lot of sweet in the flavor profile, it pretty much gets straight to "the flame dance".  

Funny story.  When I first did the pork chops, I put the rub on pretty heavy and I could barely eat mine - it was "flames shooting out of the nose" hot.  My adult son ate them as leftovers and said that they were some of the best I've ever made and that the sauce was amazing. So your heat preference will go a long way in whether you will like this new line or not. After trying it on several things, I give it two thumbs up but it is what it says it is - a HOT sauce and a HOT bbq rub. 

Breaking Bad was set in Albuquerque and one of my favorite quotes from that series sums up how much Albukirky Anchonero Hot BBQ Rub you should try at first on chicken, pork chops, or ribs - 

"If that’s true, if you don’t know who I am, then maybe your best course… would be to tread lightly."

This stuff is great, but it does have a kick to it on smaller cuts of meat so tread lightly.  That said, it's also now going to be my first "go to" recipe for Tex-Mex style pork butts.  Everyone at the office loved it.  Thanks, Kirk!

[FTC Standard Disclaimer]  We know Kirk and he gives us free or discounted product from time to time but we also buy product from him at full price.  Albukirky's is a small business, owned and operated by a great BBQ dude. We received no compensation for this post.

The Taste of Imagination

I am in St. Louis covering the Kingsford Invitational BBQ contest.  Last night during the opening dinner world champion Pitmaster, Chris Lilly, talked about food trends and one of those trends was related to "artisan burgers".  I already had this post scheduled to run while I was away.  Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good :)

About two weeks I saw this Cajun Cuzin Burger pop up on The Wild Olive's fan page on Facebook.

Picture credit:  The Wild Olive

They taunted me with it with their description:  Tonight we are serving our Cajun Cuzin burger which is the cousin to the Gouda Burger. It is a 8 oz prime beef patty with fresh organic arugula, and topped with a tasso and smoked gouda cheese sauce.

Tasso and smoked gouda cheese sauce.....drool.

So why didn't I just go buy one?  Because they are over 500 miles away in the small town of Crestview, FL. 

I have eaten at The Wild Olive once this Spring and if you are ever in Crestview or passing through on your way to Destin, I highly recommend stopping in.  

For a restaurant that is located in a remodeled house and has a gravel parking lot, you might be amazed at how wonderful The Wild Olive is.  It has a charming decor inside and the staff are friendly.  They are BYOB for wine and beer.  The menu varies frequently depending on the freshest local ingredients available. 

The food that I had was fantastic.  They actually had ABT's (stuffed, bacon wrapped, smoked jalapenos) on their menu when I was there, so you know I had them for my appetizer.   For an entree I had a strip steak with a knock out demi glace that put a smile on my face.  

So when Alexis saw the burger picture and said, "Oh my, can you imagine how good that would taste?"

Ummm....yeah, I can imagine.  And I did that night.  And imagined it the next day.  A few days later too.  Finally, I had enough.  I made my own Cajun Cuzin burger.

The most difficult part was buying tasso ham around here.  Tasso is a heavily seasoned cured and smoked ham or shoulder that is used in a lot of Cajun cooking.   I have had it in restaurants but have not seen it in stores.  No problem, I made my own using a recipe from the Jamison's book Smoke and Spice.

4 lbs of pork butt sliced into 1" steaks.

Ready to go in the fridge for a cure.

After smoking.  I think I have enough for a year!

I only needed a 1/4 cup! 

Based on what I imagined their sauce would taste like, this is what I did for the sauce. 

• 1/4 cup tasso ham, minced
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp AP flour
• 1 1/2 cups of half and half
• 3 oz smoked gouda cheese, shredded (about a cup of shredded)
• 1 tsp whatsthishere sauce
• 3/4 tsp smoked paprika
• 3/4 tsp smoked salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp white pepper

1. Saute the ham in butter until the fat is rendered, about 4-5 minutes.  Whisk in the flour to form a blonde roux.
2. Slowly whisk in half and half and then simmer until reduced, about 10 minutes.
3. Whisk the cheese in using small batches, until well blended.  Season with the paprika, salt, and pepper.

Makes way too much for just 4 burgers but it was damn good.

They used prime beef but all I had was choice.  Grilled up 4 half pound patties.  Did I mention this was way too much sauce for 4 burgers?

