Smoked Ground Beef - Mind Blown

[JPGators17]

I have now smoked meatloaf and hamburgers a few times, and the results are indisputable, I can't believe how delicious the difference is. For hamburgers, not only does it kick the flavor in to another atmosphere than just grilling, it also solves the problem of patties turning into baseballs as they do on the grill. With a quick reverse sear they are so, so good. My family noticed the difference immediately, and they are not foodies. And the meatloaf. Wow. I will never disrespect a meatloaf again by sticking it in a dark, smokeless kitchen oven again.

So, what other foods that I've cooked all my life have I been missing out on enjoying to the fullest by not smoking them?

[bbqoaf]

Hahahaha, I totally agree, I picked up two store made (but still raw) meatloaves for 50% off the other day as they needed to be sold before they expired. They turned out so, so well. The smoke takes meat loaf to another level, its amazing.

Have you tried chicken wings yet? Not exactly an earth shattering revolutionary idea, but they are also outstanding.

[lschweig]

Funny I note that we replied at the same time!

[JPGators17]

I've done whole chicken, and every part individually, except for the wings. I'll add them to the list.

[lschweig]

Meat loaf rocks. I have a friend who wants me to smoke one for him the next time I do one.

[FireMan]

Try a little of Everything! A huge hit at our place has been the roasted veggies with a touch of smoke. Everybody in our circle loves the ribs, "best I've ever had", the pulled pork, the turkey etc. But the the biggest raves are the burgs & veggies.
I think a lot of peeps don't care for the little things because of the way they are cooked mostly, but when they have them roasted with a bit of smoke, ooh la la. Plus vegetables can be "good to you."

[JCBBQ]

As for veggies, smoked carrots are exquisite.

[Henrik]

+1 for the veggies.

[Northside Brian]

I loved almost all smoked veggies. The biggest exception is asparagus, that i prefer grilled.

[Huskee]

I like smoked lasagna. Make a lasagna up according to your favorite recipe. Bake it on your smoker at 350-375 or whatever you can get your smoker to...basically just use your smoker as the oven, same as with meatloaf. Wow. I thought the same about that as you did the smoked ground beef.

[PaynTrain]

Ok Huskee you got me there. Fired up the Yoder for our first ever outdoor lasagna, and it was freaking amazing! Good work with the motivational nod that brought me around to "thinking outside the meat".

[Huskee]

PaynTrain Excellent!! I'm glad you liked it. What wood did you use, and temp, if I my ask out of curiosity?

[PaynTrain]

Huskee I used Oak and Hickory, set the high temp to 415 and the low temp to 375. Only had to adjust it a couple times, mostly right around 400.

[DeusDingo]

i would imagine any recipe that takes ground beef would work, a lot of recipes ask for it. you could probably form a giant patty and put it on the smoker, then take it off and break it up, and finish cooking it for use in a recipe. smoked tacos, spaghetti sauce, chili, stuffed peppers, etc.

having said that, i really did not care for smoked hamburgers and i have not had smoked meatloaf so i am not one to try this right away. look luck for whoever experiments with it, though!

[JPGators17]

So funny, last night my daughter asked if we could have tacos for dinner, to which I replied "huh? But I can't smoke tacos." Apparently I can.

[Northside Brian]

I did that for a cottage pie i did recently. smoked the meat before using it in the pie. Taste was on another planet.

[Baker Dan]

Mac and cheese could be interesting. How about smoking portabellos , onions and tomatoes for burger toppings

[BigCountryQ]

I have smoked Mac and Cheese before, and what I found was that I enjoy Mac n Cheese as a hearty side w/o smoke added. I may try it again, but it's been the only thing that didn't go over very well with the family.

[FireMan]

Hey, somebody told me about an $8 dollar mac & cheese at some "noodles factory" that just opened up here. All the "young people" love the place. I think I'll try BigCountryQ either way and pocket the difference.

[FireMan]

I do portabellas & other shrooms all the time. Slice em with some onions, a little olive oil (not evoo) & salt and cook them in my Weber wok. I'll also chunk red, yellow, green (not so much green) peppers, with maybe some zucchini or yellow squash, a little olive oil &,salt stirring those, then add hoisin sauce at the end. There is so much one can do.

[lschweig]

Maybe stuffed peppers would be good?

[FireMan]

Now that's something my wife does all the time, especially Pablonos, in the oven. That will be one of my upcoming projects now, after recently buying a 1/2 doz. Stuffed Poblanos here we come, with SMOKE!

[Skip]

Smoked stuffed peppers are VERY Good!

[Northside Brian]

bbq pit boys have a video of grilled/smoked stuffed peppers.

[Mosca]

My experience is that it is excellent, but ground beef sucks up a lot of smoke and you should go lightly on it. Just a kiss is all it needs for perfection. I did a few that tasted like a tire fire before I figured that out.

[Lowjiber]

I totally agree. Just a "touch" is plenty.

I smoked a couple of pounds of burgers on my WSM with a quick sear at the end. They were terrible... ruined by way too much smoke.

[coupster]

Indirect smoked burgers with a final sear on the griddle side of a GrillGrate. Ground Beef Nirvana.

[Huskee]

I forgot, one of my kids' favorite things that I make- roll a sausage roll (Bob Evans, Jimmy Dean, etc) in brown sugar all over and smoke it indirectly up to 160. It's amazing. Not ground beef, but along the lines of stuff you might not think to make in the smoker.

[JPGators17]

My wife is very proud of and protective of her lasagna recipe (it's a great one), so she wasn't too thrilled when I told her I wanted to take her recipe and smoke it instead of sticking it in the oven, per Huskee 's suggestion. But she bit her tongue and indulged my request, with low expectations since she's not a huge fan of smoky flavor like me. The results were phenomenal! Even my wife couldn't believe how great the smoky mozzarella tasted. I'm pretty sure she'll be asking me to fire up the smoker next time she's prepping the lasagna pan, and every time after that.

[josht138]

Lasagna recipes don't exist unless you share...

[Huskee]

Woo hoo! It really does take a 10 dish up to 11.

[Atalanta]

Wings are a must. The local german restaurant did a smoked wing special last week, we ended up getting 4 orders. I wonder about smoked liver (cow, chicken)

[CandySueQ]

I smoke chicken liver to make fake pate. It's an improvement!

[Mikey C]

I usually toss the wings in a deep fryer to crisp up the skin after I smoke em.

[Senator Pig]

Smoked burger patties? Sounds good! What temp do you smoke them at and about how long do they take?