Grilling for a hungry group.


 
Lance-DjL

Lance-DjL

TVWBB Member
Hi everybody,

I was the designated grill cook for our block party this weekend. I recently added five inches of width to my grilling surface with a new grate from Dave Santana. It really made a difference with my four burner Summit.

My question is, I'm used to cooking just a few things at a time but I found myself with a different landscape cooking 12, 80/20 burgers at once. I started with a good sear but with so much meat and grease, the flare-ups took center stage. Everything turned out good but I think I could have cooked a better burger If I had more experience with volume cooking on my grill. Any advice?

Thanks.

PXL_20230624_230255881.jpg
 
I think flare ups are going to happen with that many burgers. They look similar to to 75 % patties I get at Costco and my experience is even 4 patties at once can get flames going.

@Timothy F. Lewis has the right advice, just keep at it.

I'm just Monday morning quarterbacking ideas here. I would cook the dogs first and move them to the warming rack in the pan. That will free up some space.

I would designate a cooler zone. I'm right handed so I prefer it on the right side. With a hot flare up zone on the left and a cooler zone on the right I'm not reaching across flames.

I'd stagger the burger starts. Start six get them to flip temp, and when they are ready to flip, flip them on the hot side, let the grease fire up then immediately move the burger to the cool side. If the cool spot flares up, shut a burner off or move the burgers up to the warming rack so they don't burn to a crisp.

As soon as you have three or six flipped and away from the flare up put more raw on in the flare up area. You'll get six cooked every few mins, and with a helper carrying off six cooked burgers for service you can focus on keeping the flare up under control.

You may want a second helper to ensure your cold adult beverage is not empty.
 
DanHoo said:
I think flare ups are going to happen with that many burgers. They look similar to to 75 % patties I get at Costco and my experience is even 4 patties at once can get flames going.

@Timothy F. Lewis has the right advice, just keep at it.

I'm just Monday morning quarterbacking ideas here. I would cook the dogs first and move them to the warming rack in the pan. That will free up some space.

I would designate a cooler zone. I'm right handed so I prefer it on the right side. With a hot flare up zone on the left and a cooler zone on the right I'm not reaching across flames.

I'd stagger the burger starts. Start six get them to flip temp, and when they are ready to flip, flip them on the hot side, let the grease fire up then immediately move the burger to the cool side. If the cool spot flares up, shut a burner off or move the burgers up to the warming rack so they don't burn to a crisp.

As soon as you have three or six flipped and away from the flare up put more raw on in the flare up area. You'll get six cooked every few mins, and with a helper carrying off six cooked burgers for service you can focus on keeping the flare up under control.

You may want a second helper to ensure your cold adult beverage is not empty.
Click to expand...
I’m with Dan on the stagger method, there will always be flares, that’s just the way of the thing, management is the key. The other critical piece of advice is the immediate availability of a cool beverage!😉🍸🍺🍹
Since you have the upper rack, you “could” put the first six or so up there and stack them too.
 
“Learning from your mistakes at each grilling session” and why not buy a good BBQ book on grilling like the one in the attached photo.
 

Attachments

  • 0DB45632-F2CB-43FB-AE32-2637DFE22E37.jpeg
    0DB45632-F2CB-43FB-AE32-2637DFE22E37.jpeg
    123.8 KB · Views: 7
When I used to gas cook and had flare ups, I’d lower the fuel temp down to slow the pace and avoid hockey pucking the burgers.

This will give you more time to manage the cooks and you can slowly add more heat as you place the final sear to get to done temps.

And moving burgers to the upper deck will help when you have grease fires going.

I like how you panned the dogs once done. That’s a good use of space and keeping them warm.

With more experience and less heat you can grow into these larger cooks.

Looks like you had fun. That what really matters. And that no one had to go to the hospital is bonus. 😂
 
Ensuring your flavor bars are grease free and the bottom of the box is not full of leftover ash beforehand is a good idea. You might also want to turn your grill up on high for 5-10 minutes and burnoff what you can before starting new cook. Also mentioned above, have at least 1 cool zone to move fast cooking pieces to, using the upper rack or warming pan can help manage heat. You might also want a water bottle near by to spray flareups, particularly with high fat meat like burgers. Finally, check your burner settings, after an intial heatup, I find cooking around 1/2 way on my E-310 is plenty hot enough for burgers, particularly if im closing the lid part of the time.
 
Last edited:
Brett-EDH said:
With more experience and less heat you can grow into these larger cooks.
Click to expand...
I was thinking I would need a higher heat setting because that much cold beef at once would lower the temperature of the grill/grates.

I'm rethinking everything thanks to everyone's great suggestions.
 
Lance-DjL said:
I was thinking I would need a higher heat setting because that much cold beef at once would lower the temperature of the grill/grates.

I'm rethinking everything thanks to everyone's great suggestions.
Click to expand...
Yea and no. Preheat on high to get the grates hot and clean. Then drop the meat onto the grate and then dial down to 60% and increase as needed.

All will depend on your burger size in weight and size. Thicker burgers will take longer and I’d lower the heat and close the lid on those.

Skinny burgers can take the upfront sear and then dial down the heat to flip and finish.
 
I see
Brett-EDH said:
Yea and no. Preheat in high to get the grates hot and clean. Then drop the meat onto the grate and then dial down to 60% and increase as needed.
Click to expand...
I see. Good advice.

What I did was cook the veggies (zucchini) first on med heat. Then the hot dogs at about 50%. Then not knowing it the overall temperature was going to drop, I cranked it up to ensure I would get the searing grill marks.

Maybe in this particular case I should have put on a "test" burger to see if the sear would happen. Live and learn.
 
I don't think I would worry too much about the grill marks on burgers, I seem to get them without even trying plus they are going to get covered with a slice of cheese anyways. The best way to cook burgers without starting a fire is to cook them indirect, I can cook ten burgers at once on my Genesis 1000 this way. I turn the middle burner off and put five across the middle of the grill and five on the rack that hardly anyone uses. I know your grill has the burners the other way and I'm not sure the best way to go about indirect cooking on that, but I'm sure there is a way. You can cook hot dogs at the same time as the burgers, put them anywhere else on the grill as they generally won't start a fire.
 
Another way to look at doing burgers (and I do this at times). Is just run the grill flat out or near flat out. Just keep a safe zone. When I do this I use my Wolf because it has extreme grilling power, large surface are and 6 burners. I keep one burner off, burner next to it on low and 4 burners ripping. I don't close the lid. I simply "embrace the flames" and if it should look like it may become a conflagration I simply move the offending burgers off to the safe area until things subside.
Makes for a little more "fun" and great "show" :D
 
No, to both. But honestly it gives a different flavor dimension. The trick is to have enough heat and to keep the lid up. Otherwise the burgers take on a burnt grease aroma and taste. Also the other trick is not to allow a full blown grease fire to occur. It's a balancing act to have just enough "fire" to pull it off but not so much you burn everything or make it taste burned
 
I would suggest embracing the grease flare ups and get prepared to react quickly and continuously. Keep the heat on high and the grill clean. Use a long-handled tool. Learn what a cooked burger looks like - I usually simply look for shrinkage. When a flare-up occurs, simply move the affected burgers away from it to a safer area. This often means simply stacking them on top of other burgers until the flames die down. If you start by putting six down, it shouldn't be a problem if one or two cook faster than the others due to flare ups.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top