Trouble grilling hamburgers


 
My wife is a burgerholic. So we cook them several times a week.

We grind our own burger using Chuck and Round which keeps the meat/fat ratio about 90/10 or better. We grind it coarse, but we grind it twice. We tried moving down to the medium grind, but found it was too fine for our tastes. My wife make 1/3# burgers that are about 5 inches across. We get very little shrinkage which leaves the burgers larger than the buns.

When I put a burger on I use a timer. I time it for 1 minute then lift and twist it about 45 degrees to get the crosshatched lines. Then I leave it there for another minute. The pink (blood) and some clear juices will come to the surface then. After the 2nd minute I flip it completely over and cook it for 30 seconds before adding cheese. After I add the cheese I turn the burners off and let it finish cooking for another minute while the cheese melts.

Not that my way is the best way, but it's what works for me.
 
I have gravitated towards doing smashburgers more often than not.

My typical ingredient list looks something like this:
* 4 lbs 70/30 ground beef
* 1 large Vidalia onion finely diced
* 3 medium jalapenos finely diced (usually French slice them and avoid the seeds & pith)
* 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
* 1/4 cup Don's Seasoning Delight (the bold/spicy version. It's labeled as a marinade, but it's a low sodium flavor enhancer)

Form into tennis ball sized balls.

Drop them on a hot cast iron griddle over the coals that have a couple chunks of mesquite smoking nicely.

Press down with a spatula or cast iron press.

Close the dome.

Wait five mins and use two spatulas to carefully flip.



I'm stranded at work right now......I'll throw some pics and links to the Don's Seasoning Delight when I get home.



My teenage son has always been a harsh critic of my cooking. He has told me to never change how I do the burgers.

I'm gonna change up though.....smashburgers are fun to cook....but I want to do something that's not so loose.....a tighter burger, if you will. The key for me is to get a nice width to the patty but not have it so thick.





A slice of sharp cheddar covered by a slice of American on each burger.

Serve 'em on toasted buns.
 
Rusty James said:
Sounds good, Dub. :)

Interesting combination.
Click to expand...



Thanks, Rusty. It came out of necessity as my son and I are huge fans of 5-Guys Burgers and we'd always order grilled onions, jalapeños and bacon on our burgers.

Doing them at home provided similar flavors.
 
My 0.02p.
We all cook some quite complex menus with grate results. But the hamburger can bring us down to earth with a big bump if not done right.
I never start with finely ground beef. For me it makes a dense hockey puck burger.
For 4 burgers.
Of late I have been using 1.75lb of 90/10 rib-eye or chuck, ground medium. 10% beef bone-marrow finely ground. Finely diced red onion. One beaten egg into the mix to assist with binding.
Don't over work the mixture. I make the patties about 5" in diameter, and about 3/4" thick.
Cook over a high heat about 1-2 minutes either side depending on one's guests preference.
A lot of info tells us to cook ground meat to 160f IT. I don't. I go to 135f IT max, as long as your prep is clean.
 
Here's 2 cents worth. If you have a WSM, you likely cook ribs and brisket. Grinding your own burgers is a plus. (I'm a fan of the "coarse grind twice" like Bill Elwell.) I get a nice fatty chuck roast then add rib and brisket meat. Briskets are cut "long" these days, often with a pretty thin end on the flat. They don't fit well on an 18.5", so I buy a large one and cut up to 5" off the thin end. I cube and freeze the cut-off for a burger grind. If you buy an untrimmed rack of pork spare ribs, you will end up with a nice pile of fat and meat trimmings when you get it ready to smoke. Again, cube and freeze. I shoot for roughly 40% chuck, 40% brisket and 20% pork rib. Coarse grind twice and don't overwork the patties (I usually do some 6 oz. and some 8 oz.).

As far as cooking, I like to go hot, 3-4 minutes per side to get a crusty outside and pink inside.

Jeff
 
Light the chimney, dump the coals, put the burgers on and close the lid. Two or three minutes later, open lid, flip burgers, close lid. Two or three mins after that, gently press down on the center of a burger with the corner of your spatula. How does it feel and look? Soft and mushy with gloppy red juice running out? Needs to cook more. Kind of firm with pale pink liquid coming out ? Probably perfect. hard with almost no liquid ? Over cooked.

If they still need to cook more, what to do next is a judgment call. If the outside of the burger is getting crispy, more than you want, then move them to indirect heat, drop the lid and let them cook for a while. If they haven't gotten crispy and you want them to, then leave over direct heat, drop the lid and give them a couple more minutes. BTW, "crispy" does NOT mean burnt.
 
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