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Ham & Cheese Stuffed Burger w/ BGE Stuffed Burger Press

jfm0830
jfm0830 Posts: 987
edited June 2013 in EggHead Forum
After posting Grilled Chicken Parmesan and Diner-Style Steamed Cheeseburger from this weekend, I wasn't going to post this third meal, but I changed my mind figuring some folks might be interested in this new BGE stuffed burger press. The press worked as advertised and I also found a cookie cutter was a good way the cut up fillings for the burgers. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

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A 1 pound, 1" thick beef chuck steak was cut into 1" strips & was put in the freezer for 45 minutes.





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I discovered the well the BGE burger press creates is just over 3" in diameter. This meant I was able to use my 3" cookie cutter to cut out rounds from some imported Polish ham and some N.Y. sharp cheddar to use as my fillings.





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My new baking are makes a good burger grinding and prep area. They both use my stand mixer, large bowls and the Kitchen scale.





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The spices were mixed with the frozen strips of chuck steak which helps get them thoroughly mixed throughout the ground chuck. The spices I used were cumin, oregano, salt & pepper. 





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The partially frozen strips of chuck steak were easily ground. The ground chuck was weighed out into 4 equal 1/4 pound portions that are formed into patties for use in the press. 





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The lower patty is placed into the lower half of the burger press. It is formed so that it fills the press out to the edges.





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The lid of the press is inserted with the small 3" diameter side down. This is pressed down to form a 3" well in the middle of the patty. The top is removed leaving the well that you stuff with your favorite fillings.





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I installed alternating layers of the imported ham and N.Y. sharp cheddar.





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The upper patty is placed over the top of the filled lower patty and the top  of the burger press is placed on again, this time with the 3" handle side up. The top cap is  used to press the two patties together with the end results shown in the lower picture. The burger is released from the press by pushing up on the base of the press. The formed burger pops out of the press and you remove the bottom disc of the press from the bottom of the patty.





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The Egg has been pre-heated to 500 degrees and everything is ready to go.





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The buns get a quick 15 second toasting on the half-moon cast iron griddle grate.





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The buns are done and the patties are on. They cooked for 3:30 minutes per side and I tried turning them at the mid point to go for a cross hatch of grill marks. 





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The burgers are ready to come off the grill. Next time I won't bother to go for the cross-hatch grill marks. They really didn't come off well. I also think I will  install the cast iron grill grate with the thin side of the bars up and not the thick side like I did here. The good news was I got ZERO leakage. I think the tight fitting disks of ham & cheese I used may have helped here too.




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The burgers are done and will rest for 2 minutes.





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Time to eat!! The patty is on the lower bun.





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I put some relish on the patty and some Dijon mustard on the top bun.



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This was a tasty burger and I can wait to try some other fillings. 

The burger press does a great job and the type of filled burgers you can make is limited only by your imagination. Only one thing: these are huge burgers-you might want to plan on splitting one between two people. 

Jim
Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.

Comments

  • pwg56
    pwg56 Posts: 93
    jfm0830 said:
    After posting Grilled Chicken Parmesan and Diner-Style Steamed Cheeseburger from this weekend, I wasn't going to post this third meal,
    Anytime you have the thought "I'm not going to post this", please suppress it!  These look so good! I'm so hungry now!
  • Dredger
    Dredger Posts: 1,468
    Oh man, that looks delicious. Love burgers on the egg.
    Large BGE
    Greenville, SC
  • cdees_1993
    cdees_1993 Posts: 135
    I have one of these presses that I have not tried yet!  You sir just gave me new motivation!  Great Job!

  • jaydub58
    jaydub58 Posts: 2,167

    Whoa!   Ham'n'cheese Juicy Lucies!

    What a great idea.....................................drool, drool!

     

    :D
    John in the Willamette Valley of Oregon
  • Hibby
    Hibby Posts: 606
    Cool idea. Nice post.
    I cook. I eat. I repeat. Thornville, Ohio
  • RV10Flyer
    RV10Flyer Posts: 140
    I'm glad you decided to post this cook. Thanks for the play by play pictures; very informative.


