I know that the title says Tennessee whiskey but I wanted to start my talk today with bourbon. Now, I love bourbon. I also happen to really like college basketball. My young, impressionable years were spent in the State of Connecticut and that means that I have a penchant for both men’s and women’s basketball. In case anyone doesn’t follow, both the University of Connecticut’s men's and women's teams are pretty good. I diligently follow them through the regular season but come Tournament time, that’s when things heat up.

Because of my love for these two things, I treat the men’s NCAA college basketball tournament very special, especially that first weekend of games. I take those first four days, clear my calendar of everything including work, and bask in the nice warm glow of my large screen TV with nothing but bourbon to drink and basketball on the tube. People who know me have found this to be a delightful tradition and have started to join me in my basketball and bourbon frenzy.

Now the reason that I mention this is because I love bourbon so much that I can’t bring myself to use it in this recipe. You see, one of the things that makes bourbon a bourbon is that it can only be called a bourbon if it was made in the State of Kentucky. Otherwise, it is just a whiskey. There are also some other restrictions, not the least of which is the ageing process. Altogether, these rules make bourbon a far more refined drink than just a whiskey.

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Some people have asked me why I started out with recipes for dry rubs and sauces. Well first of all, they are things that have a lot of different uses and second of all, they are pretty simple and straight forward to make. So with that thought in mind, I thought I'd share with you a simple way to make use of a sauce and a rub that I've already published here. I call this my Magic Burger and it calls for the use of the Magic Dust and the Carolina Mustard Barbeque Sauce.

A lot of people don't try and get creative with their burgers. They grill it up, slap on some ketchup and mustard and off they go. Maybe they'll add a slice of tomato or lettuce if they have some kicking around the fridge. I think that burgers are one of the best things to get creative with because they are so simple and easy to make. Just the other night I made mushrooms in a red wine reduction and threw that on some turkey burgers that I was grilling up. If you think about it, just about any vegetable can be prepared in such a way as to enhance the flavor of a burger (ratatouille anyone?).

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