Coffee-rubbed Sliders

Given the opportunity to cook with Chris, opt for something challenging, time-consuming, conversation-worthy, and, ideally, never-before-attempted, to reduce the probability of failure given the lack of comparison. Our last night in Boston, we bought ingredients for hamburgers with a coffee rub. Chris had grand tales of coffee-rubbed steak that sounded spectacular, but the idea of adding jalapenos and onions to ground beef before the coffee rub sounded better yet.

We prepared the rub with about 3 TB coffee grounds, chopped ginger, brown sugar, cumin, plus salt and pepper. After dicing up onion and fresh jalapeno and mashing them into the hamburger meat, I coated the mini-burgers and Chris put them into a castiron skillet. Our initial decision toward sliders rather than burgers was actually driven by there not being a single hamburger bun left at the grocery store! Cute little egg brioche buns were a great alternative.

While I was mixing up the burgers, Chris was taking the watermelon he'd infused with gin out of the fridge and cutting it up. In between tending to the skillet, chopping bell peppers and cucumber for salad, and slurping chips and salsa like it was my job, we bit into the summer fruit that was deliciously gintastic. Really, you could barely taste the gin. He had cut a hole into the whole watermelon days before and turned a half-bottle of gin upside-down into it. Over about 24 hours, the alcohol infused the fruit so that it was barely more liquid than normal. I love a meal whose prep time can be the most enjoyable part.

The coffee rub supposedly enhances the flavor of the beef rather than act as exclusive condiment, so we slathered on salsa, garlic mustard, blue cheese and tomatoes. They paired perfectly with whisky and ginger beer. Then, up to the roof for fireworks!