Mixed Bacon/Cheddar/Mushroom Burgers: Q-view

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forluvofsmoke

Smoking Guru
Original poster
OTBS Member
Aug 27, 2008
5,170
409
Hey all!

I've been cranking things up quite a bit lately in a pretty fast-paced manner, and while I really enjoyed cooking them all and sharing them with you here, I started thinking this morning that I hadn't paid homage to the lowly burger for awhile...hmm. So, maybe it's time for me to slow down a bit and enjoy the more simple things? Well, OK, just for today, anyway...LOL!!!  I thought I'd toss out a kicked-up version of the beef burger to do it proper justice...you see, I even have trouble keeping the simple burger simple...ha-ha-ha!

Anyway, smoked burgers are among the easiest thing you could toss together, but with a little extra touch, they can be in a class all their own. I've grilled-up some pretty wicked burgers over the years, even mixed meats like this, but smoked, well, I seem to keep my rigs pretty busy on other projects. Now it's time to focus on just a really good smoked burger.

4.5lbs 85/15 ground beef, 6oz smoked bacon slices (diced), 8oz medium cheddar cheese (fine cubed) and 6.5 oz chopped canned button mushrooms (store was sold out of fresh) will take up the bulk of the mix, with seasonings from my cherry dry rub for beef? OK, my heart is in it all the way now...may as well kiss the simple burger good-bye! I'm thinking a nice big, thick burger...1/2 lb (no, this isn't going to be fast-food) formed to about 4-1/2" diameter? Yeah, and hickory smoke @ 205-210* for about 3 - 3.5 hours should do the trick for the likes of these...slow enough to keep them juicy, and hold some of the cheese inside.

I think my plan is all set, so, let's get started!

Cheddar, bacon and 'shrooms diced fine...the bacon was frozen and the cheese was straight out of the fridge and still well-chilled, which facilitated an easier dicing...all done with a chef's knife:

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I tossed the burger meat with seasoning first, then added the goodies to toss again and bring it all together:

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No hand contact with the meat just yet, but it's time to make some monster burgers:

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These are the big dogs, at over 1/2 lb each on a cookie sheet:

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And some 1/4 to 1/3 lb for the smaller appetites in the house:

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I know I'm going to loose quite a bit of cheese from the burger mix even with a lower temp smoke chamber, and I'll guess that the smaller ones will suffer the most lost, but I did start with quite alot, so there should be enough left when the smoke clears.

I'm starting the big burgers first, and will add the smaller ones after an hour:

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Man, these are big...6 is a comfy load for the 15" x 23" SV24 grate...8 would be a crowd:

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Temp this morning was 25*, has since dropped to 18*, with fog all day, it's been misting for the past several hours, and since I fired up the Smoke Vault it has been spitting tiny little pellets/sleet...do I care? Not one bit. A dry water pan to compensate for temps and relative humidity and we'll be smokin'!

The lil' buggers just into the Vault @ 55 minutes from start-up with the monster burgers:

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Hmm, these are holding up pretty nicely so far..cheese is starting to melt as the meat is heating through...I'll cross my fingers:

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And the waiting begins...TIC-TOC...TIC-TOC...

I know the flavors will be great together, I mean, bacon, cheddar and mushrooms mixed into beef...how could that not be good...the cherry based seasoning I use for beef is good to go, so I'll be ready when these babies are!

Oh, ambient temps are now 14* and it's still trying desperately to snow.

Finish pics and the results of my labors ASAP! About two more hours of smoke time, so maybe 3 hours or so. I hate these delayed posts sometimes, but it's an upload thing...I gotta get pics up while I can or it can tie me up for half the night.

Thanks all!

Eric
 
Man, I can always tell when the barometric pressure is changing from incoming weather. My GOSM did this alot too...I'm having temp spikes and drops tonight...hit 250* about 40 minutes ago, popped the door for a quick chill-off, dialed the burner back just a crack, and 20 minutes later I was looking at 155*.

I probed on of the big boys about 2-hrs, 40 minutes into the smoke and had a 130* reading. I've never noticed a burger hitting a stall as I don't probe them until I think they may be gettting close, but I guess anything's possible, especially as big as they are.

 
Go man go!!! Are you probe them bad boys of just go by touch?
yeah, Terry, I'll probe several of these, as there's just too much going on inside the burgers to go by texture. A pocket of cheese or a couple chunks of mushroom could give a false sense of sponginess when it could be overcooked at that point.

They sure did take on that blonde-haired sun-tanned witch look in just short of three hours...LOL!!!

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I need to put the smaller burgers up above so they slow down a bit now...they have caught alot of cheese from their counterparts on the grate above...hmm, recycling at it's finest...LOL!!!

My big gut is about to eat my little one!

Back soon! Thanks guys!

Eric
 
They Still Look Great...  Might try hi-temp cheese next time...
 
Fished pics and results!

 
They Still Look Great...  Might try hi-temp cheese next time...
Thanks Paul, yeah, I need to find out where I can get some...sausage making suppliers I'm sure, but locally could be another story. Ah, I can always put a pocket of cheese into a double patty layer...I've done that before.
 

 Anyway, I did loose quite a bit from the bigger patties, but they were still a great eating burger with the mushroom and bacon inter-minged throughout. You can even see some bacon peeking through the surface here and there on a ferw of them.

The lil' fellas:

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The big boys:

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Of course, mine was a 1/2 pounder, and these are the large size buns...and then, I had 1/2 of another to top it off...these must be good  for me to eat that much meat in one meal (insert smoky belch here...LOL!):

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A few bits of cheese are still in there, but most is gone...seems like I've used cheese in burger mix when grilled a couple times and it worked a bit better...maybe the low & slow isn't the way to go in the case of cheese in a burger
th_dunno-1%5B1%5D.gif
...maybe it's too long in the melting temp range for the cheese...hmm.

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Good eating anyway...pulled the bulk of them at 165-168*, just a tad hotter than needed. Banana pepper to top off the burger with a buttered/grilled bun was really good...man, the bun can make or break a burger, IMO. Hmm, you can even see a smoke ring...

If I do the mix like this again...(OK, who am I kidding?!?!?)...when I do this again, I'll pocket the cheese in the center or get the high temp cheese as Paul mentioned.

That was fun to find out how it would work out any, knowing some would be lost for sure. The temp spikes may have had some effect, but that wasn't the whole issue at all.

Thanks all! Great smokes!

Eric 
 
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