- 4
Ingredients
- 2 pounds 85 percent lean ground beef, broken into small pieces
- 3 tablespoons barbecue sauce
- Salt and pepper
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 cups wood chips, soaked for 15 minutes
Preparation
Step 1
Smokehouses feed their cooking fires with hardwood logs, permeating the grill (as well as the restaurant and its patrons) with the unmistakable aroma of wood smoke. Our method for cooking with smoke on a standard gas or charcoal grill is to make a fire with a hotter side and a cooler side, wrap soaked hardwood chips in a foil packet, and set the packet directly over the fire until it starts to smoke. Then the meat is set on the cooler side of the grill and cooked (with the lid on) for several hours. To temper the harshness of the smoke flavor, we seared our burgers for only a few minutes per side on the hotter, smokier side of the grill, and then let them finish cooking on the cooler, less smoky side. For assertively flavored burgers, we added just a few tablespoons of bottled barbecue sauce to season the ground meat perfectly. Making large burgers enabled the meat to absorb more smoke and seasoning; these big burgers fit better on bulkie or kaiser rolls, and toasting the rolls on the grill added even more smoke flavor.
Bull’s-Eye is our preferred brand of barbecue sauce, but feel free to substitute your favorite. Making large burgers enables the meat to absorb more smoke and seasoning; these big burgers fit better on bulkie or kaiser rolls than on standard hamburger buns. Toasting the rolls on the grill adds even more smoke flavor.
1. Gently knead beef, barbecue sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in large bowl until well incorporated. Shape meat mixture into four 1-inch-thick patties. Combine onion powder, garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in small bowl; sprinkle spice mixture evenly over both sides of patties.
2. Seal wood chips in foil packet, cut vent holes in top, and place packet directly on primary burner. Heat all burners on high, covered, until wood chips begin to smoke heavily, about 15 minutes. Leave primary burner on high and shut other burner(s) off. (For charcoal grill, light 100 coals; when covered with fine gray ash, spread over half of grill. Place foil packet directly on coals. Set cooking grate in place and heat, covered, with lid vent completely open, until wood chips begin to smoke heavily, about 5 minutes.) Scrape and oil cooking grate.
Arrange burgers on hotter side of grill but not directly over foil packet. (If working on small gas grill, see related information below.) Grill burgers, covered, until well browned, about 4 minutes per side. Move burgers to cooler side of grill and continue to cook, covered, to desired doneness, 3 to 5 minutes longer. Transfer to plate, tent with foil, and let rest 5 minutes. Serve.
In step 3, grilling the burgers directly over the smoking packet of wood chips can result in a harsh smoke flavor. On most grills, you can simply position the burgers and packet away from each other. But on small gas grills, where there isn’t enough room for four burgers above the primary burner but slightly removed from the foil packet, we suggest turning all burners to high and searing the burgers over high heat away from the chips for the first stage of cooking. Once the burgers are well browned, simply turn off the burner below the burgers while they finish cooking via indirect heat.