Russell McNeely
TVWBB Wizard
Man, all terrific cooks and only one vote. This is gonna be a tough one.
Throwdown #4 - Burgers
- Thread starter Gary H. NJ
- Start date
Peter Gallagher
TVWBB Wizard
My throwdown entry is an adaptation of Mavericks’ Butter Burger. Maverick is a great joint in San Francisco’s Mission district.
We started out with local natural beef chuck from Emerson Dell Farm. We cubed and seasoned, and then partial froze it prior to grinding:
Next we ground the beef with butter - Lots of butter:
we then formed patties, and sealed them with more butter in preparation for sous vide:
It was at this precise moment I realized we didn't own a sous vide tank - Doh! As we all know, outdoor cooking and BBQ is all about the ability to make adjustments. I headed out to the garage and grabbed a few things:
A Smokey Joe, a number 12 Lodge and tripod might just be the the ticket!
We cooked them at 52 degrees Celsius for about 25 minutes.
We then did some fries and seared the burgers:
We served them on homemade buns with all the fixin's with a side of slaw. We poured a 2009 Capiaux Pisoni Vineyard Pinot. They were pretty good!
We started out with local natural beef chuck from Emerson Dell Farm. We cubed and seasoned, and then partial froze it prior to grinding:
Next we ground the beef with butter - Lots of butter:
we then formed patties, and sealed them with more butter in preparation for sous vide:
It was at this precise moment I realized we didn't own a sous vide tank - Doh! As we all know, outdoor cooking and BBQ is all about the ability to make adjustments. I headed out to the garage and grabbed a few things:
A Smokey Joe, a number 12 Lodge and tripod might just be the the ticket!
We cooked them at 52 degrees Celsius for about 25 minutes.
We then did some fries and seared the burgers:
We served them on homemade buns with all the fixin's with a side of slaw. We poured a 2009 Capiaux Pisoni Vineyard Pinot. They were pretty good!
Monster Juicy Lucy
I’ve been working on burger ideas for quite some time, and finally made this Monster on Friday night. I really like how this shows the versatility of the WSM, and after this dinner we actually par-cooked some ABTs for my niece’s birthday party today.
Prep Picture 1 – Ingredients
Focaccia dough (using the recipe from the baking section on here), one pound of ground beef, about 6 ounces of pepperjack cheese that I smoked a few weekends ago, Hawaiian sea salt, black pepper, olive oil and Penzey’s Chicago Steak seasoning.
Prep Picture 2 – Building
While the bullet was preheating, I made the burgers. The beef was split into two 8-ounce lumps then pressed into two wax paper-lined saucers, then seasoned and filled with cheese. Both halves were then pressed together trapping the smoked pepperjack in the middle, and with a lot of luck remained that way. The dough was also halved and roughly shaped into hamburger buns (I hedged my bets and made a spare bun).
Prep Picture 3 – Baking
Focaccia dough on a pizza stone, water bowl removed, WSM cranked up to approximately 400 degrees. The dough was olive oiled then seasoned with sea salt, Aleppo pepper and black pepper.
Prep Picture 4 – Grilling
While the bread rested, the burger was grilled. I removed the middle section and cooked the Monster Lucy over the coals using the grill grate from my kettle.
Plated Picture
The “bun” was split, then topped with mayo, roughly 15 pickle slices and 3 whole leaves of Romaine lettuce. Burger added then the whole thing quartered. I’d love to show you pictures of the entire burger and also just the burger cut in half with the cheese at full ooze, but have to stick to the 4 prep and 1 plated limit. This was a very fun cook, and probably a little lucky. This was my first time baking in the WSM (or baking bread for that matter), and my first time making an enormous burger – but it won’t be the last time for either. Great contest!
(My apologies to Brian and Earl, since there’s a lot of similarities to your cooks here. I was too busy watching the Pens-Flyers game and drinking Noble Pils last night to get this posted.)
I’ve been working on burger ideas for quite some time, and finally made this Monster on Friday night. I really like how this shows the versatility of the WSM, and after this dinner we actually par-cooked some ABTs for my niece’s birthday party today.
Prep Picture 1 – Ingredients
Focaccia dough (using the recipe from the baking section on here), one pound of ground beef, about 6 ounces of pepperjack cheese that I smoked a few weekends ago, Hawaiian sea salt, black pepper, olive oil and Penzey’s Chicago Steak seasoning.
Prep Picture 2 – Building
While the bullet was preheating, I made the burgers. The beef was split into two 8-ounce lumps then pressed into two wax paper-lined saucers, then seasoned and filled with cheese. Both halves were then pressed together trapping the smoked pepperjack in the middle, and with a lot of luck remained that way. The dough was also halved and roughly shaped into hamburger buns (I hedged my bets and made a spare bun).
Prep Picture 3 – Baking
Focaccia dough on a pizza stone, water bowl removed, WSM cranked up to approximately 400 degrees. The dough was olive oiled then seasoned with sea salt, Aleppo pepper and black pepper.
Prep Picture 4 – Grilling
While the bread rested, the burger was grilled. I removed the middle section and cooked the Monster Lucy over the coals using the grill grate from my kettle.
Plated Picture
The “bun” was split, then topped with mayo, roughly 15 pickle slices and 3 whole leaves of Romaine lettuce. Burger added then the whole thing quartered. I’d love to show you pictures of the entire burger and also just the burger cut in half with the cheese at full ooze, but have to stick to the 4 prep and 1 plated limit. This was a very fun cook, and probably a little lucky. This was my first time baking in the WSM (or baking bread for that matter), and my first time making an enormous burger – but it won’t be the last time for either. Great contest!
(My apologies to Brian and Earl, since there’s a lot of similarities to your cooks here. I was too busy watching the Pens-Flyers game and drinking Noble Pils last night to get this posted.)
j biesinger
TVWBB Platinum Member
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">It was at this precise moment I realized we didn't own a sous vide tank - Doh! As we all know, outdoor cooking and BBQ is all about the ability to make adjustments. I headed out to the garage and grabbed a few things:
A Smokey Joe, a number 12 Lodge and tripod might just be the the ticket </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
nice work on the bait and switch
. Besides setting up a funny joke, that's the coolest sv rig ever!
A Smokey Joe, a number 12 Lodge and tripod might just be the the ticket </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
nice work on the bait and switch
Joe InJersey
TVWBB All-Star
All of these burger cooks were great. I had to flip a coin to make my final vote!
Since this is already a landslide for Don, I'm going to take the liberty of posting the 6th picture that I couldn't post earlier. This is what happens when you cut a 1 lb. Juicy Lucy in half.
Nice burgers everyone and congrats to Don! Can't wait to see what you pick for the next challenge.
Nice burgers everyone and congrats to Don! Can't wait to see what you pick for the next challenge.
