Any Tips for making Smash Burgers? Using Campchef SG30 Griddle on Genesis

[Jim C in Denver]

It also said that Smashburgers (the chain) was founded in Denver in 2007. I'm sure people have been smashing burgers a lot longer than that. lol

The original store was located in Boulder County and was called Icon Burger. Some of the guys who were behind Quiznos (also based in Denver) bought that store, rebranded as Smashburger, and rolled the concept out nationally over the last 10 years or so.

The current Smashburger is imo OK but not great. People around here are MUCH more excited about In/Out Burger finally coming to Colorado at long last. When the first IOB store in CO opened, people were sleeping in their cars and waited 12 hours in line.

 

[Joe Anshien]

It also said that Smashburgers (the chain) was founded in Denver in 2007. I'm sure people have been smashing burgers a lot longer than that. lol

The original store was located in Boulder County and was called Icon Burger. Some of the guys who were behind Quiznos (also based in Denver) bought that store, rebranded as Smashburger, and rolled the concept out nationally over the last 10 years or so.

The current Smashburger is imo OK but not great. People around here are MUCH more excited about In/Out Burger finally coming to Colorado at long last. When the first IOB store in CO opened, people were sleeping in their cars and waited 12 hours in line.

It will have to be a cold day in hell or some kind of famine, for me to ever wait 12 hours to buy a burger.

 

[Tim K]

It will have to be a cold day in hell or some kind of famine, for me to ever wait 12 hours to buy a burger.

Joe, what you have to realize is, that all those people waiting for 12 hours for a burger were probably (how should I say it) judgement impaired and had a serious case of the munchies.......
Just sayin,
Tim

 

[Joe Anshien]

Joe, what you have to realize is, that all those people waiting for 12 hours for a burger were probably (how should I say it) judgement impaired and had a serious case of the munchies.......
Just sayin,
Tim

The only time I waited in line that long was in the 80's, for Elton John tickets at Madison Square Garden in NY. It was supposed to be his last tour. We did get 5th row seats, I got some great photos, and my friend got a piece of his piano bench.

 

[Joe Anshien]

I had my second attempt at smash burgers for lunch today on my Q320. First off I tuned up the Q with a scrape down and burner cleaning. I bought a used CI griddle for $20. I took temps on the grill with an IR thermometer. I found the center of the Q is 50 degrees cooler than the sides. See pics. I noticed that the first side comes out fantastic with a really nice mallard reaction. Nice and crusty brown. The second side not so much. When the first side hit the griddle it was over 500 degrees. Within the minute or two it took to cook with the top open and cold meat the temp for the second side was over 100 degrees cooler so no real crust. Any ideas on how to keep that griddle hot for the second side? Have you noticed the same on your grill?

 

[Richard in NS]

The best I have come up with on my Q3200 is to squeeze four on half the griddle and then move them to the other half when you flip them. The 3200 just doesn’t have the BTU’s to recover fast enough. The same griddle on my S330 with the sear burner works much better. And having your meat at room temperature and not right out of the fridge might help a little.

 

[John K BBQ]

Well, yesterday was a pretty great day. Weather was near perfect here in St. Louis so, armed with great advice from forum, I had another go at smash burgers. I got the griddle nice and hot and cleaned it with water and a wet rag, then reheated to around 420F and dropped four 2.5 oz balls on the griddle and let them sit for about 30 sec (I did not apply any oil to the griddle) The 80/20 ground beef meatballs were probably out of the fridge for 30 minutes before smashed em'



Here's a pic of the last patty after a good smashing. You can see the hefty camp chef spatula there on the right. I used pieces of parchment paper to help keep the meat from sticking to the spatula, and a potato masher to help push down. I also seasoned one side with a dash of Lawry's with Black Pepper



I used an aluminum pan to cover the burgers and melt the cheese. I used the spatual to lift the front and grabbed it with a gloved hand when the cheese was melted. I know we can buy covers but I'm trying not to fill my kitchen with uni-taskers.



Here is the end product - a triple cheese with plain yellow mustard and pickles. Wife, kids and friends all said I "nailed it". I did not achieve the crispy edges but I will give myself an A- on this attempt. Now that I have a good result on regular smashburgers, I will give the Oklahoma Onion burger a try.



