Smokey, char-grilled flavor. Why is it missing from my burgers?


 
You're right about the salt it does enhance the flavor a lot. When the doctor put me on a low salt diet my burgers were just bland without it. Now I use spices to brighten them up but it's not the same. Wish I could add more, just keep trying and all of a sudden you'll get that Ah Ha. Good looking burgers.
 
Hi all.

I don’t usually like to bring back old threads but I felt compelled to let everyone know what is going on with my burger woes. First, I want to thank everyone that helped me with their tips, tricks, and processes. I want to let everyone know that as time went by, I wasn’t gaining any success, whatsoever. To recap, I simply couldn’t create a great backyard grilled burger. I mean, they were good, just not fantastic. They were missing a certain flavor element that all restaurant grilled burgers have. To be truthful, this flavor is impossible to describe. It’s just a great backyard char-grilled flavor that went missing on my burgers.

I’ve spent an incredible amount of time (and banging my head against a wall) trying to recreate this flavor on my own grill. Believe me, I tried everything. The hours of research boggles the mind. I was determined to get answers. Why were my grilled burgers lacking flavor?

This might sound a bit strange but my biggest discovery thus far has been the fact that 99.9% of the entire population doesn’t know or doesn’t care about missing flavor elements in their grilled burgers. A burger comes off the grill and it tasted good, that’s all they know. This is not to disparage the fine community, here, it’s just that I’m after something that people just don’t understand or just don’t care about. I care! Where was I to turn if no one understood?

I had a breakthrough!! That’s right, I now fully understand what I was doing wrong all along. I kept going back to my favorite burger joints, trying to put together an element that I was missing. I realized that restaurants use a commercial char griller. Wait, though, would that make a difference? Do I need to purchase a commercial char griller? Not quite. Here’s my breakthrough; I’ve never seen a restaurant with a lid on their grill. It’s that simple. The burgers are seared with extremely intense radiant heat at the cooking grate. We’re talking temperatures in excess of 650 degrees. When you close the lid on a consumer grade grill, you’re using mostly convective heat, essentially baking the burger. This was robbing my burger of massive amounts of flavor and drying it out.

Another big discovery I made was the fact that almost all consumer grilles sold today just can’t cook with the lid up. They’re designed to cook with the lid down. They just can’t produce enough heat to properly sear a burger. On my own grill, (Genesis S-310) I doubt the temperature at the cooking grate could maintain 250 degrees with the lid up. I thought about investing in a new infrared grill but I just got my Genesis and I think it might outlive me.

How was I going to create this kind of heat on my grill? I thought about Grillgrates and the concept became clear. Grillgrates cover the grilling surface, trapping heat underneath and concentrating it onto the cooking surface instead of it wasting away into the air. I was sold but I wanted to experiment, first, before spending any money. I covered my entire grill grate with foil. Don’t laugh, I know this is essentially frying a burger but bear with me a moment. I noticed that infrared grilles all had tiny holes drilled into the heating element/grilling surface. I poked tiny holes in the foil, between the grate rods, lots of them. Since this was a hardware experiment and not a software one, I was unconcerned that I was using pre-frozen ground meat. I preheated my grill and tossed on a couple of half pound chuck patties. They sizzled and smoke immediately! They smelled wonderful. Unlike my last experiment with the lid up, this was working! The burgers were actually searing with the lid up. Heat was being retained beautifully. Small amounts of fat drippings were dripping down into the heat tents but flare-ups were not an issue. These were the best burgers my grill has ever produced. I’ve repeated it twice, already. I’m going to be buying Grillgrates for my grill shortly.

Sorry for the long post and thanks, again, to everyone.
 
There may be something to your discovery. I don't use gas, but I usually do my burgers and brats with the lid up for at least part of the grilling. There's a difference between the grease dripping and burning up and dripping and smoldering. Smoldering without oxygen doesn't do much. Burning drippings, with little smoke and a bit of flame seems to be what separates my epic burgers from my average burgers.
 
I think your really going to like the grill grates. You can actually use both sides, which is nice. I've done burgers, fish and chicken on both sides with great results and flavor. Sometimes I use one of the panels on my kettle. I grilled salmon on them last night and the flavor was wonderful. Here's my setup. My grates actually replace the original grate.

 
Grillgrates give me great burgers, or steaks, chops, chicken. You can use pellets for smoke with them on a gas grill,
or just use them on a kettle. Best money that I have spent for any grill accy yet. Glad you have found your way to a great burger!
 
Nate, I'll be ordering mine custom cut, also. I'll be replacing my entire grate with Grillgrates. I'll keep my original grates handy for direct/indirect grilling.
 
I grill burgers with the lid off for searing and put them to the indirect side to cook through with lid on. Is the problem not getting enough sear, or is it not getting enough grill flavor? The sear is critical but you'll find people who don't like 'em that seared.

I don't grill on gas so I don't know the challenges there. With charcoal you can just get those burgers as close to the charcoal as possible for a quick sear. Kind of hard to do with a stock OTS.

