Smoked hamburgers

[Jared]

Yep, that's right, no flames, no broiler, no pans, just an electric element, some hickory wood chips, and ground beef.

My buddy has had a smoker for a while, and has cooked all kinds of interesting stuff on it (including a thanksgiving turkey), but yesterday he wanted to try it out on the quintessential American picnic food.

The process is pretty much the same as any hamburger, except it took longer to cook than a barbeque. Since this was a first, we didn't add anything to the patties, just formed them and put them on the rack. We had it on for about 40 minutes, but we figured 30 minutes would work out a little better as it was on the dry side.

The flavor was much, much better than any other hamburger I've cooked. It was smokey, of course, but it was almost sweet, without any hint of gaminess or greasiness to it.

[jeff]

Next time stick a prob thermometer in one of the burgers then you'll never question if its done yet.

=)

Sounds like a good idea, but wasnt it lacking a charred feel?
Time to move up to some fish. MMmmm

[Jared]

Originally Posted by jeff

Next time stick a prob thermometer in one of the burgers then you'll never question if its done yet.

=)

Sounds like a good idea, but wasnt it lacking a charred feel?
Time to move up to some fish. MMmmm

He had a thermometer in a hole in the smoker itself, but the real problem is that we got busy with a beer-making project and forgot to check it.

There was no charring, but the outside was almost glazed, which was interesting, since we didn't do anything to the beef.

[jeff]

I would rather watch meat temp then smoke/oven temp, Then again I cook most beef/pork at the lowest temperature my oven goes.