They used arugula.  Meh.  I'm not crazy about arugula by itself so I used spring mix and all was good.

We loved these burgers and they are what I imagine the Cajun Cuzin would taste like.

The good news is that we will be in Crestview in the next few weeks.  Let's hope they still have it on their menu then so I can find out if my imagination was close.

[Standard Disclaimer]  I have no affiliation with The Wild Olive.

Cherry Chipotle Chicken Lollipops

I had two of the best tacos I have ever had at 10:30 this morning.

I stopped by the Savory and Sweet food truck and got the smoked chipotle pork taco and fried avocado taco, both with cilantro lime slaw and chipotle cream.  I took my tray over to the nearby babbling water feature in the park under the cool shade trees.  The saxaphone player who is at the market every weekend wailed out a tune as I got into my pair of tacos.

Get there early, as with all food trucks, things sell out - first come first serve.

I was expecting the pork tacos to be great because Joshua R had already told me about them and he was right.  But I was unprepared for the crispy, delicious fried avocado taco.  It re-defined what a taco is to me.  The avocado pieces are light and crispy on the outside yet tender and velvety on the inside. The slaw and chipotle cream finished it off flawlessly.  

If you are in the Knoxville area, you need to hunt the Savory and Sweet food truck down and try them out.  You can find them at the Bearden Beer Market on Friday evenings and at the Market Square Farmers' Market on Wednesday and Saturday. 

About 5 hours later, I was hungry again and was in the mood for something "food truck-ish".  I thought about DivaQ's chicken lollipops.  Normally she does them with chicken wing drummettes but in her recent BBQ Pitmasters appearance, she used drum sticks instead.  I went with that and did a cherry chipotle flavor profile. 

Cherry Chipotle Chicken Lollipops

Idea inspired by Danielle Dimovski aka DivaQ

Ingredients

• 8 chicken leg "drumsticks"
• 8 Tbsp unsalted butter

For the rub*

• 1 Tbsp Spanish paprika
• 1 Tbsp kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp dried ground chipotle chile
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp mustard powder

For the sauce

• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce*
• 1/4 cup cherry preserves* 
• 1 ea chipotle, seeded*

Instructions

1. Preheat a smoker or grill set up for indirect heat to 300f (medium).  I added two cherry Mojobricks for wood smoke
2. Sauce - Mix the BBQ sauce, preserves and chipotle in a blender until liquified.  
3. Rub - Mix the rub ingredients together and mix well.
4. Lollipops - For each drumstick, use poultry shears to snip off the ankle.  Push down around the bone, forcing the meat down round the bottom.  Use the shears to snip off any ligaments that you can see.  Cover the exposed bone with foil.
5. Cook the Chicken - Place the butter in a shallow pan in the smoker/grill.  Place the lollipops in the pan and cook until they reach an internal temperature of 165f.  Glaze with the sauce and cook until they chicken reaches an internal temperature of 175f.  This took about 90 minutes but I wasn't paying strict attention. 

Notes

• Rub - This was decent, not bad at all, but I would amp it up a bit next time.  Maybe a use turbinado sugar instead of brown, or use a blend of the two.  Then add some subtle notes like maybe corriander or cumin.  
• BBQ Sauce - use your favorite traditional BBQ sauce recipe or commercial BBQ sauce.  
• Cherry - I tried using fresh cherries & 1 tsp of brown sugar today but it looks like the cherry season ran its course.  The "fresh" cherries didn't look great and the  flavor was muted.  The rest of the year, I just use cherry preserves.
• Chipotle - Medium heat (to me) as written.  Use half of one for mild.  Use a whole one, unseeded for hot. 

Why do this?  It gets the whole leg cooked evenly and gives you a handle.

Don't forget to cover the bones with foil or they'll get dark.

I used stoneware but you can use foil pans.

The cherries I bought today were already past their prime.  Looks like cherry season is over for this year.

Glazed and finishing up.

Do you have food trucks in your area?  If so, what is your favorite one?  What's your favorite food truck dish?

Fire Roasted Potatoes and Chilies

The "meat on a stick" concept was developed by the Michelin 3-star chef "Ogg" when he impaled a side of stegosaurus on his spear and grilled it over the newest (at the time) Ron Popeil cooking device - FIRE.
The Brazilian version of "meat on a stick" is the impressive Churrascaria style restaurant where everything is served directly at your table from ginormous skewers. I first learned about these from Steven Raichlen's Planet Barbecue and I was intrigued by the concept. But Brazieros Churrascaria opened recently in Knoxville and Alexis and I were finally able to dine there last night.

