Smoked Burgers

flajoker

How do I get the nice smoke flavor in my burgers? I'm throwing them on a 550 deg. and my pellets,chips are burnt up before then from the heat. Can I cook them at 350 deg. and they still be juicy? Lovin my mini-egg. Also anyone have a good hamburger receipe?

Char-Woody

flajoker, you will have to semi freeze em in the patti's, then cold (200F) smoke em for about half hour, then remove, raise your grill temps to 400 to 500F and finish em. [p]Here is something that may influence your cook with burgers.
Never flatten a burger during a cook, you simply squish all the goodies out and result in a dry unappetizing piece of ground beef.
Rotate the raw meat in the palm of one hand and using your other hand and thumb round the edges. Make your burgers about 1 to 1.25 inches thick.
Grill at a lower temperature like 400F degrees and don't bother too much about keeping the dome. Grill these about 2 minute per side and then flip to the other side. You should have a nice dark grill mark already on the first flip. If not stay a bit longer then rotate your rack of burgers again. Do this repeatedly till you have a nice burgundy look to your burgers and a criss cross of grill marks. Keep the dome closed after your flips till the next one. Keep your temperatures as close to 400 - 450 as you can. It takes a longer grill time for burgers than for steak and you will have a well done burger. And perhaps the most juicy burger you every crunched. The juice will literally run out of the bun. But is clear and not bloody. The burgers will appear to get fatter and fatter in the middle as you have seared in the moisture.
See if it works for you.
Cheers to ya..hope you had a good Memorial weekend. The cemetary's here were quite a site with the hundreds of flags and flowers lining the paths in each one.
Veterans, I salute you all where every you are!
Char-Woody[p]

JimW

Char-Woody,
If you make the centers of the burgers thinner than the edges, some of that center bulging will go away.
JimW

Unknown

JimW,[p]I just read an article about grilling burgers that said you can make them thick but just make a small indentation in the center of each one with your index finger and they won't get that inflated look. Haven't tried it yet, but it sounds like the same idea you mentioned.

Char-Woody

JimW, your right, that is also true. Anything but squishing during the cook. when you thin the center your giving expansion room.
Way back in my history there was a place actually called "The Greasy Spoon" cafe. It was more like a counter and stools and a grill stove. It was a baked bean, chips and burger restaurant. Nothing fancy but he made some great burgers with patties doubled over cheese interiors. With his own seasonings. Sold a lot of burgers.
Some one else on the forum suggested a similar cook. Its worth trying and experimenting with. I added a bit of chopped onion to mine..A small slice of crispy bacon add's a bit of flavor also either inside or outside.
Burgers are I think a truely American dish...:-)
C~W[p]

Gretl

Char-Woody,
There was a hamburger joint at a strip mall in Phoenix when I lived there more years ago than I'll admit called "Harvey the Wineburger King". Those burgers were just awesome. There was always a line out the door of folks waiting for their orders. Harvey used a mixture of ground meat, seasonings, garlic, and red wine to make a VERY juicy grilled burger topped by a slice of raw onion and other fixings, served on a Kaiser roll. My skeptical nature in hindsight tells me that perhaps Harvey was covering up some questionable meat with all that stuff, but hey...the red wine probably killed some sins and nobody (that I know of) suffered any ill effects. Great memories.
Cheers,
Gretl

Char-Woody

Gretl, I love your reasoning...
Someday I will tell you about the sausage maker in a little tiny burg in Northern South Dakota. He had a huge bulbous nose that was on a constant rampage. Maybe I already told you the story now..:-)
Cheers atcha..
C~W[p]

Cheryl

EJ et al....
The indentation works even better if you actually poke a hole in the center.... the pattie will maintain it's horizontal AND vertical shape much better. I find my pinkie to be about the right size in a 1/4 - 1/3 lb burger. The hole disappears as the burger cooks. [p]Happy egging to you all!