I really like the idea of the grillgrates, I just wish a set of them for an OTS didn't cost as much as the OTS.

Anyway this is an old thread. This is my main thought, though. Don't let anyone trivialize burgers. They can be one of the most challenging things for a backyard cook to master.

I struggle with it. There's meat and seasoning, sure. Then there's making the patties which have to be together to not fall through the grill but not too together or the burger sucks. The cool thing with an upside down grill grate is that you can keep 'em loose so that solves that problem. Then you have cooking them properly which means a good sear, but not overcooking the inside.

Trust me I grilled for years turning the damn things into hockey pucks. I think you'll be happy with the grillgrates.
 
Dustin Dorsey said:
I grill burgers with the lid off for searing and put them to the indirect side to cook through with lid on. Is the problem not getting enough sear, or is it not getting enough grill flavor? The sear is critical but you'll find people who don't like 'em that seared.

I don't grill on gas so I don't know the challenges there. With charcoal you can just get those burgers as close to the charcoal as possible for a quick sear. Kind of hard to do with a stock OTS.

I really like the idea of the grillgrates, I just wish a set of them for an OTS didn't cost as much as the OTS.

Anyway this is an old thread. This is my main thought, though. Don't let anyone trivialize burgers. They can be one of the most challenging things for a backyard cook to master.

I struggle with it. There's meat and seasoning, sure. Then there's making the patties which have to be together to not fall through the grill but not too together or the burger sucks. The cool thing with an upside down grill grate is that you can keep 'em loose so that solves that problem. Then you have cooking them properly which means a good sear, but not overcooking the inside.

Trust me I grilled for years turning the damn things into hockey pucks. I think you'll be happy with the grillgrates.
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Thanks, Dustin. I would say it's mostly about the flavor. Getting a good sear is not a problem but the only way to do that is with the lid down, which robs tons of flavor. You are certainly one of the very few people I've spoken to that just may truly understand my plight. I'm a serious burger connoisseur so you can imagine how my personal burger failures have sent me on an extremely driven mission. Finally, I feel like I'm getting somewhere.
 
For what you will spend on GrillGrates, I would first buy a Smokey Joe or a One Touch Silver and see if your problem is your fuel source. I know you've had good burgers off a gas grill (I've read the whole thread and find it interesting...I love a great burger myself), but my best have always come over charcoal. Build a big fire, leave the lid off, and have at it.
 
I have been reading this thread from the beginning and also the thread about Grill Grates and it seems that you have found the answer to your burger dilemma. But I was wondering if you ever figured out how your friend and his wife made burgers on his $99 grill that had the flavor that you were looking for?
 
Al Silverman said:
I have been reading this thread from the beginning and also the thread about Grill Grates and it seems that you have found the answer to your burger dilemma. But I was wondering if you ever figured out how your friend and his wife made burgers on his $99 grill that had the flavor that you were looking for?
Click to expand...
It was quite a while ago, we were all upstairs chatting and his wife was making the patties and sending her friend down stairs with the meat so that he husband could grill them. From the second floor, I stepped out onto the balcony and looked down so that I could see him grilling. I saw a really small grill that looked like a Charbroil. I only saw it for a few seconds. I don't even remember if the lid was up. My only thought was that he had an older lava rock grill or possibly a small infrared grill and was grilling with the lid up. ::confused:
 
Hey M Borner,

I had this exact same problem for YEARS, and it was driving me nuts! The problem finally went away at some point a few years ago when I switched grills from my Webers (gas and charcoal kettle) to http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B003I4EJUC/tvwb-20. I know these are primarily Weber forums, but I think what makes this grill churn out such grate burgers is that the coals are so close to the food and everything that comes out tastes flame broiled. I have had this grill for 3 years, and every batch of burgers has had a great succulent crust. If you want to stick with Weber, maybe try a go anywhere, which is cheap and will bring the coals much closer to the grates. Or if you just want to experiement, spend $5 on a disposable foil pan grill, and see if that helps.
 
Pinny B. said:
Hey M Borner,

I had this exact same problem for YEARS, and it was driving me nuts! The problem finally went away at some point a few years ago when I switched grills from my Webers (gas and charcoal kettle) to http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B003I4EJUC/tvwb-20. I know these are primarily Weber forums, but I think what makes this grill churn out such grate burgers is that the coals are so close to the food and everything that comes out tastes flame broiled. I have had this grill for 3 years, and every batch of burgers has had a great succulent crust. If you want to stick with Weber, maybe try a go anywhere, which is cheap and will bring the coals much closer to the grates. Or if you just want to experiement, spend $5 on a disposable foil pan grill, and see if that helps.
Click to expand...

