Super Tailgater Burger
Patti and I have set one night a week just for us. It’s our date night. We usually put something special on our Louisiana Wood Pellet Grill/Smoker but sometimes we cook inside. This time for all our tailgating friends we used our Green Mountain Davy Crocket Tailgater Grill. We always eat outside on our patio where it is very comfortable with a rainforest theme. Wood burning stove, little lights, candles, lanterns and surround sound. We enjoy a little wine, or strawberry margaritas using frozen strawberries for ice, good food, music and sometimes a dance or two…
We wanted a super tailgating burger for our Super Bowl party. So, we invited our friend Mark over. A football and burger expert extraordinaire to be our “crash test dummy”. He claimed our bacon cheese burger was just right and loved our Davy Crocket Green Mountain Tailgater grill. Our super burger had to be a ½ lb. of ground sirloin topped with cheese (Patti preferred American, the guys went for Swiss. I guess they were neutral about the big game.) And lots of crispy bacon. Patti served them on pretzel buns.
Super Tailgater Burger
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 9 minutes per side for medium rare
Grill: Green Mountain Davy Crockett Tailgater Grill
Pellets: Lumberjack Hickory
Super Tailgater Burger
Ingredients: Super Tailgater Burger
- 2 lbs. ground sirloin
- 2 teaspoons Country Bob’s Seasoning Salt
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce
- ¾ lb. Apple wood bacon, cooked semi-crisp
- 8 slices of your favorite cheese
- 4 hamburger buns, we used pretzel buns
- Your favorite condiments
Super Tailgater Burger
Directions: Super Tailgater Burger
In large bowl combine meat and seasonings. Form into four burgers. Place on grill turning burgers halfway through your grilling. During last four minutes on the grill top with cheese, two slices each, then, your bacon. 
On the Grill
Super Tailgater Burger
Cooking Directions: Green Mountain Davy Crockett Tailgater
To prepare the grill for cooking, check your pellet supply – top off or change flavors as needed. Scrape grill grates off. Set the temperature to 450 degrees and press the “Start” button. Give the grill about 15 minutes to reach temperature and the grates to burn clean.
Note: You can set the start temperature anywhere you want. I do 450 (230c) for a quick cleaning burn.
I like to smoke everything for at least 30 minutes with an hour being even better. After all the Green Mountain Davy Crockett Tailgater is an awesome little smoker so use it for all the wood smoke flavor it will add to your food.
So after the grill comes up to temp and burns clean turn it back down to low. This will be around 180 to 200 degrees (84 to 95c). Place everything directly onto the grill and just let it hang out in the smoke and get happy for 30 minutes or so. This is referred to as “Smoking” or “Hot Smoking”, the temperature is 180 degrees (84c). 30 minutes of smoking is not enough to have any cooking effect on your meat but it is enough to open the pores so that the meat can pick up all the flavor of the smoke.
After 30 minutes, turn the (Temperature Control) up to 400 degrees (205c) and pull the meat off the grill. Now you can cook your onions and bacon and pick up all of the wood fired flavor from the grill.
As your sides are getting close to done put your hamburger patties back onto the grill. I did this for 9 minutes per side. Perfect. (They were ½ pounders)
When the meat reaches an internal temp around 160 (72c) pull it off, cover it and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving. This will be medium rare. Keep in mind that the meat will continue cooking for another 10 degrees after you pull it off the grill. (USDA recommends 165 degrees (75C) for all ground meat) I use a Maverick ProTemp Instant Read Thermometer for checking meat temps.
Note: I get a lot of questions about the kind of pellets you can use with a recipe. Keep in mind that a recipe is just an outline. Some you need to follow closely like when you are making bread, but most you can do anything you can dream, our favorite way to cook. Feel free to mix and match the pellets until you find a combination you really like. Also you are only smoking at temps less than 250 degrees (122c), anything higher is cooking and there will not be much if any smoke so it does not matter what kind of pellet you are using.
Super Tailgater Burger
Directions: Gas Grill
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 9 minutes per side for medium rare
Grill: Any
Preparing Grill: High Direct Heat
Preheat your grill to High heat (400-500). Add your wet hickory chips to the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this. (Note: you can add your hickory directly to the grill or you can use foil smoke packets.(Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.)
About our Recipes
We do our recipes on our patio where we have a lineup of grills, including Louisiana, Royall, Memphis, Traeger pellet grills, Char Griller side box smoker, Saber, Charmglow, Char-Broil, The Big Easy, Lodge Sportsman’s, Brinkman and Weber. I call it our “Wall of Grill”. Our grilling styles are healthy and low fat and will fit pelletheads, gas, natural wood and even charcoal purists. Almost any of our recipes can be done on any kind of good BBQ.
The important thing to keep in mind is TIME & TEMPERATURE. You can even do some of them in the oven or crock pot, but, then you lose all the flavors you get from cooking outdoors. But sometimes it does rain.
Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste. Take it and run with it….
Live your Passion,
Ken & Patti
http://datenightdoins.com
http://blog.datenightdoins.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Date-Night-Doins-BBQ-For-Two/
http://www.youtube.com/user/kenfisher92
http://pinterest.com/datenightdoins/
http://www.louisiana-grills.com/
Our Thanks To:
Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce
Country Bob’s Sauces and Seasonings
Maverick Industries, Inc.
1-800-526-0954
help@maverickhousewares.com
http://www.maverickhousewares.com/
F.Dick Professional Knives and Tools.
888-921-9378
thfinch@125west.com
http://www.125west.com/c-135-fdick.aspx
PelletCan
A storage container & dispenser for wood pellets
sales@pelletcan.com
http://www.pelletcan.com
Lodge Cast Iron
www.lodgemfg.com
Lumberjack Wood Pellets
Jerry Brown
715-866-8535
www.bbqlumberjack.com
