Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Did some chicken thighs on my Kamado today. Saw a video on these awhile back and decided today was a good day to make them happen. Boneless/skinless chicken thighs stuffed with a half jalapeno pepper and a little bit of cream cheese all wrapped in some nice bacon. Smoked for about two hours at 300 degrees (definitely overdid these and they were reading 180 as I took them off), and then glazed in hot BBQ sauce. Used stubb's chicken seasoning on the things and periodically seasoned with my homemade general purpose rub. As you might imagine, they taste fantastic

 

Those look amazing

 

i did a thing today

 

So yesterday I decided to do some burgers. First burgers ever! Picked up some charcoal, a chimney, and fire starter cubes.




Wife was as excited as I was, she already had picked up 3 lbs of ground beef at the butcher shop. Seasoned them with cayenne pepper, pepper, salt, montreal steak seasoning, and worcheshire sauce.



size of patties:



Chimney going at it, this thing is amazing!



Got some of these ready:



Don't forget the bacon



Almost ready:



Decided on a two zone heat setup:



A little bit of this to honor the moment



Throwing the patties on the grille



We love our bacon CHEWY - not crispy, so I had the bacon broiled in the oven.



Once ready, I had some RAT cheddar cheese melt on the patties, my brother wanted pepper jack



let them cool down a bit:



add the bacon



Toast them buns and threw in some corn:



Jalapenos are ready!



no veggies today

 

Overall:

The burgers were delicious and seasoned well.

I would like to improve on the following:

Make them juicier - They tasted good and my siblings and wife love them, but I think they needed a bit more juice.

Thinner patties - yes, I said it. I don't mind a thick burger every once in awhile, but next time, I am going to make thinner patties. I didn't have room for corn

 

But,,, we really need smell-o-vision for this thread.

 

What cut was the ground beef made of? You said it came from a butcher, so if you do have a local butcher you like, tell him you'd like ground chuck, about 70/30. That'll give you a great juicy burger. Also, I agree about the patty thickness... I used to always do thick but then I started doing thinner always. More versatile and better tasting. You can just have an extra patty if you want a double burger, and one of the bast flavors in a burger is the crunch of the crust if you cook them right (IMO), meaning high direct heat for a short time so you get a char on outside while keeping the inside med rare.

 

My wife picked up the meat, she probably didn't ask.

Ill keep that in mind next time I go, or ask her to request 70/30.

 

70/30 ground chuck.

 

You emphasized "ground chuck"

.. im trying to figure out why.. lol

 

...(beef) parts is (beef) parts...

 

If you want to get really fancy, roast some bone marrow then cool it off. Smash the marrow up and add it to your burger mix. Adds a rich juicy flavor without compromising the beef taste.

Sounds a bit snobbish but the flavor is outstanding.

 

Might want to shove a thumb in the middle of the burger. It prevents the patty from balling up when it shrinks on the grill.

 

I did

 

this sounds interesting..

 

http://virtualweberbullet.com/chicken6.html Try this recipe...the white meat is always juicy.

 

you could put the cheese in the middle of the burger, also with the corn you need to put it on first since it takes longer to cook than the burgers, I usually time them around 12-15 on one side the flip for another 12-15. I use this dry rub on the corn and it comes out great grilled http://virtualweberbullet.com/chicken6.html . Burgers depending on thickness but usually about 4minutes a side, just have to watch so they dont get too dry.

 

because it's good.

 

Another techniques is to soak the corn in water with the husks. Then add them directly to the coals. They steam at first until the water is gone and then start the caramelize the sugar. Makes for a great elote.

 

so theres a difference between ground chuck and regular burger meat?