The place was PACKED but surprisingly, we did not have to wait and got seated immediately right by the fire place on this cool night. The concept is simple. You pay one fixed price for the meal and there is no menu. You start with a high quality salad bar, probably the best I've seen in Knoxville. Then they bring divine cheese rolls (more like puffs, they are angelic) and 3 sides (plantains, fried polenta, and mashed potatoes). Next, each dinner has a little card like this:

When you flip it to green, the meat party starts. A constant barrage of chefs armed with skewers...actually more like SWORDS of 12 cuts of meats offer you service. They thinly slice off pieces of large cuts of meat and you use little tongs to pull it onto your plate. You can fend them off by flipping your card back to red until you're ready to eat again. I made it through 6 of the 12 offerings.

I will do a full review later with pictures after our next visit. But it was a meat eaters paradise and a very unique dining experience. Quite fun and first class service. It reminded me of the first time I ever ate at a teppanyaki style Japanese restaurant, a total departure of what you are used to.

So I woke up this morning and what was I craving? More Brazilian beef of course! So the menu is:

Beef Ribs with an Espresso/Chile Rub
Fire Roasted Potatoes & Chilies
Rotisserie Grilled Onions
Brazilian Cheese Bread

I've done beef ribs a kazillion times, so I won't detail it. I used Adam Perry Lang's method from BBQ25 (great book!) but to make it a little more South American, I substituted some of the loot I won from Marx Foods. I used Espresso sea salt (great beefy flavor) and ground up some dried aji and pasilla chilies.

Alexis made the Brazilian cheese bread came straight from Steph over at Plain Chicken. We didn't have tapioca flour and it definitely made a difference. Ours didn't puff up.

The rotisserie grilled onions are a Brazilian recipe from Planet Barbecue! How do I use a rotisserie on the Big Green Egg? It's simple. I roll out my old Brinkmann charcoal grill!


I spit roasted large sweet onions (roots, peels, and all) over a 3/4 chimney load of briquettes for an hour.

Then cut off the tops, brush off the loose skin, and drizzle with balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. How easy is that?

Fire Roasted Potatoes and Chilies
Source: NibbleMeThis

3-4 large red bliss potatoes, peeled and diced into 1" pieces
1/4 cup oil (something with a high smoke point)
4 large cloves garlic - peeled but whole
1 dried aji chile pepper, reconstituted and diced
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt

Parboil the potatoes for one minute. (I promise, it makes a difference.)

Preheat a cast iron dutch oven in indirect heat on grill (or oven) at 400-425f. Add the oil and wait 1-2 minutes.

Add the potatoes and garlic and season with salt and chili powder. Let cook undisturbed for 20 minutes.

Stir and allow to cook another 10 minutes.

Stir, add the chilies and cook 10 more minutes. (I put them in at the beginning, which was too long, they'll be better near the end.)

Garnish with chives.
Despite the cheese bread not "rising to the occasion" (again, bad substitution), it was an excellent late lunch or early dinner. The ribs had a nice mild heat and layered taste. The onions were tender and sweet. The potatoes were crispy on the outside but soft beneath the crust.


Have you ever eaten at a Brazilian steakhouse? What is your favorite "meat on a stick"?

Sweet Tamale Char Corn Cakes

Sorry for my unusual silence here, it was a hectic week and this weekend, I doubled up on chores so Alexis could relax and enjoy her Mother's Day weekend.

Cooking this weekend was a bit of a learning experience. I ended up cooking the same dish 3 times in 24 hours trying to copy Chop House's Sweet Tamale Corn Cake appetizer.

Photo credit: Chop House Restaurant website (photographer unknown)

I had it once about a month ago at lunch and just loved it. It is a corn cake topped with pico de gallo and avocado on a chipolte ranch sauce. The sweetness of the corn cake, velvety texture of avocado, crispiness of the pico, and zing of the chipolte ranch were a symphony in my mouth.

Of course I had to put my spin on it and bring the grill into the equation, so I decided to use grilled corn. I love grilled corn because it makes the sugars in the corn even sweeter, kind of like kettle corn.

