Cherry Jalapeno Cheeseburger

A couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail as did many others in the food blogging community from a company called Gourmet Warehouse. This company is a purveyor of Barbecue Sauces, Marinades and Spice Rubs and they are located on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. The link to Gourmet Warehouse brings you directly to their website to review the other products they offer.

I asked for the Cherry Jalapeno Barbecue Sauce, the Beef Marinade and an Orleans Cajun Spice mix to test out. For any of you that is interested in purchasing this sauce, Gourmet Warehouse asks that you use this code: COAB20 on your order and you will receive a 20% discount.

Yesterday was the first really blistering hot and humid day here in Connecticut but I did manage to get out to the grocery store to get some food for the next couple of days. I decided it would be burger night and that would open the door for me to try the Cherry Jalapeno BBQ Sauce - their mild version.

• 1 lb. ground chuck
• sandwich size English Muffins
• American Cheese
• Gourmet Warehouse Cherry Jalapeno BBQ Sauce
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 large onion
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1-2 tsp. white sugar

1. Form your patties and salt and pepper both sides of the meat.
2. Slice your onion and saute in a frying pan with the butter and sugar over medium low heat until caramelized. Plan on 20 minutes. While that is going on light your grill.
3. Get your grill smoking hot and grill up the burgers on one side, flip over and add some barbecue sauce to the top of the burger.
4. You can turn the burger over and add some sauce to the other side if you like.
5. Top with cheese. Close the cover to help the cheese melt and then the burgers are ready to plate.
6. Place the caramelized onions on the bottom, the cheeseburger next and drizzle on a little more of the barbecue sauce.

This first product, Cherry Jalapeno BBQ Sauce is well balanced in flavor. If you sample the sauce in its raw state the heat is more prevalent, but as it cooks it lessens, which for my personal taste is just fine. There is the strong ketchup based flavor that blends with the sweetness from the maraschino cherries and the you definitely taste the brown sugar flavor. There is also just a bit of tang that comes from the vinegar used in the recipe. I liked adding flavor to the outside of the burger via the sauce and overall I think it's a good sauce and I am excited to try the Beef Marinade next.

Since I created my own line of sauces and marinades way back when and never saw it grow to where I wanted it to, I was very eager to help this company out as I know how hard it is to get a product line going, let alone getting it marketed. For this reason and the fact I hope my blog gets some exposure I was happy to showcase the product. So thank you Gourmet Warehouse for the opportunity.