Thanks for all the great advice

 

[Joe Anshien]

Well, yesterday was a pretty great day. Weather was near perfect here in St. Louis so, armed with great advice from forum, I had another go at smash burgers. I got the griddle nice and hot and cleaned it with water and a wet rag, then reheated to around 420F and dropped four 2.5 oz balls on the griddle and let them sit for about 30 sec (I did not apply any oil to the griddle) The 80/20 ground beef meatballs were probably out of the fridge for 30 minutes before smashed em'

View attachment 28081

Here's a pic of the last patty after a good smashing. You can see the hefty camp chef spatula there on the right. I used pieces of parchment paper to help keep the meat from sticking to the spatula, and a potato masher to help push down. I also seasoned one side with a dash of Lawry's with Black Pepper

View attachment 28082

I used an aluminum pan to cover the burgers and melt the cheese. I used the spatual to lift the front and grabbed it with a gloved hand when the cheese was melted. I know we can buy covers but I'm trying not to fill my kitchen with uni-taskers.

View attachment 28083

Here is the end product - a triple cheese with plain yellow mustard and pickles. Wife, kids and friends all said I "nailed it". I did not achieve the crispy edges but I will give myself an A- on this attempt. Now that I have a good result on regular smashburgers, I will give the Oklahoma Onion burger a try.

View attachment 28084

Thanks for all the great advice

The look great but were you able to get them crispy on both sides? I had a nice crispy first side and the second not so much. I should be getting a dedicated CI griddle https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08MTC8N9F/?tag=tvwb-20 that will replace a grate on my Q320 and put it right over the burner. If this does not do it, I will give up on SBs on the Q. I am cautiously optimistic and will report back when tested. I figured for $34 it is worth a try.

 

[John K BBQ]

The look great but were you able to get them crispy on both sides? I had a nice crispy first side and the second not so much. I should be getting a dedicated CI griddle https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08MTC8N9F/?tag=tvwb-20 that will replace a grate on my Q320 and put it right over the burner. If this does not do it, I will give up on SBs on the Q. I am cautiously optimistic and will report back when tested. I figured for $34 it is worth a try.

I went back and looked at your pics/post and after further reflection..... I think to get crispy edges, we may need to try 2 different things. First (and easiest) is to wait longer before we flip. Second, and not fun, is to make fewer burgers per batch.... basically cook on one side of the griddle while allowing the other side to stay really hot and working a rotational system.... and wiping grease/cheese off the griddle before starting the next batch.

I'm not sure temperature is the issue since your IR reading was around 500F. I think my set up can get to high 400s / low 500s if I preheat 20 minutes or so. Yesterday I was crunched for time and probably had about 15 minutes of preheat time. My griddle is carbon steel so wont' retain heat as well as CI but should recover a bit faster.

 

[Joe Anshien]

I went back and looked at your pics/post and after further reflection..... I think to get crispy edges, we may need to try 2 different things. First (and easiest) is to wait longer before we flip. Second, and not fun, is to make fewer burgers per batch.... basically cook on one side of the griddle while allowing the other side to stay really hot and working a rotational system.... and wiping grease/cheese off the griddle before starting the next batch.

I'm not sure temperature is the issue since your IR reading was around 500F. I think my set up can get to high 400s / low 500s if I preheat 20 minutes or so. Yesterday I was crunched for time and probably had about 15 minutes of preheat time. My griddle is carbon steel so wont' retain heat as well as CI but should recover a bit faster.

I was at the 500's to start. After the flip I noticed the griddle had gone down about a 100 degrees from the meat and keeping the lid open while smashing, cooking and flipping. Also the sides of the Q are hotter than the middle. That is why I am being optimistic about the dedicated griddle. I was thinking if you considered taking off your flavorizer bars when using the griddle. It would speed heat up and recovery time not having a diffuser layer between flips?

 

[John K BBQ]

I was at the 500's to start. After the flip I noticed the griddle had gone down about a 100 degrees from the meat and keeping the lid open while smashing, cooking and flipping. Also the sides of the Q are hotter than the middle. That is why I am being optimistic about the dedicated griddle. I was thinking if you considered taking off your flavorizer bars when using the griddle. It would speed heat up and recovery time not having a diffuser layer between flips?

