food international: Spicy Whiskey BBQ Sliders

Are you having a New Year’s Eve get together at your house? If so, I must urge you to strongly consider making these decadent, drippy, diminutive, dreamy, and divine sliders. I made them just before Christmas and when I took my first bite, I actually heard angels singing.

They’re positively out of this world.

Here. Let me prove it to you.

 

The Cast of Characters: ground meat, salt & pepper, butter, onion, whiskey (not pictured because I didn’t think to add it until I was in the middle of cooking the sauce), jarred jalapenos, and small buns/rolls.

 

You can use ground beef, ground turkey, or…guess what this is? Bison! Don’t tell my cattle ranching friends.

Or my cattle ranching family.

A girl’s gotta experiment from time to time, man.

Form the meat into small patties (about 12) then sprinkle them generously with salt and pepper.

 

Fry them in two batches in a skillet of melted butter over medium to medium-high heat. You want them to be almost done in the middle without totally burning/blackening on the outside.

Mmmm. Look at that beautiful spatter. It’s the stuff that messes were made of.

After all the patties are cooked, remove them to a plate.

 

Now you’ve got a skillet of butter and grease and flavor, which is wonderful…

 

But we don’t need all of it. Pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of the grease.

 

Then throw in the diced onions and stir them around to cook them for a couple of minutes.

Wouldja LOOK at that BEAUTIFUL skillet full of FLAVOR?

 

I was going to add the barbecue sauce right off the bat, but I decided to go with whiskey first.

 

Stir the whiskey around to deglaze the pan and let it cook and bubble and reduce for 3 to 4 minutes, or until it’s reduced by about half.

 

Then grab some jarred jalapenos…

 

And throw them into the skillet. I started with a small amount but wound up working my way up to about 1/4 cup. You need at least that much to really taste the spice in the end.

Next, pour in the barbecue sauce, stir it around, and reduce the heat to low.

Your kitchen smells really, really good right now.

Next, return the patties to the skillet…

Flip them over to coat…

 

And be sure to pour any juices that were left on the plate right on into the skillet.

Flavor, baby. Flavor.

Now just let ’em simmer in the sauce for several minutes. If there’s any pink left in the patties, it’ll cook right off and everything will be right with the world.

You can not imagine how good this smells.

Okay, so I went a little heavy on the butter. But life is nothing but a nice, long series of learning experiences.

Grill the buns on a skillet or griddle until they’re nice and golden and slightly crisp on the surface…

Then retrieve individual patties…

And put them on the buns.

Garshk. I’m just going to sit here and stare for a minute.

When you’ve got the buns loaded up, spoon extra sauce all over the tops of each one. You want to get that onion/jalapeno chunkiness on each slider.

 

Top ’em with the other half of the buns and serve ’em up to your guests.

Warning: If you decide to have a New Year’s Eve get together…

And you decide to serve these sliders…

You will be expected to have a New Year’s Eve get together every year for the rest of your life…

Whether you want to or not.

I’ll let you make the call. I just wanted you to be informed.

Enjoy these, guys!

Recipe

Spicy Whiskey BBQ Sliders

Prep Time:

15 Minutes

Difficulty:

Easy

Cook Time:

15 Minutes

Servings:

6 Servings

Ingredients

• 2 pounds Ground Meat (beef, Bison, Turkey)
• Salt And Pepper
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Large Onion, Diced
• 1/2 cup Whiskey
• 1 cup Barbecue Sauce
• 1/4 cup Jarred Jalapeno Slices (more To Taste)
• 12 whole Slider Buns Or Dinner Rolls, Split

Instructions

Form the meat into 12 (or so) miniature patties and salt and pepper them on both sides. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat and cook the patties until just about done in the middle, approximately 3-4 minutes per side. Remove the patties from the skillet and set aside. Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of grease, then return the skillet to the stove.

Throw the diced onions in the skillet and stir to cook, about 3 minutes. Pour in whiskey (be careful if you're cooking over an open flame; turn it off momentarily to be extra careful) and stir. Allow the whiskey to reduce by half, about 2 to 3 minutes, then stir in jalapenos and the barbecue sauce.

Reduce the heat to low and place the patties in the barbecue sauce, turning to coat. Allow the patties to simmer in the sauce until everything's hot and bubbly.

Place the patties on individual buns and be sure to spoon extra sauce (with the jalapenos!) over the top of each one before topping with the other half of the bun.

Perfect New Year's Eve treat!