How do you Prepare your Grilled Burgers?? Do you use Gas or Charcoal??

[KC2IXE]

I mostly use gas for the ease - usually don't have TIME for charcoal

That said - when I do go charcoal, natural lump charcoal is the ONLY way to go. Kingsford (and ANY Brickette charcoal) is a fairly high percentage clay (or other binder) - make it burn significantly cooler than lump charcoal - in fact, you can make a quite nice foundry for Al using nothing but lump charcoal and a blower

 

[cy]

no lighter fluid!!! only start natural lump charcoal with a chimney. I've got a small foundry that I set chimney upon for forced air start to red hot in a hurry.

try to flip once for burgers and steaks. always cook with a thermometer! like to cook steak to 155 degrees, then temp will slow raise to aprox. 160 for max safety.

for chicken I'll cook to min 160degrees for boneless breast, 180 for 1/2 chicken. for pork tenderloin cook to 160 degrees.

prefer cooking temp of 225 to 250 F range, any colder and carmelizing will not happen, too hot and it drys out. and yes I alway cook with a thermometer in grill.

lots of veriables in marbling of fat needing different cooking times. so you take care of veriables controlable.

folks are always asking me for my receipe, I tell everyone it's not the seasoning. it's the proccess. good ole salt pepper and garlic works great!!!

 

[cy]

deleted..

 

[Big_Ed]

I like the taste of charcoal, but I use gas. It's just so much quicker, easier, and more convenient. Plus, in my line of work (I'm a mover) I'm always coming across gas grills that my customers don't want to take with them. In fact I just brought one home last week. I also get lots of free propane cylinders, usually with plenty of gas left in them, so using a gas grill has been 100% free for me for the last 12 1/2 years. Can't go wrong there!

 

[DieselDave]

At my house it's quantity over quality when it comes to burgers. I cook 30-40 a week for my son. He only likes them super thin and very, very well done. Today I cooked 60 burgers using 90/10 meat. I only use salt on his burgers. He eats them plain, no bun, no catsup, no nothing. It's his only source of protein. I vacuum sealed all of them and put them in the freezer because I had just cooked another 40+ on Wed. When I catch it on sale I buy 20-30 pounds.

My grill is a Broilmaster P3. I bought it 5-6 years ago for the lifetime warranty. I just got a new burner and grates by walking into my grill store and telling the guy my grates were rusting and my burner had a hot spot. I didn't need the old ones, didn't fill out any paperwork. He handed them to me and I left. I love the grill.

I recently threw away all my ceramic briquettes and now use a screen in it's place. Cooks nice and even plus no more flare-ups. I am able to raise my grates to the top setting and cook 3 loads of burgers (15 pounds) on high without getting flare-ups.

I admire all you charcoal folks but I don't have the time. I know you die hard charcoal people don't agree but I can't tell a difference between gas and charcoal unless someone puts the meat on the charcoal before the fluid has burned off. I've used a dedicated charcoal smoker for turkeys, briskets and ribs and done the same with gas and a small stainless smoker box filled with chips. I haven't cooked a butt on gas so it might be different but steaks, fish, hot dogs chicken, and all the rest taste the same to my uneducated pallet. I do like the purest concept of charcoal and I like sitting around after cooking and watch the coals burn down with a cool one.

 

[PoliceScannerMan]

Dang!! That is 4-6 burgers a day Dave!! I would be 450 pounds by now!! :lolsign:

 

[AlphaTea]

Weber Gold 22" with Mesquite wood chunks started in a chimney is the best. Kingsford is a very close second.
I do believe it is against the law to use a gas grill and call the finished product Bar-b-que

My very favorite grilled items are a 6 oz Omaha Steaks Filet Mignon marinated in McCormicks Montreal Steak Seasoning cooked over Mesquite Chunks with an unshucked ear of Silver Queen white corn cooking along side. :rock:
My wife (being a psuedo-veginut) likes her Boca burger (aka hockey puck) on the grill too.

I also like Nathans Hot dogs on the grill

 

[CLHC]

Well, I had ribs last night with some friends, and even though it was pretty good, I DID taste "lighter fluid" on the meat. My stomach felt churned after that. . .

 

[KC2IXE]

...snip.... Silver Queen white corn cooking along side....snip...

Ah, Silver Queen corn. I remember when there was ONE farm where you could get it. Yep - ONE! There was a farmer in the Esopus Creek Valley of NY who was some sort of hybrid corn developer - used to go by his place, and he would have 20-30 varieties of corn, along with all the acres of "regular" corn - it was quite strange to see the corn plants with plastic bags to prevent "wild" polination. He would sell some of each type to get opinions of what was "good"

There is a small camping spot about 2 miles down the road - we would bring a camp stove up, get the water boiling, then go up to the farm - if you waited, you could get corn just coming in from the field. YUM

I don't think the farm is still doing hybrid development, but they still grow a LOT of corn (as do the neighbors). That farm does not have a stand anymore, but the farm next door does

 

[Nitroz]

Well, I had ribs last night with some friends, and even though it was pretty good, I DID taste "lighter fluid" on the meat. My stomach felt churned after that. . .

That is the reason for the charcoal chiminey. You put newpaper on the bottom and light it, this way you use no lighter fluid whatsoever.

 

[CLHC]

Thanks Nitroz! Gotta try some of your Georgia BBQ! :wave:

 

[chmsam]

Ditto from me for charcoal and a chimney. Three or so double pages of newspaper wadded up and a single match will do it -- walk away and come back in about ten minutes, dump the coals, and cook. Easy.