Usually I grill it in husk. But sometimes I don't have the time to do all the silk removal, rehusking, and presoaking the corn to do that. So this weekend I used the "cheating grilled corn" method I posted about over at Our Krazy Kitchen for my Fire Day Friday post. But here's the cliff notes if you are too lazy to click:)

Boil the corn for 5 minutes. Drain.

Grill (direct heat) over a 350-400f fire for about 5 minutes, rotating as kernels start to char.

Remove and enjoy. For this recipe, you'll stand an ear on end and then slice off the kernels with a knife.

The first attempt on the corn cakes included a total boneheaded error in which the butter for the corn cake was doubled. The result in the oven was that they spread into thin pan cakes. Discarded.

The second attempt correct the error but the texture still didn't hold up in the oven. The taste of the dough was spot on though. Discarded.

By the third attempt, "someone" (I'm not saying who, but the handwriting looks similar to mine) was getting a little frustrated and defaced the menu board.

Sweet Tamale Char Corn Cakes
Inspired by Chop House Restaurant
Corn cake adapted from this recipe

Chipolte Ranch Sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 Tbsp Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix
1 1/2 Tbsp Southwest Seasoning (click for link to mine or use a commercial mix)
1/2 teaspoon ground chipolte pepper

Pico De Gallo
1 ea chicken beak (just kidding)
2 ea roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2 ea jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
1/4-1/2 ea red onion, diced
2 Tbsp lime juice

Corn Cakes
1 1/2 cups corn, grilled
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 Tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup masa harina (corn flour)
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 ea egg

1 avocado diced

Mix the chipolte ranch sauce up at least an hour before serving, but could be made well in advance.

Mix the pico de gallo 1-2 hours before serving.

Too much longer than that and the veggies lose their crispy texture. But you need at least an hour for the flavors to get to know each other.

For the corn cakes, puree 1 cup of the corn in a food processor. Mix in the butter, sugar, egg, and salt.

Remove to a bowl and spoon in the other 1/2 cup of corn.

Divide and shape into 4 patties kind of like you would a hamburger.

Place on a preheated pizza stone in a 400f oven and cook for 20 minutes or until the bottome starts to turn golden brown. (Next time I'll do that on the Big Green Egg).

Flip and cook another 5-10 minutes until golden brown.

Squirt or drizzle some of the chipolte ranch sauce on a warmed plate, top with a corn cake, then the pico de gallo and avocado.

Chop House uses way much more sauce, it almost covers the plate. I like to use just a little. Don't worry, the leftover sauce won't go to waste, it would be great on a burger or salads.

This isn't a dead ringer for Chop House's cakes but it's close and just as good!

What restaurant recipe have you "copy-catted" or would like to clone?

Carolina Burger

(This is long, you can skip to the recipe part down below)

We made a quick hop across the Smoky Mountains to have our extended family Christmas. Thanks to a serious rock slide at the Carolina/Tennessee border in October, Interstate 40 is completely shut down, so we took the scenic Highway 441. When I say "highway" picture a 2 lane switchback road winding 25-35 mph through the mountains.

When we crested Newfound Gap (5,048 ft) early this morning, we were treated to an awesome scene below us.

Trevor stared in awe and said, "I feel like a god looking down on the clouds!"

There was still a lot of snow on the ground. Three days earlier, this route had been closed due to snow.

I mention North Carolina because it has the best burger in the world, specifically, the "Carolina Burger" or even more specifically, a Melvin's Burger "all the way".

I spent my summer vacations at my grandparents dusty farm in the flat tobacco country near Elizabethtown, NC. The highlights of my trips included BBQ from the volunteer fire department's fund raiser and a trip to Melvin's (aka the pool hall) for a sack of burgers "all the way". It's a little store front on Main Street in small town USA that has lines out of the back door everyday. But with incredible efficiency, they work through that line and crank out the absolute best burger I have ever put in my mouth.

A lot of people seem to agree with me. I was looking at reviews on Yahoo! and Michala's review seemed to parallel my experience: best hamburger in the usa: I first went to Melvin's Pool Room when I was 15, 35 years ago. Back then the locals kids played pool and the smell of hambugers titilated your senses. 35 years later noone I know still doesn't know [sic] the secret to those hamburgers.

But ahhhh, Michala, I do know one of their secrets.

