Smoked Burgers????

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john battersby

Fire Starter
Original poster
Aug 20, 2012
31
16
Marietta, Ga
Ok, so for my first attempt at smoking I want to do burgers.  A local BBQ house has got me hooked on theirs, and I want to take the flavor home!

I've looked up a bunch of recipes, and I am confused about using or not using binders.  It seems a lot of recipes I have found by Googling also have a lot of spices and salts and such.  Also, do I finish on a grill or no????

So, can you guys suggest a recipe and a process?  I want something that will make my wife drool, wont fall/crumble apart, and obviously tastes great!  So would someone just through out a turn key burger for me to try maybe????  (Kinda staying away from stuffed burgers, or anything wrapped in pork.)

Thanks!!!
 
So here is what I think I'll do...

Some 80/20 ground beef

garlic salt

ground mustard seed

paprika

carmelized onions, finely chopped

and I'll top mine with yellow American cheese :D

Just trying to decide on just smoking them or should I finish them on the grill...
 
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I saw a debate on the tube a while back between chefs. One group put all kinds of "stuff" in the meat and cooked it. The other group (Bobby Flay) said that the best burgers were "just cooked meat" and the rest was about the condiments. Decisions, decisions.
 
Different strokes for different folks, but I'm a minimalist when I'm grilling.  If you want to get fancy with a burger, IMO the way to do that is with stuff you put on the burger after you've cooked it.

I can't see how you could go wrong smoking then finishing on the grill though.  
 
Sometimes though, I like a condiment free burger.  Just meat and cheese.  Its just so good to get that basic taste!!!

But I do the following combinations:

-full setup with spicey or regular mustard, mayo, cheese, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, and onion

-cheese, sriracha sauce, and a little ranch dressing

-cheese, Guiness HP sauce, French's Onions

when my first smoked burgers come off the smoker/grill, I will probably go with the traditional full setup, and hopefully I'll be drooling on myself because it came out so good!!! :D
 
My Dad grew up in a family of Butchers so he was a pretty hardcore minimalist when it came to meat. A kid could be disowned for putting Ketchup on a Steak. His favorite saying when it came to Burgers was, " Put anything you want ON a Burger but put anything IN a Burger and you got Meatloaf! "...JJ
 
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A kid could be disowned for putting Ketchup on a Steak."...JJ
And for good reason.  Ketchup on a steak?  Blasphemy.

My girlfriend put a steak in the microwave a while back because it wasn't quite done enough for her (it was just under medium rare, which is dead solid perfect if you ask me) and she didn't want to wait to finish it on the grill.  That was a really trying point in our relationship.
 
I just smoke 'em and eat 'em.  When I make up my burger meat mixture, I'll mix in some BBQ sauce along with other seasonings to keep the burger meat from tightening up when smoked (I usually buy 1/2 80/20 and 1/2 90-10 then mix them together).   I also baste them with sauce or butter every 15 minutes until done to help retain moisture.
 
So here is what I think I'll do...

Some 80/20 ground beef

garlic salt

ground mustard seed

paprika

carmelized onions, finely chopped

and I'll top mine with yellow American cheese :D

Just trying to decide on just smoking them or should I finish them on the grill...
 This looks good, although I would skip the paprika and mustard seed and add salt and pepper. Make them at 3 burgers to the pound. IMHO burgers are like steak and should be grilled and not smoked, if you want some smoke flavor add some wood to the charcoal when you grill them or grill them over wood coals.
 
My Dad grew up in a family of Butchers so he was a pretty hardcore minimalist when it came to meat. A kid could be disowned for putting Ketchup on a Steak. His favorite saying when it came to Burgers was, " Put anything you want ON a Burger but put anything IN a Burger and you got Meatloaf! "...JJ
 I like the way your Dad thinks
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I just smoke 'em and eat 'em.  When I make up my burger meat mixture, I'll mix in some BBQ sauce along with other seasonings to keep the burger meat from tightening up when smoked (I usually buy 1/2 80/20 and 1/2 90-10 then mix them together).   I also baste them with sauce or butter every 15 minutes until done to help retain moisture.
 Why not just use 85/15?
 
 IMHO burgers are like steak and should be grilled and not smoked, if you want some smoke flavor add some wood to the charcoal when you grill them or grill them over wood coals.
I can't tell you how good the local BBQ house's smoked burgers taste.  They are just so big and juicey.  And the flavor!!!  I might go get one today (they only do smoked burgers Fri-Sun), and ask if theirs kiss the grill before being served or if they just straight smoke 'em.  They don't use any binders in their burgers.  They pat out really big patties, and sprinkle them with their rub.
 
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