Hello. I feel a little silly even asking this but I sometimes have trouble and I am sure others do as well. You would think this is "old hat" and a burger is grilling 101. Is it? Burgers can be a bit hit and miss for me. Maybe cold beverages affect my burgers more than I'd like to admit.
I know this is more grilling than smoking but I throw in wood chips when I grill steaks and burgers. So looking for your thoughts. I want to develop a meat mixture of more than just the locally available mince to make a burger. But that's another story. So here is my question: If you go to the local fast food joint you get a "burger" that is always the same size, more or less cooked medium to well done, BUT "tender and flaky" if you can use those words to describe a burger. . When I grill a burger it CAN come out "heavy and sometimes tough" even when served medium rare. Yes I do season my burgers and sometimes add things like onion and even jalapeno to the meat mixture. Things that the local joint does not do. I know the more you mix mince the "tougher" it can become; especially if you use your hand as it adds heat which melts the fat to a degree. I have even tried using a fork to mix the mince. Not always successful and sometimes the burger falls apart when grilling. My mind is telling me to use a fork to mix, weigh the meat so that each burger is "roughly" the same thickness, use a chilled burger press to form the burger and then chill the meat before cooking?? I never add an egg to the meat mixture??? I know their "burger" is not 100% percent meat. Do you reckon that makes all the difference? I do from time to time fry a burger in a way my Grandmother taught me; your gonna think I have lost my mind. Don't know how she came up with it but you add some PLAIN crushed cornflakes to the mince, celery, onion ( maybe jalapeno ) mixture. Make a brown beef gravy in the same frying pan and serve over mashed potatoes. WOW! Those are never heavy or tough but they just don't work for a burger. The "solid" beef taste is not quite there. While writing this I just had a thought, the local burger joint cooks from frozen?? Ya reckon? Interested in your thoughts, ideas and methods. Keep Smokin!
Danny
Danny