Game Day Sliders

I don't know about you but I'm a little burned out on football. My husband has lived and breathed it for the past uh, far too many months, but the end is near! Even though I don't particularly like to sit and watch a whole game, I do like to watch the big one-the Super Bowl! And whether it's the big game or just another Sunday match up, neither would be complete without game food. At our house that means chips or nachos, pizza bites, homemade fries, chicken wings, and these sliders. Not all at once, because we're not pigs, but that is the regular rotation. You might be thinking, this isn't really a significant recipe to blog about but let me tell you, all sliders (or game food for that matter) are not equal. The must haves of superior sliders: water buns, 85% lean ground beef, and a cast iron skillet. Oh, and you absolutely must take the burger right from the skillet to the cut buns and let all the moisture (aka grease) seep into the buns. This is nonnegotiable. Yeah it's grease, get over it. One bite of these little devils and you will applaud me for that grease!
 
Game Day Sliders 

For the burgers:

• 1 lb 85% lean ground beef
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
• 1/4 cayenne pepper (doesn't make them hot, just great flavor)
• 1/4 garlic powder (not garlic salt) 

For the sliders:

• Water buns (found in your local bakery; looks like they spritzed them with water before baking; extremely light and airy)
• Tomato
• Avocado
• Cheese
• Condiments (ketchup, mustard, miracle whip, hot sauce, bbq sauce, etc.) 

Heat your cast iron skillet over medium heat. Combine all of the spices into the ground beef and mix well with your hands. Hands are always superior to spoons when mixing ground meat. Form into 8 small, thin patties. Drop your patties into the skillet and don't touch them at all for 3 to 4 minutes. Flip them over and again don't touch them for about 3 minutes. This is to give them a nice browning and a ton of flavor.

Do not overcook your sliders! Nobody, not even people who detest bloody meat, like a dried up, hockey puck excuse of a burger.

Put your burgers directly onto your buns and let them rest a few. Then go ahead and top them however you see fit and chow down. Since they're small, feel free to have 2 or 3, there is no judgement among friends. 

As always, life is better homemade!
~LL