In other news (apolitical thread)...

[utee94]

I've smoked skirt steak for fajitas on my offset, it's fantastic.  I've never attempted to smoke a burger.  Interesting thought.

On my very large offset stick-burner it would definitely require a lot of fuel for very little payoff.  I'd probably just smoke a lot of stuff at the same time.  Some sausage, chickens, pork loins, etc.

[betarhoalphadelta]

On my very large offset stick-burner it would definitely require a lot of fuel for very little payoff.  I'd probably just smoke a lot of stuff at the same time.  Some sausage, chickens, pork loins, etc.

Well sometimes it just makes sense to set up a day to smoke various things, and on those days the chef deserves a nice good smoked burger for lunch, right?

I've posted before about our brisket grilled cheese and smoked tomato bisque meal. It's common that if we don't have any on hand, on a day I'm running the smoker my wife will have me start off smoking tomatoes for the bisque. Just vacuum-seal and freeze them. Defrost whenever you need to make it. 

When I needed to smoke bacon recently, it ended up being an excuse to smoke two flats of tomatoes for bisque (all went in the freezer), smoke bacon for slicing and packaging (all went in the freezer), and then smoke ribs for that day's dinner. It was a good day 

[FearlessF]

lots of beer

[utee94]

lots of beer

[betarhoalphadelta]

I assume that it's theoretically possible to operate a smoker without consuming beer...

...but I have no empirical evidence of that. 

[MikeDeTiger]

I assume that it's theoretically possible to operate a smoker without consuming beer...

...but I have no empirical evidence of that.

Probably like boiling crawfish without beer.  Theoretically, the math checks out.  In reality, why would you try?  

[MikeDeTiger]

How does one smoke hamburgers?

I've never tried smoked burgers

I've never attempted to smoke a burger.  Interesting thought.

Apparently I'm a weirdo.  

[MikeDeTiger]

I often use hickory pellets, and judging by restaurant menus, I thought hickory-smoked burgers were a thing everybody did.  

[utee94]

I often use hickory pellets, and judging by restaurant menus, I thought hickory-smoked burgers were a thing everybody did. 

Hickory grilled burgers are pretty common.  Mesquite grilled burgers as well.

I think there might be some differences in the way you're using the word "smoked" and the way others do. 

[FearlessF]

he said he was at 180 degrees -  dat ain't grillin

[MikeDeTiger]

Hickory grilled burgers are pretty common.  Mesquite grilled burgers as well.

I think there might be some differences in the way you're using the word "smoked" and the way others do.

Probably....what do I know.

But, though I doubtlessly spend more time on mere burgers than most would want to, I think smoking them for a couple hours is delicious, and the wife and stepson dig it, so there's that.  

[utee94]

he said he was at 180 degrees -  dat ain't grillin

Two things:

1) The temperature is less important than whether or not the heat is direct vs. indirect.  What he's doing at 180 might be smoking, or it might not be.

2) But that only applies to what he said he's doing himself.  Then he broadened the discussion to restaurants.  Unless you're getting "smoked burgers" at a BBQ-specific restaurant, then it's highly unlikely you're getting an indirect smoked burger at all.  Because normal  burger places might cook over real wood or coals but they're almost certainly not slow-smoking them indirect, because restaurants that aren't BBQ joints don't have the equipment to do so. Hamburger joints don't have smokers, they have grills and/or griddles.

So that's why I'm saying, using the word "smoked" when referring to hickory burgers at a non-BBQ restaurant, is almost certainly incorrect.

Hickory grilled, on the other hand, is fairly common around here and other places I've been.  And mesquite-grilled too.  

[utee94]

Probably....what do I know.

But, though I doubtlessly spend more time on mere burgers than most would want to, I think smoking them for a couple hours is delicious, and the wife and stepson dig it, so there's that. 

Everything else I just said aside, the idea of slow-smoking a burger is interesting.  I wonder what is the consistency like?  Seems to me that the sear is part of what keeps a hamburger patty together.  If you're just smoking it, does it come out more like meatloaf?  Or some other texture?

[MikeDeTiger]

Everything else I just said aside, the idea of slow-smoking a burger is interesting.  I wonder what is the consistency like?  Seems to me that the sear is part of what keeps a hamburger patty together.  If you're just smoking it, does it come out more like meatloaf?  Or some other texture?

Not like meatloaf, though definitely tender.  They hold together just fine.  It depends on the percentage of fat in the beef, the higher the fat the more they fall apart.  Mrs. DeL always does the meat, I just throw them on the Traeger.  She's a fat-Nazi.  No fat escapes her preparations.  They have some sear.  Most notable thing to me is how red they are.  Not like meat-thats-not-done red, a different kind of red.  Seems like everything I've done in the Traeger has a reddish tint to it, though, so a patty might not be unique in that regard.