Always use a meat thermometer (the "stomach bug" usually is food poisoning). Calibrate the thermomter by getting a glass full of crushed ice or tiny ice cubes and a small amount of water in the bottom. Place the tip of the thermometer in the water and wait a few minutes. The thermometer should read 32 F (at sea level, but usually close enough).

Temp ground beef to about 165 F. Ground meat is different from whole cuts.

Having cooked on a grill for many years, I gotta disagree with America's Test Kitchen -- searing does work to help (repet, help) in sealing in juices. They also rinse cuts of meat and you probably don't need to do that since it just washes off most of the liquids that flavor the eat. Meats handled properly in processing and in store, and that are cooked properly and safely should pose few if any health problems.

A couple of big tips for burgers --

1). the leaner ground beef (say 95% lean) can be really dry and not give too much flavor. You have to have some fat so the burgers are juicy, have flavor, and good texture. Dpn't be afraid to use 90% or even 85% for great burgers.

2). and this is a BIG HELP, btw. Let the meat rest for a few minutes off of the heat after it has cooked. The tempertature will continue to rise for several degrees (really, it will), and the juices will work their way back into the meat. Think of it as steam cooking and pulling off the lid before things cool instead of waiting. The steam just bursts out and so will the juices in meats.

And again, charcoal rocks!

 

[James S]

I can't figure out how people use lighter fluid and then get it on the food. I've used lighter fluid every time I've lit the grill my whole life and my father before me and we've never had that problem. I think people just dont wait long enough for the charcoal to be ready. If it's still burning off the lighter fluid you can't put the food on, and once the fluid is all gone it still takes 15 or 20 minutes before the coals are ready to cook on making sure that not a trace of lighter fluid is left anywhere.

I do own a chimey that I used for a while, but it really isn't any faster and I need a second one if I'm going to make enough for a regular grilling session. So I went back to lighter fluid.

You can't get proper crust formation with gas because water vapor is a byproduct of the combustion. It works ok, but I prefer charcoal! Lately I've been using the Kingsford with the mesquite chips embedded in the cube, I LOVE it. Being from Chicago I can only ever own a weber brand grill

 

[Glass]

I only differ with you on one thing. I think steaks should get the same 'no double cook' rule as other foods. Cooking a side, flipping it, and then flipping it again only dries out the meat and toughens it, as far as I can tell.

One other pointer. Take into account the ambient temperature. Here in SoCal, during the summer I might start a grill when it's 105 outside. Yet in early spring (or even winter), I might have air temperatures of only 50 to 60 degrees.

I bet you are right about the the no double cook rule for steaks as well. Better to be safe than than eat shoe leather.

You are right on about the ambient temp being a big factor. It can almost double the amount of time your food takes to cook when the temp is around 40 degress F.

Patrick

 

[DieselDave]

Dang!! That is 4-6 burgers a day Dave!! I would be 450 pounds by now!! :lolsign:

You are correct except it's his only source of protein. It's darn near fat free because he likes little bricks for burgers and there is no bun, no cheese no mayo no nothing with it. I bet the burgers are no more than 200 calories each and may be less than that. They are so well done they aren't even shiny when they come off the grill.

My Dad came in from SA today so I cooked some New York strips. I like rib eye better but they were sold out.

I have discovered my grill preheats faster with the screen I just put in instead of my ceramic briquettes, at least up to 350-400. It's now slower to reach 500+ and it cools down quite a bit faster when I open the lid to flip the meat.

 

[magic79]

I much prefer charcoal...but damn I'm being tempted by some of the outdoor kitchens with a couple of side burners.

Does anyone know of a charcoal grill with 2 side gas burners???

My "secret" recipe includes rosemary on the coals. I have several rosemary plants in my garden (incredibly easy to grow, and it's a perennial). I snip several branches before I start the grill. When I put the meat on, I put a couple of branches on the coals. The give lots of incredible rosemary smoke. As I turn the meat, a couple more go on the coals. Yum yum.

I have a comment on Weber. In 1986, I opted to buy a "no name" kettle grill. Last year (!!) I finally decided to replace it with a "real" Weber after 19 years. Already this year, the coal grate has burned in two!

 

[KevinL]

Charcoal is inconvenient (compared to just flicking on the gas grill and having it fire up), but has a unique and very special flavor of its own. Usually I have no time to cook....so gas it is.

Try toasting the bread lightly over the charcoal as well. Once the woodsmoke gets into the bread it acquires a unique flavor that *NO* gas system will ever be able to give it, period.

 

[cy]

here's a pic of an excellent chimney to get. Weber chimneys light up a full size load of coals and are constructed out of thick guage steel to last.

I use a portable forge combined with a chimney. gets coals red hot in under 4 minutes if you are in a hurry.

here's a pic of my Hasty Bake, model "Southern Belle"

 

[SilverFox]

An interesting comment from one of my grilling books...

Although prudence and science dictate cooking a hamburger to 160F to avoid problems with salmonella, you can still keep succulence in by placing a disk of herb butter inside the hamburger. The melting butter flavors and moistens the hamburger from the inside, so you can cook it through without drying it out.

I can tell you that the results are delicious...

Tom

 

[Lee1959]

I use natural lump charocoal, or propane depnding upon how much time i have, in winter I still grill a lot so I use propane while standing outside in -10 with 20 mph winds.

I make my burgers by taking equal amounts of chuck ad sirloin and grinding them in a food processor, use short pulses until the texture is to your liking, do not leave it too thick or it will not hold togther well.

I make half pound patties and use a sprinkling of one of 5 Maine Smoked Sea Salts on each as the only addition.