what's the internal temperature of the juicy well done hamburger?

Powak · August 2016

Aside from cooking a burger until it looks good, is there a chart of temperatures for when a burger is rare through well done? I'd like to make a well done but juicy hamburger. And I've got an egg and a Thermapen to get me there.

Brisket_Fanatic · August 2016

160 is when ground beef from the store is technically safe of pathogens. However I like to pull around 155 and let the carry over temp get you home and cover the time frame it must stay at or above 160.

Carolina Q · August 2016

Juicy and well done are mutually exclusive terms.

Foghorn · August 2016

Carolina Q said:

Juicy and well done are mutually exclusive terms.

Actually they aren't. But it's a very narrow window. Do it exactly as @Brisket_Fanatic described and you'll get it right.

flyerdoc · August 2016

Carolina Q said:

Juicy and well done are mutually exclusive terms.

Hmmm, I'd have to disagree with you there Carolina, on my Weber Grill, perhaps, but not in the Egg, that Kamodo grill keeps much of the moisture in and if you sear it correctly I've found a nice balance. Anyway, I like mine well done and they are MUCH better when cooked in the egg. YMMV!

Hub · August 2016

flyerdoc said:

Carolina Q said:

Juicy and well done are mutually exclusive terms.

Hmmm, I'd have to disagree with you there Carolina, on my Weber Grill, perhaps, but not in the Egg, that Kamoda grill keeps much of the moisture in and if you sear it correctly I've found a nice balance. Anyway, I like mine well done and they are MUCH better when cooked in the egg. YMMV!

That is my favorite thing about my egg. It allows me to cook my meats well done while still keeping them juicy.

MeTed · August 2016

Great question, thanks for asking. I was just about to ask it myself.

Carolina Q · August 2016

Tony_T · August 2016

I get very good results @ 450°, 4min/side for a ½lb burger
Fully cooked and juicy with a 80/20 burger mix.

Just did a bacon mix burger last night…

Skiddymarker · August 2016

Carolina Q said:

Juicy and well done are mutually exclusive terms.

I agree with Michael, the best burgers give the egg the day off. Sous vide and finish in a CI pan for crust and colour. I always grind my own, but if you buy store bought ground, I'd use it for meat loaf....cooked to 155º and then pulled, like @Brisket_Fanatic said...
The egg will do a fine burger - but most of use do not smoke/slow cook a burger, we grill it and a kettle with $1 of roaring briquettes is a great alternative to an egg with $3 of lump in it.

Meeeshigan22 · August 2016

Wife hates even a hint of pink. Cook burgers to 160 and they make her happy and are a mess to eat. Good combo in my book.

onedbguru · August 2016

Skiddymarker said:

Carolina Q said:

Juicy and well done are mutually exclusive terms.

I agree with Michael, the best burgers give the egg the day off. Sous vide and finish in a CI pan for crust and colour. I always grind my own, but if you buy store bought ground, I'd use it for meat loaf....cooked to 155º and then pulled, like @Brisket_Fanatic said...
The egg will do a fine burger - but most of use do not smoke/slow cook a burger, we grill it and a kettle with $1 of roaring briquettes is a great alternative to an egg with $3 of lump in it.

That's an awful lot of lump. I can do a bunch of cooks in my XL utilizing the leftovers + maybe 3/4 Weber chimney full and at $10/20lb bag, I figure I am using < $1 worth at a time.

Cookinbob · August 2016

Steel on the egg is my chosen method. Great crust and flavor whether med-rare or well done.

Theophan · August 2016

I agree that I like my burgers on the Egg, usually cook them pretty well because I'm concerned about bacteria from store-bought ground meats, but they seem pretty juicy to me on the Egg. And I prefer the flavor of a grilled burger to one cooked on steel.

But I also have to agree with @Carolina Q in that even though I do like my well done burgers on the Egg, and find them reasonably juicy, no, they're NOT as juicy as a medium rare, very pink burger. And THAT's my favorite burger: a little bit charred on the outside from a charcoal grill, but very pink on the inside. Trouble is that I won't cook them that way using store bought ground meat. I keep thinking I'm going to buy some beef rib meat and grind it myself, and cook some FINE medium-rare burgers, one of these days... Haven't done it yet, though.

dldawes1 · August 2016

I just like burgers ! I don't really like red left in the middle....but I don't want them well done !

With the egg, I can get them perfect....PE (pre-egg) I would either burn them or not get them cooked in the middle !!

