Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please season your burger meat. Just salt is fine but definitely salt. Some black pepper can also be nice -- freshly ground if you have it.

Know how your grill works. Start it when it needs to be started (if using charcoal give yourself 45 minutes or so before you need to be putting the meat on.

Doneness is obviously a matter of preference but most people like a medium doneness so aim for that. You can always leave a couple on longer if someone is squeamish about pink meat.

American cheese is fine but you're welcome to get something better. But offering cheese is nice.

For toppings you should have - at a minimum - lettuce tomato pickle ketchup mustard. Some people like a thinly sliced red onion or - if you want to be fancy - grilled onions. Bacon barbecue sauce mayo etc. are optional but you need to have those first five.

For hot dogs please buy kosher for better quality. Ensure they are all cooked all the way through -- a lot of people who don't eat hot dogs will just throw them on until there is any kind of grill marks but they take a bit longer than that to cook and actually for doneness hot dogs usually taste better if they have a good crispy char on the outside. For toppings offer ketchup and mustard at least (relish onions etc optional).

Toast all the buns. It takes very little time and helps a lot.

Classic sides: baked beans (crock pot so you don't have to turn on the oven) potato salad and chips. We like to put out a crudite platter and a green salad as well.

If you can't handle the forgoing just don't host on the 4th or memorial day. It's okay. Not everyone likes hosting. But if you DO host please do not serve your guests uncooked dogs and unseasoned burger hockey pucks with just ketchup and some sad wilted lettuce and no sides. It's depressing and your guests will wind up having to stop for food on the way home.

Thank you for the helpful advice!

Sock puppeting is tiresome. There is NOBODY over the age of 21 that doesn't already know the basics of this, and funnily enough, some of this is wrong. (Hot dogs are already cooked, you can't undercook them)

There are tons of people over the age of 21 who don't know this stuff as evidenced by your incorrect belief that it is impossible to undercook a hot dog. Think about it -- if it were not possible to undercoook hot dogs then why would e cook them at all? Just because grill marks are attractive?

Anonymous wrote:I've never had any complaints about my cold unpressed tofu burgers. Who wants hot food in summer? A cool, raw soy patty that moistens the bun is maximally refreshing, with the essential nutrients of life. And my guests enjoy the flavors, I mean flavor, because their taste isn't dulled by alcoholic, sugary, or carbonated drinks.

It's quite affordable too. I only need 1 lb of tofu, because most of my friends have converted to Canadian and don't celebrate July 4th and Independence Day anymore. Those folks always enjoy my cold neat poutine on Canada Day!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hear me out: not hot dogs, but brats. Boil first (in beer or something flavorful) and throw on the grill.

I love brats, and I cook with the same method, but if you’re trying to serve a variety of people/little kids you gotta do hot dogs

Anonymous wrote:Hear me out: not hot dogs, but brats. Boil first (in beer or something flavorful) and throw on the grill.

Anonymous wrote:Please season your burger meat. Just salt is fine but definitely salt. Some black pepper can also be nice -- freshly ground if you have it.

Know how your grill works. Start it when it needs to be started (if using charcoal give yourself 45 minutes or so before you need to be putting the meat on.

Doneness is obviously a matter of preference but most people like a medium doneness so aim for that. You can always leave a couple on longer if someone is squeamish about pink meat.

American cheese is fine but you're welcome to get something better. But offering cheese is nice.

For toppings you should have - at a minimum - lettuce tomato pickle ketchup mustard. Some people like a thinly sliced red onion or - if you want to be fancy - grilled onions. Bacon barbecue sauce mayo etc. are optional but you need to have those first five.

For hot dogs please buy kosher for better quality. Ensure they are all cooked all the way through -- a lot of people who don't eat hot dogs will just throw them on until there is any kind of grill marks but they take a bit longer than that to cook and actually for doneness hot dogs usually taste better if they have a good crispy char on the outside. For toppings offer ketchup and mustard at least (relish onions etc optional).

Toast all the buns. It takes very little time and helps a lot.

Classic sides: baked beans (crock pot so you don't have to turn on the oven) potato salad and chips. We like to put out a crudite platter and a green salad as well.

If you can't handle the forgoing just don't host on the 4th or memorial day. It's okay. Not everyone likes hosting. But if you DO host please do not serve your guests uncooked dogs and unseasoned burger hockey pucks with just ketchup and some sad wilted lettuce and no sides. It's depressing and your guests will wind up having to stop for food on the way home.

Anonymous wrote:Totally with you, OP, except the toasted buns.

I love hosting and host a lot. These are basics but some people were apparently raised by wolves and don’t know them.

Anonymous wrote:Kosher hot dogs are better? I keep kosher so only eat these but I never knew anyone else bought them or that they are considered better. I wonder why

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please season your burger meat. Just salt is fine but definitely salt. Some black pepper can also be nice -- freshly ground if you have it.

Know how your grill works. Start it when it needs to be started (if using charcoal give yourself 45 minutes or so before you need to be putting the meat on.

Doneness is obviously a matter of preference but most people like a medium doneness so aim for that. You can always leave a couple on longer if someone is squeamish about pink meat.

American cheese is fine but you're welcome to get something better. But offering cheese is nice.

For toppings you should have - at a minimum - lettuce tomato pickle ketchup mustard. Some people like a thinly sliced red onion or - if you want to be fancy - grilled onions. Bacon barbecue sauce mayo etc. are optional but you need to have those first five.

For hot dogs please buy kosher for better quality. Ensure they are all cooked all the way through -- a lot of people who don't eat hot dogs will just throw them on until there is any kind of grill marks but they take a bit longer than that to cook and actually for doneness hot dogs usually taste better if they have a good crispy char on the outside. For toppings offer ketchup and mustard at least (relish onions etc optional).

Toast all the buns. It takes very little time and helps a lot.

Classic sides: baked beans (crock pot so you don't have to turn on the oven) potato salad and chips. We like to put out a crudite platter and a green salad as well.

If you can't handle the forgoing just don't host on the 4th or memorial day. It's okay. Not everyone likes hosting. But if you DO host please do not serve your guests uncooked dogs and unseasoned burger hockey pucks with just ketchup and some sad wilted lettuce and no sides. It's depressing and your guests will wind up having to stop for food on the way home.

Thank you for the helpful advice!

Sock puppeting is tiresome. There is NOBODY over the age of 21 that doesn't already know the basics of this, and funnily enough, some of this is wrong. (Hot dogs are already cooked, you can't undercook them)

There are tons of people over the age of 21 who don't know this stuff as evidenced by your incorrect belief that it is impossible to undercook a hot dog. Think about it -- if it were not possible to undercoook hot dogs then why would e cook them at all? Just because grill marks are attractive?

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the people upset by this (extremely basic baseline level) advice are thinking about the garbage they served people yesterday and feeling embarassed.

It's nice to host people but you do actually have to HOST. It actually is rude to invite people over and then give them inedible food that they have to wait a long time for. The vast majority of people will be polite and smile through it and thank you for hosting but they will leave and feel hungry and irritable and wish the'd accepted another invite or just stayed home.

It's hard as a guest because you don't want to be rude even if your hosts are awful (they are usually family or friends so you don't want to kill the relationship over their bad hosting even if it's egregious). So you wind up captive to their bad hosting and especially if you have kids in tow that is work to get through. Don't force your guests to politely choke down garbage -- make a little effort!