Back when I was about 10, my grandmother Lessie P. told me that when Melvin's had the local grocery butcher grind their meat, they included a loaf of bread in the mixture. That is what led me two years ago to try this recipe that I found on BigOven, because it included a panade of bread and milk to the burger mixture.

Picture updated 10/2011

Original Pic from 2009

Carolina Burger

1 large slice high-quality white sandwich bread (crust removed and discarded, bread chopped into 1/4-inch pieces, about 1/2 cup)
2 tablespoons whole milk 3/4 teaspoon table salt
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 medium clove garlic minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 teaspoon)
2 teaspoons steak sauce such as A-1
2 tablespoons Bacon grease
1 1/2 pounds 80 percent lean ground chuck
Vegetable oil for cooking grate
6 ounces cheese sliced, American or cheddar
4 hamburger buns or rolls
A&W Chili (recipe follows)
Creamy Coleslaw (recipe follows)
Diced onions Mustard
1. Turn all burners to high, close lid, and heat until very hot, about 15 minutes. Use grill brush to scrape cooking grate clean. Lightly dip wad of paper towels in vegetable oil; holding wad with tongs, wipe cooking grate. Leave primary burner on high, turn other burner(s) to low.

2. Meanwhile, mash bread and milk in large bowl with fork until homogeneous (you should have about 1/4 cup). Stir in salt, pepper, garlic, steak sauce, and reserved bacon fat; mix until thoroughly blended.

3. Break up beef into small pieces over bread mixture. Using fork or hands, lightly mix together until mixture forms cohesive mass. Divide meat into 4 equal portions. Gently toss one portion of meat back and forth between hands to form loose ball. Gently flatten into 3/4-inch-thick patty that measures about 4 1/2 inches in diameter. Press center of patty down with fingertips until it is about 1/2 inch thick, creating a slight depression in each patty. Repeat with remaining portions of meat.

4. Lightly dip wad of paper towels in vegetable oil; holding wad with tongs, wipe cooking grate. Grill burgers on hot side of grill, covered, until well seared on first side, 2 to 4 minutes. Using wide metal spatula, flip burgers and continue grilling, about 3 minutes for medium-well or 4 minutes for well-done. Distribute equal portions of cheese on burgers about 2 minutes before they reach desired doneness, covering burgers with disposable aluminum pan to melt cheese. While burgers grill, toast buns on cooler side of grill, rotating buns as necessary to toast evenly. Serve burgers on toasted buns.

Build your burger in the following order:
Bottom of Bun
Cheeseburger
Diced Onions
A&W Chili
Creamy Coleslaw
Mustard
Top of Bun

A & W Chili
2/3 cup finely chopped onion
1 pound ground beef
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 tablespoon salt

1 1/3 tablespoon Celery salt (I cut this in half or eliminate the salt above)

2 ounces tomato puree
1 1/3 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon pepper

Add 1 tablespoon canola/vegetable oil to a saucepan, add the onion and saute' 3-4 minutes over medium heat until translucent, then add the hamburger and cook until well done. Drain grease from saucepan, then add remaining ingredients and simmer, stirring often, until desired consistency.

Cole Slaw
1 pound green cabbage (about 1/2 medium head), thinly shredded
1 large carrot peeled and grated
2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon Sugar
1/2 small onion minced
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
Ground Black Pepper

1. Toss cabbage and carrots with salt in colander set over medium bowl. Let stand until cabbage wilts, at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.

2. Dump wilted cabbage and carrots into the bowl. Rinse thoroughly in cold water (ice water if serving slaw immediately). Pour vegetables back into colander, pressing, but not squeezing on them to drain. Pat dry with paper towels. (Can be stored in a zipper-lock bag and refrigerated overnight.)

3. Pour cabbage and carrots back again into bowl. Add onions, mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar; toss to coat. Season with pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Although Melvin's uses a flat top, I grilled mine of course.

Plated with home made salt and vinegar potato chips because Melvin's doesn't have time to mess with fries. It's a burger or a dog and chips.


I know what you're thinking, chili, slaw, onions, and mustard on a burger???? Try it, even if you use your own burger, slaw and chili recipes.

Picture Updated 2011:  Carolina burger and Bush's Original Baked Beans

So what are your favorite burger toppings or what is the best burger you have EVER eaten?