There are several ways to raise the charcoal closer the food on a weber. We don't have to get all crazy!:p
 
Pinny B. said:
Hey M Borner,

I had this exact same problem for YEARS, and it was driving me nuts! The problem finally went away at some point a few years ago when I switched grills from my Webers (gas and charcoal kettle) to http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B003I4EJUC/tvwb-20. I know these are primarily Weber forums, but I think what makes this grill churn out such grate burgers is that the coals are so close to the food and everything that comes out tastes flame broiled. I have had this grill for 3 years, and every batch of burgers has had a great succulent crust. If you want to stick with Weber, maybe try a go anywhere, which is cheap and will bring the coals much closer to the grates. Or if you just want to experiement, spend $5 on a disposable foil pan grill, and see if that helps.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Pinny! I like that term, "flame broiled". I cannot get that flavor with the lid down on my grill, period. My foil experiment made me realize that Grillgrates would be perfect for me. Weber tells me that their gas grills cannot be used with the lid open. Well, we'll just see about that. :)
 
Hello, all.
My reply back to this thread has been a long time coming. Many of you that have read through this entire thread know the trials and tribulations I have gone through in trying to create a great burger on my grill. Months, if not years, of banging my head against the wall in total frustration takes its toll. Hours upon hours of research on the internet gets old, too.

This reply is to let the good folks here know where I stand, today. To recap, I could find great burgers everywhere I went but I could not create one on my own grill at home. Sure, I could do “good” burgers on my grill all day long and my friends and family loved them. That wasn’t good enough for me. You see, I’m a serious burger connoisseur so what I covet is a truly great burger, a magnificent, memorable burger. All my favorite burger joints could do it, why couldn’t I?

I finally got Grillgrates on my grill! I custom ordered them for my Genesis so I’ve replaced my original grates and now have 100% coverage with Grillgrates. Grillgrates help create intense radiant heat, even with the lid up. For the first time in my life, I’ve bit into one of my own burgers and juice squirted out and dribbled down my chin. I had created the burger that I had dreamed of. I have repeated this several times on Grillgrates. I can’t say enough great things about them. I now grill my burgers with the lid up 100% of the time. I discovered that what I was doing wrong this whole time was closing the lid on my grill. This seriously robbed my burgers of that magnificent grilled flavor and dried them out. (I like my burgers cooked med/well) I know the general rule is to close the lid and 99.9% of all backyard grillers do it but in my opinion, it’s a mistake. I spoke with so many people that said “I cook burgers on my grill with the lid down all the time and mine turn out great”. I don’t really know what to say to that except that, as I mentioned before, most grillers simply don’t know or don’t care about missing flavor element in their burgers. Either that or they’ve never had “great” burger so they think their own burgers are great. But, who am I to tell grillers what they like? All I know is, from now on, I will NEVER grill a burger again on my grill with the lid down.

Thanks for listening.
 
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M Borner said:
Hello, all.
My reply back to this thread has been a long time coming. Many of you that have read through this entire thread know the trials and tribulations I have gone through in trying to create a great burger on my grill. Months, if not years, of banging my head against the wall in total frustration takes its toll. Hours upon hours of research on the internet gets old, too.

This reply is to let the good folks here know where I stand, today. To recap, I could find great burgers everywhere I went but I could not create one on my own grill at home. Sure, I could do “good” burgers on my grill all day long and my friends and family loved them. That wasn’t good enough for me. You see, I’m a serious burger connoisseur so what I covet is a truly great burger, a magnificent, memorable burger. All my favorite burger joints could do it, why couldn’t I?

I finally got Grillgrates on my grill! I custom ordered them for my Genesis so I’ve replaced my original grates and now have 100% coverage with Grillgrates. Grillgrates help create intense radiant heat, even with the lid up. For the first time in my life, I’ve bit into one of my own burgers and juice squirted out and dribbled down my chin. I had created the burger that I had dreamed of. I have repeated this several times on Grillgrates. I can’t say enough great things about them. I now grill my burgers with the lid up 100% of the time. I discovered that what I was doing wrong this whole time was closing the lid on my grill. This seriously robbed my burgers of that magnificent grilled flavor and dried them out. (I like my burgers cooked med/well) I know the general rule is to close the lid and 99.9% of all backyard grillers do it but in my opinion, it’s a mistake. I spoke with so many people that said “I cook burgers on my grill with the lid down all the time and mine turn out great”. I don’t really know what to say to that except that, as I mentioned before, most grillers simply don’t know or don’t care about missing flavor element in their burgers. Either that or they’ve never had “great” burger so they think their own burgers are great. But, who am I to tell grillers what they like? All I know is, from now on, I will NEVER grill a burger again on my grill with the lid down.

Thanks for listening.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear that you have reached a place of satisfaction. As for Grill Grates, the absolute best product on the market for pure grilling. I am now going to give you a trick to try the next time you do burgers or steaks on them..........of course, get them hot.......really hot, and then drop a handful of flavored smoking pellets right down in the troughs of the Grill Grates. They will smoke like crazy and impart even more flavor into your meat. Give it a try, you'll never not do it again.
 
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