Powak · August 2016

And at what height do you guys grill your burgers? Raised/felt level or fire ring level?

fishlessman · August 2016

well done on a grill is dry to me, any grill

now well done smash burgers are still juicy and the crust only makes them better, maybe the thinness and the speed of the cook does that. on the egg i was making over cooked dry burgers with my thermapen, went back to my old ways of one flip juicy pink burgers

Tony_T · August 2016

Direct, not raised, lid closed, 450°, 4min/side for a ½lb burger

Powak · August 2016

Tony_T said:

Direct, not raised, lid closed, 450°, 4min/side for a ½lb burger

Did that and they came out killer! Thanks man for the tips. Ring level does the trick with burgers. As others have said you'd think they're dried out but they're nice and moist.

blasting · August 2016

For store bought gb, I agree with pulling as they approach 160.

If not doing smashburgers, I prefer cooking burgers on a kettle instead of the egg. Smoke indirect, then finish direct over coals for some crust. Lots of ways to skin this cat though.

I do love me some burgers.

NDG · August 2016

Glad it worked out . . next try SMASH BURGERS - done using this technique!

Personally . . pink "ground beef" to me is not appetizing at all . . This makes it hard to get juicy & well done . . but I am sure it can be done with tons of TLC and trial/error.

In my BGE experience, I tried and tried Pizza & Burgers tons of different ways . . but never could get consistancy. This is what I landed on after 5 years.
~ PIZZA: i moved to a blackstone pizza oven (tried to avoid) and consistancy easy with awesome results.
~ BURGERS: moved to smashburger technique and soo soo happy with results - here is link of one of my BGE posts

Phatchris · August 2016

I'm thinking fat content has a lot to do with juiciness especially in a well done burger.

nolabrew · August 2016

I tell my friends that it's worth buying an egg just to make burgers. Before I had the egg I would grind my own meat using a mix of grass fed and grain fed meats. I would meticulously make each patty and then cook them on cast iron in a mix of tallow and butter. It was expensive and time consuming but what a tasty burger. The first time I did a long cook on my egg I had some friends over to help eat it and one of them brought some cheap burger meat from the store. I grilled it up and I liked it more than any burg I ever made before I got the egg. Now I use any old hamburger meat I find laying around. I try to make the patties roughly the same size, but it doesn't really matter. I get the egg up to around 500, sear the burgs on each side for about a minute. Take them off and close the egg up, give it a few minutes for the fire to smolder, then put them back on, keeping the egg closed up for about 5 or 6 minutes. Pull them around 160F.

Killit_and_Grillit · August 2016

Cookinbob said:

Steel on the egg is my chosen method. Great crust and flavor whether med-rare or well done.

I gotta tell ya I agree here. When meat is ground you have a better chance of bacteria so you want it at least med well, which gives you a better chance of them drying a bit before you get them to plate.

I I did these for the first time a few weeks ago and the reviews were much better. It seared the bottom and forced the fat to cook through the meat instead of drip on the flames. Let them cook to well done and still were juicy and full of flavor.

Eggcelsior · August 2016

You can still get juicy burgers as long as the fat content is high enough or you add moisture. If I do anything above 80/20, I add a couple Tbsp of Worcestershire sauce which gives a nice umami flavor and adds moisture.

Powak · August 2016

I've done smash burgers with my Lodge on the egg and they are indeed the best.

Ladeback69 · August 2016

My wife and I prefer meduim well or somewhere between 140 and 150 so I go about 4-5 minutes at 400 direct on my GrillGrates which is about 500-550 actually. Now my mother-in-law likes her burger rare, so I will cook it about 2 minutes a side at temps above. We prefer a 80/20 mix as well and sometimes I make up burgers with my meatloaf recipe. That gives them a lot of flavor as well. I have a Little Griddle I got for Christmas I haven't used yet and may get it out this weekend to either do burgers our Rubens on or both.

This is what I have. I think @NPHuskerFL has one as well.
https://www.littlegriddle.com/collections/all/products/kq17r-kettle-q-stainless-steel-bbq-griddle

billt01 · August 2016

Well done juicy burger is fairly simple:

Higher fat content, lower heat, longer time...I'm sure there are variables, but think of it like a brisket...

westernbbq · August 2016

Add extra fat or some white bread soaked in whole milk. Mash it up and mix with your burger. You will have well done juicy burgers with either of these methods at 160F IT