Michael Park
New member
My wife and I had a hankering for hamburgers, so we bought 3 pounds of ground beef at Publix and a Weber Burger Press at Ace Hardware.
We coated the ground beef liberally in Worcestershire sauce and Kinder's SPG blend before making the patties. The 3lbs of beef made 5 patties on the big side of the burger press. The burger press was moderately difficult to use for a first timer. The meat kept getting stuck inside. Next time, I'll get some appropriately sized parchment paper. If that doesn't work, I'll just go back to forming the patties freehand.
I lit a single lighter cube under 1/2 chimney of KBB and waited ~10 minutes until the coals looked good to me. I dumped the coals on the charcoal grate, put the cooking grate on, closed the lid, checked that all vents were 100% open, and let the cooker preheat for 15 minutes.
I planned on cooking the burgers over direct heat for 5 minutes per side or 10 minutes total cook time. After the 15 minute preheat, the lid thermometer only read 340. After 5 minutes, the burgers were extremely raw and borderline unflippable. I flipped them anyway. After 10 minutes, they were raw and barely flippable. After 15 minutes, they were undercooked, and I moved the most cooked ones to the coldest area of the grill and shuffled the least cooked ones to the hottest area of the grill. After 20 minutes, I took them off the cooker, and we ate the burgers.
The flavor was very good, but they were not charred on the outside like I wanted them. They were also medium well, and I would have preferred a medium center. I give them a 7/10.
I think the grill just wasn't hot enough for what I was trying to do. I don't think I used enough charcoal, and I may have dumped them on the charcoal grate before I should have. Next time, I'll use a full chimney of charcoal and make sure it is fully lit before dumping the coals on the grate.
I forgot to close the vents after the cook, and when I remembered, it had been 1 hour and 50 minutes since I dumped the charcoal on the grate and the lid temperature was still registering 270. This little grill may have more long slow cook capability than I realized.
We coated the ground beef liberally in Worcestershire sauce and Kinder's SPG blend before making the patties. The 3lbs of beef made 5 patties on the big side of the burger press. The burger press was moderately difficult to use for a first timer. The meat kept getting stuck inside. Next time, I'll get some appropriately sized parchment paper. If that doesn't work, I'll just go back to forming the patties freehand.
I lit a single lighter cube under 1/2 chimney of KBB and waited ~10 minutes until the coals looked good to me. I dumped the coals on the charcoal grate, put the cooking grate on, closed the lid, checked that all vents were 100% open, and let the cooker preheat for 15 minutes.
I planned on cooking the burgers over direct heat for 5 minutes per side or 10 minutes total cook time. After the 15 minute preheat, the lid thermometer only read 340. After 5 minutes, the burgers were extremely raw and borderline unflippable. I flipped them anyway. After 10 minutes, they were raw and barely flippable. After 15 minutes, they were undercooked, and I moved the most cooked ones to the coldest area of the grill and shuffled the least cooked ones to the hottest area of the grill. After 20 minutes, I took them off the cooker, and we ate the burgers.
The flavor was very good, but they were not charred on the outside like I wanted them. They were also medium well, and I would have preferred a medium center. I give them a 7/10.
I think the grill just wasn't hot enough for what I was trying to do. I don't think I used enough charcoal, and I may have dumped them on the charcoal grate before I should have. Next time, I'll use a full chimney of charcoal and make sure it is fully lit before dumping the coals on the grate.
I forgot to close the vents after the cook, and when I remembered, it had been 1 hour and 50 minutes since I dumped the charcoal on the grate and the lid temperature was still registering 270. This little grill may have more long slow cook capability than I realized.