If you look closely at my recent pics, you can see I did take the flavorizer bars that cover the two burners, and I stacked them on top of the flavorizer bar that sits in the middle. Now that I think of it, while convenient, these inactive flavorizor bars sitting between the burners may be robbing a little radiant heat from the system, so I'll remove them all together and see if that doesn't help a little bit. With flavorizor bars in the normal position, the hottest the griddle will get is around 375 regardless of preheat time.

 

[Jeff Boudman]

We had Smashburgers the other night. Used a recipe that we first made back in 2017. It was a recipe from Food Network mag. It also said that Smashburgers (the chain) was founded in Denver in 2007. I'm sure people have been smashing burgers a lot longer than that. lol

I had some in Frederick, Maryland years ago before smash burgers were a thing. They’d smash a meatball sized ball of ground beef on the griddle and smash some onions onto it. I think they were 20 cents a piece. They stayed busy.

 

[EricV.]

I haven't had the best of luck making smash burgers on a charcoal Weber. I'm not saying smash burgers can't be made on a charcoal or gas grill, but it seems that the more consistent results come from using a griddle grill like a Blackstone.

 

[Joe Anshien]

I haven't had the best of luck making smash burgers on a charcoal Weber. I'm not saying smash burgers can't be made on a charcoal or gas grill, but it seems that the more consistent results come from using a griddle grill like a Blackstone.

I don't have one yet but I would think it would be no problem on a kettle with a vortex with the wider part up and a griddle on top of that spot.

 

[EricV.]

I think you can control the temperature better with a Blackstone as well as the excess grease.

 

[John K BBQ]

I think you can control the temperature better with a Blackstone as well as the excess grease.

Eric - you are absolutely correct about how a purpose made griddle like the blackstone would work better. I figure if I can achieve the results I want with the equipment I have I'll have $$$ to spend elsewhere, and have more room on my patio for other toys.

 

[Ryan Burke]

Eric - you are absolutely correct about how a purpose made griddle like the blackstone would work better. I figure if I can achieve the results I want with the equipment I have I'll have $$$ to spend elsewhere, and have more room on my patio for other toys.

John, Do you have a Weber Kettle? If so the Hunsaker griddle for it works great. Works so good for $40 I sold my Blackstone.

 

[EricV.]

Eric - you are absolutely correct about how a purpose made griddle like the blackstone would work better. I figure if I can achieve the results I want with the equipment I have I'll have $$$ to spend elsewhere, and have more room on my patio for other toys.

I went down the smash burger "rabbit hole" a few years ago. I started with a "little griddle"

14 in. Round Stainless Steel Griddle for Kamado and Charcoal Grills

Since I own the kettle pizza, I tried this, see below: It was out before the Hunsaker griddle:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016X26ZY8/?tag=tvwb-20

Last X-Mas Wally World sold this on Black Friday for $99, which I bought. I will use it for numerous other items such as Fajitas, Philly Cheese Steak, breakfast etc. Since I am in the middle of a patio/cooking kitchen re-mod, I will not even bring it out to only get in the way. For $99 it isn't to big & is built quite well, just my .02.

 

[John K BBQ]

John, Do you have a Weber Kettle? If so the Hunsaker griddle for it works great. Works so good for $40 I sold my Blackstone.

Now you've gone and hit a sensitive spot..... I do have an old kettle and have seen the hunsaker griddle. I think the kettle with an upside down vortex and that hunsaker griddle on top would be really fun to cook on. My kettle is in storage because I've been grilling and smoking smaller cuts of meat on a PK360. I have a love/hate thing going with the PK360 and I'm always tempted to drag the kettle back out on the patio. Someday I'll post a short novel about the love triangle between myself and these two grills, but today's not the day

 

[Joe Anshien]

Now you've gone and hit a sensitive spot..... I do have an old kettle and have seen the hunsaker griddle. I think the kettle with an upside down vortex and that hunsaker griddle on top would be really fun to cook on. My kettle is in storage because I've been grilling and smoking smaller cuts of meat on a PK360. I have a love/hate thing going with the PK360 and I'm always tempted to drag the kettle back out on the patio. Someday I'll post a short novel about the love triangle between myself and these two grills, but today's not the day

John - I for one would love to hear that story when you are ready to tell;-)