Dare I wax eloquent on the journey of a man on his grill?? Shall I share my evolutionary theory on a man’s quest to cook a little more than he did before?? Shall he only be relegated to the dogs and burgers? Chicken breasts and steaks? Or the big ticket meals on Easter and Christmas?
No, I won’t discuss today.
Burgers are important. Burgers are patriotic. Burgers are American. Burgers are why I sometimes believe that most people may actually be good and have good intentions. Burgers are awesome.
Oh and no one cares that the term “hamburger” is German…so pipe down please.
We all have our favorites. For me, I think In-N-Out is still number one (double-double, “animal style” with fries with optional “animal style,” Coke). I really like both Dick’s in WA state. I love the iconic Dick’s in Seattle (Deluxe, fries, chocolate shake) but also have a special place in my heart for the no-relation Dick’s in my hometown of Spokane (Whammy, fries, chocolate shake, cherry pie). Burgermaster makes a good one and so does Five Guys, but so does Zip’s (Papa Joe, fries with “tartar” and butterscotch shake). We have also finally tried Shake Shack, which I liked not loved (their Yukon Gold crinkle cut fries were the highlight as were their shakes – burger, OK). We even hit up Cali Burger, the Asian chain that is known mostly for being an In-N-Out knock off plus a chicken sandwich.
There are gourmet burgers too. I still love the Guacamole burger from the dirty bird, Red Robin, but probably because I used to work there (true story! First serving gig!). The Red Mill burger joint over near the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle is also pretty good. I have done other gourmet burgers at fancier restaurants that were good but obvi not that memorable since none come to mind here.
I guess what I am saying is that we like burgers and fries. In fact, we pretty much only go out to eat for burgers and fries, and not very often anything else (although the wife still likes her Chipotle).
We like to make them at home as well and hence the reason for this post.
One of the items on the regular circuit is this fry sauce. ALL of the kids, me, and the wife love this basic sauce that we slather on our burger buns and certainly as a dipping sauce (or also slathered) for the fries. It feels like a “special sauce” of Mickey D fame. It is super simple, super delicious, and honestly rivals most fry sauces you can get at the burger joints, except maybe the faux tartar at Zip’s of course (which I plan to write a full post about some time in the future).
Fry Sauce
1/2 cup mayo
2 T ketchup
1 T sweet relish
1 T finely chopped onion (red seems to be slightly best)
S and P
Mix and love.
