I decided to try the BBQ burger from one of Jeff's newsletters. Instead of making them open at the top I decided to close them up. There are a lot of different ways to try this and I plan on exploring more ways(like maybe pimento cheese). Here's how it went down:
First I smoked 6-8 large CSRs for my BBQ. This doesn't take as long as a butt and they were on sale so it's a win-win in my book. I injected these meaty CSRs with apple cider vinegar and rubbed them. I put them in the smoker @ 7pm. I applied heavy doses of hickory until 9:30pm. I took them off at 9:30 and added a glaze/marinade that I've used before for CSRs. It's a mixture of bourbon, brown sugar, dijon mustard and soy sauce. I foiled them and cranked the temp up a little to speed up the process. I set a reminder on my phone to check them at 11:30pm. However sleep won out and I didn't wake up until 1:45am. I should've set an alarm and not a reminder. I found 2 things. One the CSRs were done and two the glaze/marinade had become a glue b/t the CSRs and the foil. No worries as I was able to salvage a good bit of the meat. I deleted the pics of the BBQ b/c my phone is running out of space.
Fast forward 4 days later. Now it's time to smoke the burgers. I had 9 adults to feed so I bought 7lbs of 80/20 ground beef. I'm the type of cook that has to make sure I have plenty for everyone so I usually buy and make more than plenty. I wanted to get something closer to 90/10 but mixed up the packages. With that in mind I made the burgers a little bigger thinking they would shrink a little. I used b/t 1/3 and 1/2lb of hamburger and a heaping handful of bbq. I used a rub with the hamburger meat and some rub on the top before going into the smoker. I also wrapped a nice strip of bacon around it and stuck a toothpick in.
The Mrs sauteed some mushrooms and onions. I set the smoker to 250 deg for the first 45 mins then went to 280 for the last 45 mins with a helping load of hickory. After making 12 burgers I still had a little more than 1.5lbs of hamburger left over.
I cranked up the temp to try and crispin up the bacon but really should've left it alone. I got them a little too done and they were dry. I'm either going to keep the temp down the whole time or add some sort of liquid to the burger. I didn't want to use worcestershire sauce so I may try something else. All in all it was very good and everyone loved it. Lots of smoke flavor and the BBQ was really good. I ate a lot of the BBQ cold before putting them in the burgers. Of course no one went for seconds b/c those things were huge. Thanks for looking.
First I smoked 6-8 large CSRs for my BBQ. This doesn't take as long as a butt and they were on sale so it's a win-win in my book. I injected these meaty CSRs with apple cider vinegar and rubbed them. I put them in the smoker @ 7pm. I applied heavy doses of hickory until 9:30pm. I took them off at 9:30 and added a glaze/marinade that I've used before for CSRs. It's a mixture of bourbon, brown sugar, dijon mustard and soy sauce. I foiled them and cranked the temp up a little to speed up the process. I set a reminder on my phone to check them at 11:30pm. However sleep won out and I didn't wake up until 1:45am. I should've set an alarm and not a reminder. I found 2 things. One the CSRs were done and two the glaze/marinade had become a glue b/t the CSRs and the foil. No worries as I was able to salvage a good bit of the meat. I deleted the pics of the BBQ b/c my phone is running out of space.
Fast forward 4 days later. Now it's time to smoke the burgers. I had 9 adults to feed so I bought 7lbs of 80/20 ground beef. I'm the type of cook that has to make sure I have plenty for everyone so I usually buy and make more than plenty. I wanted to get something closer to 90/10 but mixed up the packages. With that in mind I made the burgers a little bigger thinking they would shrink a little. I used b/t 1/3 and 1/2lb of hamburger and a heaping handful of bbq. I used a rub with the hamburger meat and some rub on the top before going into the smoker. I also wrapped a nice strip of bacon around it and stuck a toothpick in.
The Mrs sauteed some mushrooms and onions. I set the smoker to 250 deg for the first 45 mins then went to 280 for the last 45 mins with a helping load of hickory. After making 12 burgers I still had a little more than 1.5lbs of hamburger left over.
I cranked up the temp to try and crispin up the bacon but really should've left it alone. I got them a little too done and they were dry. I'm either going to keep the temp down the whole time or add some sort of liquid to the burger. I didn't want to use worcestershire sauce so I may try something else. All in all it was very good and everyone loved it. Lots of smoke flavor and the BBQ was really good. I ate a lot of the BBQ cold before putting them in the burgers. Of course no one went for seconds b/c those things were huge. Thanks for looking.