    North Texas

    XL and Small BGE

  • finster
    finster Posts: 136
    Looks great.
    MBGE in Charleston

  • MrCookingNurse
    MrCookingNurse Posts: 4,665
    I've gotta stuff a burger some day, currently my egg set up is in shambles and between two houses 


    LOOKS AMAZIN MAN 


    _______________________________________________

    XLBGE 
  • Lowflyer
    Lowflyer Posts: 785
    Looks great, now I gotta go buy a press.
  • shtgunal3
    shtgunal3 Posts: 5,629
    Awesome burgers Jim!

    ___________________________________

     

     LBGE,SBGE, and a Mini makes three......Sweet home Alabama........ Stay thirsty my friends .

  • jfm0830
    jfm0830 Posts: 987
    Thanks guys for looking and commenting. I can see you a lot more stuffed burgers in my future after using this press. My first use of this press marks the first time I've ever made one of these and had zero leakage. Not even a tiny drip anywhere.

    Jim
    Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
    3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.
  • Griffin
    Griffin Posts: 8,200
    =D> Great looking burgers, Jim. So that press is made by BGE?

    Rowlett, Texas

    Griffin's Grub or you can find me on Facebook

    The Supreme Potentate, Sovereign Commander and Sultan of Wings

     

  • jfm0830
    jfm0830 Posts: 987
    @Griffin Yes it is in the new 2013 catalog and goes for about 12 bucks. Works like a charm,but makes biggish burgers, nearly 1" thick.
    Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
    3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.
  • WiltOnTilt
    WiltOnTilt Posts: 102
    Jim, ever since you answered some of my newbie questions a few months ago, I have always kept an eye out for your posts. They never disappoint! Excellent pics and write up, A+++!!! Keep them coming!
  • caliking
    caliking Posts: 18,727
    man that's a good lookin burger! How did you like the Kitchen-Aid for grinding the meat? I have the grinder attachment and have been thinking about making some sausage.

    #1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February  2013 • #3 Mini May 2013
    A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
  • jfm0830
    jfm0830 Posts: 987
    edited June 2013
    Thanks for the additional comments!

    @mountaindewbass that is the same device based on the picture and your description. The base of mine has an insert shim you use depending on the size burger you make. Shim in and you use a 1/4 pound patty top & bottom. This is what I did here. If you take the shim out you use a 1/2 pound patty on the bottom and 1/4 pound on top. I didn't try the 3/4 pound burger. The 1/2 pounder plus fillings was plenty of burger for me and I wasn't sure how a burger with the filling pocket not vertically centered would cook up. 

    @caliking the grinder has worked like a charm for burgers. I have been a bit hesitant to try it for sausages for reasons I will explain in a moment. There are several things that KA or my Wicked Good Burgers cookbook suggest that help: 
    -The meat gets cut into strips that will fit down the feed chute and then put in a plastic bag which goes in the freezer for 45 minutes.
    -Don't grind completely frozen meat.
    -Don't plan on grinding large batches of meat, it isn't a dedicated meat grinder.
    -The right speed is important (4)
    -The WGB folks have you store the grinding blade and the two grinding plates in the freezer. Just make sure they are bone dry when you put them in the freezer together. 
    -The WGB folks have you wash your hands with hot water and rinse with cold when you handle the meat.
    -The WGB folks have you add the seasoning spices to the meat mix in some of the recipes) before grinding. I have been doing this in recipe from other cookbooks whenever it makes sense. This way you don't end up having to handle the meat more after it is ground to get the spices mixed in. 

    Now the only time I had a bit of a problem was my first session when I tried to do a double grind with the small grinding plate installed for the second grind. It was clogging up and the meat would stop grinding. I needed to switch back to the coarse plate to finish. I haven't dared do sausage yet because I believe you'd use the fine plate. But it was most likely stupid user error. I think the problem was trying to do a double grind with a fatty cut of meat. Rereading the directions a few weeks ago, I found a tip in the directions saying to grind fatty cuts of meat only once.

    Jim
    Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
    3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.