Burgers

[Chris__M]

I have a regular group of folk who come round once a month to play board games - anywhere between 6 and 16. Lunch is almost always something off the BBQ.

One month, as an experiment, I cooked some burgers low and slow - on my pellet grill, but you could equally do them on any smoker. I cooked them at about 180F, for a couple of hours. They were very tasty, really juicy, and had a great smoked taste.

The following month, I was asked if I was doing the smoked burgers again. Or rather it was more like a demand.

Since then, I've always cooked them the same way for that crowd. As someone explained, it isn't that they are better, it is that they are different, and they can get grilled burgers anywhere.

You need thick burgers for this to work, with a decent fat content. What really surprised me is that leftovers reheated really well in a microwave, a couple of burgers in a covered dish with a tablespoon of water, and that was my next day's lunch.

[stretchie_]

My fine lady bought me a 10 gauge meat grinder as a Christmas present so I am very much looking forward to jumping on the homemade burger wagon!

We just do a coarse grind for burgers but just try the different ones yourself to see what YOU like. Don't forget to chill the meat that you are grinding though,

Anyone tried battered pickled onion rings on a burger yet? Is it even possible? it must be. I feel it is something that could be awesome.

Anything is possible my friend, give it a go and let us know

[Flecam]

A quick burger recipe I use, quite cheap and very tasty:

Lidls Lean steak mince. 500g @ £2.59
1 x Tsp Salt
1 x Tsp Pepper
3- 4 TBsp olive oil
1 TBsp of Worcester Sauce
1 onion (finely chopped)

I cook the finely chopped onions in the olive oil (you want plenty of olive oil as this replaces the fat in the cheap hi fat mince) on a low heat untill the onions have softened. Put the onions and residual oil in a bowl and leave to cool down in the fridge.

Put the meat in a mixing bowl and add the salt, pepper and worcester sauce and the cooled onion mix. Mix until combined (not to much, you dont want to ruin the coarser texture of the mince).

Split the mixture up into 4 ( or 2 or 8, upto you). When split into 4, it makes around a 150g burger which fits perfectly into my burger mould (see link).

Chill for an hour or so and then cook as you like.

Heres the mould I use, Its great.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-James-Qu ... rger+press

I make my own rolls and bacon, so combined with the cheapest cheese slices (I call it plastic cheese) & a tiny bit of lettuce, this makes the best bacon cheese burger Ive ever tasted.



I also mince my own meat when on offer, but I cant eat the low cost budget stuff, as Ive used it before and the fat looks green when cooled, thats not right!

Fle

[PyroBoris]

Picked up 1.4 kgs of mostly chuck from my local butchers yesterday, with a bit of skirt thrown into the mix as well. First attempt at fully homemade burgers looms over my household! The butcher also gave me most of a thigh bone for the marrow! It's huge. Anyone know the best way to get the marrow out?

[YetiDave]

Picked up 1.4 kgs of mostly chuck from my local butchers yesterday, with a bit of skirt thrown into the mix as well. First attempt at fully homemade burgers looms over my household! The butcher also gave me most of a thigh bone for the marrow! It's huge. Anyone know the best way to get the marrow out?

If it's not pre-cut then you'll need a saw!

[PyroBoris]

he has sawn one end off for me:



**Update, I cut the bone into three pieces with my latest cooking implement, a junior hacksaw Soaked the pieces in warm water for 30 mins or so and the marrow scooped out easily with the wrong end of a teaspoon!

[essexsmoker]

I've read about equal amounts of sirloin, brisket ox tail. Not had chance to try it yet. Did do medium rare ribeye only burgers. Was heaven. Really moist and tasty.

[PyroBoris]

The burgers we made from mostly chuck with a bit of skirt thrown in, and some marrow, went down a storm. Would recommend to anyone next time we are going to do half with marrow and half without to see the difference. if any.

[keith157]

The terms clod and Chuck are frequently used for the same piece of meat. We had a part time butcher at the shop who always called Chuck a "clod & stikin" (phonetic spelling)

[aris]

The Victorians loved marrow - even had a special implement to get at it. Google 'marrow spoon'.