Memorial Day is a day of remembrance first. The cookouts and the long weekends and the start-of-summer feeling come second.
But the cookouts matter too. For a lot of families, the Sunday before Memorial Day is the first time everyone gathers in someone's backyard after a long winter. The grill comes out. The first corn of the season hits the table. Someone brings a potato salad in the same Pyrex they always do. The kids run around the yard until it gets dark.
This is the menu we'd cook for that gathering.
Deviled eggs to start because someone always asks what they can bring and you tell them nothing, but actually you're glad when they bring something. A burger that earns the title of the best one. A potato salad worth keeping in your binder. Corn salad dressed the way it should be. A strawberry cake because the strawberries are finally good again.
Five recipes from five cooks we trust. Worth printing for next year, and the year after that.
01 · Starter
Deviled Eggs
From Ree Drummond at The Pioneer Woman
The starter that asks for nothing and gives a lot. Hard-boiled eggs, yolks mashed with mayo and mustard and a little vinegar, piped back into the whites, paprika dusted across the top. Travels in the deviled egg tray someone bought specifically for this purpose and pulls out three times a year.
Deviled eggs are the recipe nobody writes down because it feels too simple to need writing down, and then you spend twenty minutes Googling for the right ratio every time. Print it once, locked in forever.
02 · Main
The Best Burger
From Sommer Collier at A Spicy Perspective
The burger that ends the debate. Good beef, the right seasoning, a bun that holds up. Sommer's recipe gets the patty mix right, which is where most home cookouts fall apart. Once you have the right patty formula, the toppings are just personal choice.
The difference between a fine burger and a great burger is in the small things, and you'll want to remember exactly which small things.
03 · Side
Jimbo's Potato Salad
A Binder Originals recipe
The potato salad that earns its place at every cookout. This one is my dad's. A Hellmann's jar recipe with one swap (less mayo, plus a quarter cup of sour cream) that turned it into our family's potato salad for thirty years. Tangy where most are sweet, balanced where most are heavy.
The version you commit to is the version your kids will remember.
Read the story and get the recipe →
04 · Side
Mexican Street Corn Salad
From Jeanine Donofrio at Love and Lemons
Mexican street corn, off the cob, scooped into a salad. Charred corn kernels with cotija, lime, mayo, chili, fresh cilantro. Easier to serve than ears on a plate, scoops well, makes ahead. Jeanine's version uses pan-charring so you can make it even when the grill isn't fired up.
This is the corn dish that travels to a cookout, holds at room temp, and disappears fast. Print it once, you'll bring it everywhere.
05 · Dessert
Strawberry Summer Cake
From Deb Perelman at Smitten Kitchen
The dessert that says the season has started. A simple yellow cake batter, fresh strawberries pressed into the top, all of it baking until the berries go jammy and the cake edges catch a little caramelization. Easy enough for a weeknight, pretty enough for a holiday.
Once strawberries are in season, this is the cake you'll make every weekend until they're gone. Print it once, locked in for years.
Print the menu
The meal that marks the start of summer for a lot of families. The first cookout of the year. The night the grill comes out and stays out. The recipes worth keeping for next year.
For more on building the binder where these recipes belong, read how to build a recipe binder that lasts. For the previous installment of this series, see What's on Our Menu: Mother's Day Dinner.