Pages

Monday, September 20, 2010

Smoked Hamburgers via Indirect Grilling Technique

It's week two of the NFL regular season and I finished my second "tailgate grilling session" of the year. Last time I cooked ABTs. This time I stuck to the tried and true backyard bbq favorite....hamburgers. But, I put my own twist on grilled hamburgers.

Smoke & Spice introduced me to smoked hamburgers a couple of years ago.  If you've never tried low and slow hamburgers, you might want to give it a try sometime.

Here's how I made them today for lunch:

2 lbs hamburger
7 tablespooons vinegar
7 tablespoons water
3 oz Miner's Mix (TM) Carne Asada Marinade & Chorizo Mix

Combine hamburger, vinegar, water, and chorizo mix.  Mix thoroughly with hands and refrigerate. When grill is pre-heated, form hamburgers by hand and cook on smoker or grill with indirect heat at 275-300 degrees.  Cook to 160 degrees (medium) or 170 degrees (well done). Serve on hamburger bun or eat plain.  I prefer to add Blues Hog Original BBQ Sauce instead of ketchup and mustard. 

I didn't really follow the directions on the Miner's Mix (TM) package.  Half the fun of bbq for me is the trial and error experimentation that goes along with it.


I cooked these on my Weber Platinum charcoal kettle grill using the charcoal "triangles" on either side of the cooking chamber.  This provides reliable and controllable indirect heat in your kettle grill.


Close-up of the final results 60 minutes later just in time for kick-off of the Tampa Bay vs. Carolina game.

FTC Disclosure:  I received the Miner's Mix (TM) as a gift directly from the company as a "trial".  If I was not happy with the results of the spice mixture, I would not have posted this article.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

could we retire "indirect heat" and talk about low temps instead? There are only three types of heat. Thank you. Charles

The BBQ Guy said...

To me, if the fire is not directly under the meat I consider it indirect heat that is doing the cooking.

I tend to use an indirect fire whenever I don't want to char my food and need better fire control.

Chris said...

What are the differences with a smoked burger vs. grilled? I haven't tried one. Is it mostly texture and a more evenly cooked burger?

The BBQ Guy said...

I think it's easier to avoid charring the burgers, but it does take longer. Depending on the recipe you use, the texture is quite a bit different too.

The Smoke & Spice recipe for Humdinger Burgers is a good example. I made these in my WSM and it was different than any hamburger I'd ever had before.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous needs someone to explain what direct vs indirect cooking is. only type of heat is low med high? lololol

Unknown said...

Looks great! A grill master's equipment can play a very important role in the perfect BBQ.

Giorgos Vintzileos said...

I suppose a few minutes on each side on direct charcoal beafore placing then at indirect does not do harm.

My understanding is that I should leave the burgers on indirect charcoal for about 60 minutes. Is that correct?