Anyone Done Burgers?

[TxSmoker]

Was thinking about trying some burgers in the BS this weekend. Did a search on hamburgers but didn't come up with anything. Has anyone done this? Recipes? Steve

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

I'd worry a bit about ground meat in the smoker without cure, especially if you are in the temperature danger zone for a while.

Arcs_n_Sparks

[TxSmoker]

Hmmm, yeah, never thought of that. At the risk of sounding stupid, what is the danger zone that I need to stay away from? Was basicly thinking of cooking as high as it would go, which is 230-240 for me.
Thanks, Steve

[Mr Walleye]

I never personaly tried burgers but here is a link to some that have. They smoked them at 220 for 2 hours then threw them on the grill for a few minutes per side.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=1966.0

Here's another one
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=3636.0

And here is the recipe from the Bradley site

Smoked & Grilled Venison

Ingredients
• 500 g (1 lb) ground venison (or substitute any ground meat)
• 1 medium size fine chopped onion
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) salt
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) mustard
• Pepper to taste
• 1 egg

Preparation
Beat the egg in a large glass bowl until smooth. Add the meat, salt and onions. Mix together until it is blended very well. Place in refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours allowing the meat to set up. Remove from refrigerator and hand form 5 to 6 evenly sized hamburger patties. Place on greased Bradley Smoker racks and sprinkle with pepper to taste.

Smoking Method
Preheat the Bradley Smoker to 90°C (200°F). Using Hickory flavor bisquettes, place racks of patties in the Bradley Smoker and cook/smoke for 1/4 to 1/2 of an hour. Remove from the Bradley Smoker and place on hot grill to finish cooking. For further flavor delights smoke onion slices and mushrooms along side the burgers. Garnish with cheddar or monterey jack cheese, bacon if desired and your favourite hamburger condiments, such as tomatoes or lettuce. Serve inside big crusty hamburger buns or slabs of grilled garlic bread. This will be your tastiest, juiciest game burger ever...



Mike

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

The bible on this by Rytek Kutas has the danger zone as 40 to 140 degrees, low acidity, and no oxygen. If you have a hotter box as suggusted by the Mr. Walleye links, should be okay. This is usually a problem with sausages that have the box at 160 degrees, and spend a lot of time coming up to temp. Just wasn't sure of your intentions, since some people are "cold" smoking meat, then putting on the grill to finish.

Arcs_n_Sparks

[Mr Walleye]

Yup... gotta agree with Arcs. You definitely want to try to keep your temps out of the danger zone if your not using any cure like in hamburgers. But by the looks of it there have been a number of successful smokes using a little higher temps them hitting them with the grill for a few minutes.

Mike

[Oldman]

This is just my take on this subject. If I wanted to smoke hamburger at a lower temp of let's say 190 F I would purchase a whole cryo packed brisket and triple grind it.

When I want a nice medium rare burger I grind a couple of chucks then one to a hot grill....

[West Coast Kansan]

Looks good Mr. Walleye, adding the egg is a good idea - guessing helps with binding. I also like the smoker to grill approach.

The smoked onion and mushrooms are dandy in the BS. I like the small onions best. 

Thinking about burger in the smoker - the not your mamas meatloaf is great and can be modified easily to taste.  I think it is a must do.

[NePaSmoKer]

I BS some veinson bergers awhile back, turned out real good. Smoked for 1.5 hrs with hickory @180 then put on stove to finish em off.

Good luck N have fun   ;D

nepas

[TxSmoker]

Well, I did it. I used ground chuck with italian dressing mixed in and I put extra sharp chedder stuffed in the middle. Smoked em for about an hour and a half with hickory. They turned out real nice I must say. Next time I will use a little less smoke or a milder wood because it was just a tad to strong. All in all it was a great burger. Thanks for all the input everyone! Steve

[smokin stu]

I smoked some burgers last summer.  Mixed two parts ground beef to one park ground pork, rubbed them down with Ted Reader's bone dust, with Kosher salt and Turbinado sugar rather than regular salt and sugar.

3 pucks, and then kept in the smoker till the meat temp was high enough.

Threw in some whole beef hotdogs as well.  Everything was great.

[trapperbob]

Last year I mesquite smoked a pound of ground beef open pan in for an hour. I mixed it in with my chili and was great.

[Malc]

I did 'em this way.  Mixed about two lbs. of 80/20 ground beef with a package of Durkee Grill Creations Chiptle marinade.  Don't actually make the marinade, just mix it with the beef.  I smoked them at 200 while I was doing a pork shoulder for two hours with hickory, and then finished them on the grill.  Grilling will take some of the smokiness away.  Tasted like a steak.

Malc

[manxman]

Welcome to the forum trapperbob, keep them posts coming.  ;) :)

[Wildcat]

Welcome to the forum trapperbob! ;)