That third flavor

[Oak Smoke]

We were in Waco Tx. Yesterday and went by one of our favorite restaurants there. I wanted something simple so I ordered one of their house special hamburgers. It was wonderful! As I was enjoying it I realized one of the things I liked most was the flavor of the hamburger patty. It was that third flavor. It wasn’t cooked on a flattop or grilled over charcoal, it had been cooked on a charbroiler. Years ago I was one of the cooks for steak night at our Elks Lodge. We had a large commercial charbroiler in the kitchen that turned out great steaks and hamburger patties. Now I want to get that flavor at home. I don’t want anything large, just big enough to accommodate 4 nice steaks or maybe 6 burgers. I have absolutely no knowledge of new gas grills. If memory serves me correctly we used to get something like that flavor from those gas grills with lava rocks in them. That was a long time ago, my hair was much longer and darker then. I’ve been looking at on line restaurant suppliers and such. Their prices are all over the board. If you wanted to be able to do real charbrioling at home what would you get?

[captainlee]

https://emberglo.com/gas-char-broilers/

The real thing but it will be expensive. I remember that flavor too, haven't tasted that forever.

[Huskee]

Is that like the Burger King burger flavor?

[Huskee]

Oak Smoke I realize fast food will likely not be the real deal, but tasting a BK patty beside a McD's you can sure taste the grill flavor, and you can smell that in the building's exhaust too. Smells good.

[Oak Smoke]

Huskee The BK is good and is a step in the right direction. With a real charbroiler it can be so much better.

[realdocBBQ]

I agree, the Whopper was my favorite 'chain' burger for a long time - I won't go anymore, the one here.... turned me off. So, sadly, no more Whoppers for me. <sigh>

[STEbbq]

I think something like this is probably close to what you are considering. However, I recall similar units getting some questionable reviews here. Was it glitchy that had a similar unit?

https://a.co/d/hSC2KHd

[Oak Smoke]

This is in the ballpark for what I’m looking for. I have found several that do have lava rock in them and would consider one of those too.

[Michael_in_TX]

I want one of those! I am not exactly sure why, but I do! But yes....quick sears.... yes, yes!

[Oak Smoke]

This also looks promising.

[smokenoob]

So, do lava rocks over gas make a charbroiler? Could I put lava rocks on one side of my gas grill? Is the result the same as the deflectors over the gas burner?

[fzxdoc]

Weber's Flavorizer bars are probably char-broilers?

K.

[N227GB]

Lava rocks were a pain with flair-ups. 25 years ago, I replaced them in a gasser with some ceramic tiles with holes that were supposed to eliminate that. Kindo of. Then came Weber with their flavorizer bars. Never looked back.

[MBMorgan]

I agree that Weber's flavorizer bars provide exactly the same function/results ... minus the hassle of dealing with lava rocks.

[randy.56]

Interesting topic, had forgotten that favor. and long forgot the long hair. I'd be up for getting one. What's it called MCF?

[ssandy_561]

We had a professional salamander in our fraternity kitchen in college. Loved cooking burgers and steaks in it. I do miss that kitchen.