Selling Out???

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propsync

Knows what a fatty is.
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So I'm cooking for my employees tomorrow for being injury free for a month. I'm regarded as the chef/foodie of my workplace (kinda proud of that). Problem is that the company will only pay for nasty beef pucks (hamburgers) and hot dogs. Since I'm a nice guy and have a small reputation to uphold, what do you all suggest to doctor these basics? I can't do N/A beer for the dogs, either, although I really wanted to. I don't know of anything other than salt to put on the burgers, and dogs are dogs. To further add to the problem, I'm cooking on gas on one of those big cheap-azz propane jobs with temp. knobs of on and off. It's for about 75 people, so what little I do needs to be cheap. I hope my new boss will go for expensing a UDS.

My thought. A big foil pan of my hearty baked beans and call it a day. I just don't have faith that I can really do anything with the proteins. I call on all of you. What would you do in my situation? Thanks on the frontside to the masters of live fire, a true art of cooking.
 
call in sick :p
seriously you don't have much to work with - not even cheese for the burgers. i would sprinkle the burgers with salt/pepper and maybe some onion or garlic powder. can't think of much else, sorry.
My company is a bit more generous than yours asevery summer i host a BBQ at my home for my direct reports at work (22). the company gives me $20 per head each quarter to spend on the folks for a team type event and they look forward to a day at the bosses house. I take the $400 or so and buy all the meats - ribs/brisket/pork butts and a couple fatties and they agree to bring the sides. Families are included and we just have a great time.
 
Maybe a little Montreal steak seasoning and a little A-1 on each "puck" to try and give it some flavor. With the dogs, you should be able to buy onions, bell peppers, and garlic and make some foil packs. Just do everything in batches, I know it's not much, but that should help. I worked at a place where they grilled a bunch of cheap, thin top round steaks, frozen burgers, and hot dogs as a reward for some safety initiative. I was like... whatever, free food and then I watched them use a whole huge bottle of lighter fluid on the charcoal, light it, and then throw the meat directly on the grill. I was pi$$ED, They ruined all that food because some idiot manager didn't know how to use lighter fluid(i use it to start campfires) or charcoal.
 
Cucumber salad is good, cheap and easy.

I would slice some onions, throw in some garlic and butter, wrap them in foil and toss them on the grill. Once they're sweated, use them for toppings.

You can add some zip to the hot dogs by making various relishes.

Hope it works out.

Eric
 
How about coring out the center of some of the dogs and filling them with cheese then capping them with plugs made from what came out the middle. Spice the cheese with some jalapeno and crumbled bacon. Should only cost you a few bucks and help your rep stay in tact.

Lawrys or just about any seasonig on the burgers should do and season up some onions to go with them.
 
For the hockey pucks...make up some garlic,herb butter,freeze, and put a pat on top of each after cooking.
For the dogs....make up a pan of onions,green peppers and garlic, grill them in pan and add dr.pepper after cooking instead of beer for a topper for dogs.
Go all out for the beans....Make up some keri apple beans
jon
 
I agree, a good beef rub for the burgers and a nice compund butter to put on them when you flip them. I'd also do minced onion for both the burgers and dogs. I'd press the onion into the uncooked side of the patty and cook that way. Kind of like White Castle burgers. It would help if you had a flat top to finish them on when you flipped them. As far as the dogs, standard onions and relish with some crout and pickles as condiments. If you can smoke them, even better!
 
Neon green pickle relish, onion, tomato, cuke, sport peppers, mustard and celery salt are my favorite fixins on a hot dog. If you slice everything really thin you could strech the tomatoes and cukes so you don't go broke. You could also make a foil pack of wood chips to release a bit of smoke not sure it will help the hockey pucks, maybe you could just brush em with a teriyaki glaze to give em some flavor.

How about allowing people to bring in their own meat to grill? The company then picks up the cost of tubs of coleslaw, potato salad, beans, etc.,
 
I've done the same thing for my squadron a couple times. We'll get 150-200 frozen burgers and fire up our huge charcoal grill. The first time, I just used Lawrys on the burgers and they were edible, the next time I brought some Cavenders to sprinkle on the burgers, and a lot of people came up and said "good burgers!" which didnt happen the first time. I mean they were still just frozen burgers, but that Cavenders added a litle extra flavor.

I'm supposed to be heading up another "burger burn" here in the near future, and we're going to be doing the normal burgers and dogs like you. So I'll probably just grab another deal of cavenders and a few huge cans of bush's baked beans...which I will probably just doctor up a little somehow.
 
If it were me and I had a rep to uphold with my co-workers, I'd tell the company to give me how much ever they are willing to contribute, then I'm going out and buying about 6-7 butts and covering the difference myself.

Smoke the butts and you'll be a legend. For $150, you can be a legend forever.
 
Use some rub on the burgers while they cook. I always find it improves any burger.
 
BTW what wrong with hotdog /hamburger ?a perfect cookout food
 
This stuff is pretty good on hockey pucks. If you use it, go for the low sodium version and make sure to shake the bottle really well. All the seasonings settle at the bottom.
http://www.dalesseasoning.com/
Beans are cheap, rice is cheap(mushroom rice). I liked the idea of sweating/carmelizing lots of onion for use as a topping. You could also spice up the mayonnaise by adding some herbs to it or even better some chipotle. Chipotle mayo will rock any burger. As for the dogs, maybe a sprinkling of rub.

I'm sure you will be able to piece something together with all the suggestions you will get in this thread. I agree with Jestridge, nothing wrong with burgers and dogs. Very decent cookout food. Might even be as cheap to have a butcher make em custom instead of getting frozen.
 
What he said!

jrbBBQ said:
Maybe a little Montreal steak seasoning and a little A-1 on each "puck" to try and give it some flavor. With the dogs, you should be able to buy onions, bell peppers, and garlic and make some foil packs. Just do everything in batches, I know it's not much, but that should help. I worked at a place where they grilled a bunch of cheap, thin top round steaks, frozen burgers, and hot dogs as a reward for some safety initiative. I was like... whatever, free food and then I watched them use a whole huge bottle of lighter fluid on the charcoal, light it, and then throw the meat directly on the grill. I was pi$$ED, They ruined all that food because some idiot manager didn't know how to use lighter fluid(i use it to start campfires) or charcoal.
Click to expand...

I've found that Montreal Steak seasoning fixes some of the worst pucks- even the ones that give off that, er, "hiney" smell. (You know the kind I mean!) Give that a shot. Also in total agreement on the veggies- most folks can't tell the difference between a high-grade dog and the cheapies, with those toppings. Best of luck!
 
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