My gear:
22 Weber Kettle
Napoleon PRO Charcoal Kettle Grill
Broil King Keg
Traeger Pro 34
Napoleon Prestige Pro 500
Pit Barrel Cooker
Blackstone Range Combo Griddle
My toys:
Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Center (WSCGC) aka Mr. Fancypants
Pit Barrel Cooker (which rocks), named Pretty Baby
Weber Summit S650 Gas Grill, named Hot 'n Fast (used mostly for searing and griddling)
Weber Kettle Premium 22" named Kettle Kid, eager to horn in with more cooks in the future
Camp Chef Somerset IV 4-burner outdoor gas range named AfterBurner due to its 30kBTU burners
Adrenaline BBQ Company Gear:
SnS Low Profile, DnG, and Large Charcoal Basket, for WSCGC
SnS Deluxe for 22" Kettle
Elevated SS Rack for WSCGC
SS Rack for DnG
Cast Iron Griddle
Grill Grate for SnS
Grill Grates: five 17.375 sections (retired to storage)
Grill Grates: six 19.25 panels for exact fit for Summit S650
gasser
Grill Grates for 22" Kettle
2 Grill Grate Griddles
Steelmade Griddle for Summit gas grill
Fireboard Gear:
Extreme BBQ Thermometer Package
Additional control unit
Additional probes: Competition Probes 1" (3) and 4" (1), 3 additional Ambient Probes. 1 additional Food Probe
2 Driver Cables
Pit Viper Fan (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Pit Viper Fan new design (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Thermoworks Gear:
Thermapen MK4 (pink)
Thermapen Classic (pink too)
Thermoworks MK4 orange
Temp Test 2 Smart Thermometer
Extra Big and Loud Timer
Timestick Trio
Maverick ET 73 a little workhorse with limited range
Maverick ET 733
Maverick (Ivation) ET 732
Grill Pinz
Vortex (two of them)
18" drip pan for WSCGC
Ceramic Spacers for WSCGC in Kamado Mode: 2 sets each 1/2", 1", 2". The 2" spacers work best with the 18" drip pan. The 1+1/2 inch spacers work best with the 14 inch cake pan.
Two Joule Sous Vide devices
3 Lipavi Sous Vide Tubs with Lids: 12, 18 and 26 quarts
Avid Armor Ultra Pro V32 Chamber Sealer
Instant Pot 6 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot 10 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Charcoal Companion TurboQue
A-Maze-N tube 12 inch tube smoker accessory for use with pellets
BBQ Dragon and Dragon Chimney
Shun Classic Series:
8" Chef Knife
6" Chef's Knife
Gokujo Boning and Fillet Knife
3 1/2 inch Paring Knife
I pre-smash my smashburgers between two squares of parchment paper, pre-cut (comes in a box). It says "waxed" on the box but it is not like wax paper, it's like parchment paper.
Then I season and store them in the fridge until I'm ready for them. Fridge storage is particularly important for the waygu ground beef that I purchase because the fat softens quickly at room temp.
I like this pre-smashing step because I got tired of smashing over a hot griddle with grease popping on my hand and arm and the burger sometimes sticking to the smasher (spatula or round burger smasher) in the process, even if the smasher is oiled. Once I tried parchment paper between the smasher and the meat on the griddle. Duh. You can imagine. The paper caught fire immediately.
I like using the parchment squares because I can use them to help transfer the meat to the grates/griddle without my hands getting all greasy. I'm pretty snappy about doing that, and I've never caught the paper on fire that way, BTW.
I like Kenji's method of pre-smashing the burgers 4 at a time with two cookie sheets and parchment paper. I would, after smashing and seasoning, cut the parchment into 4ths so each burger can be handled separately as they are put on the griddle/grill. He removes the burgers from the parchment paper as he puts them on the grill, from the looks of it. I would keep the parchment on one side to help transfer them to the hot grill/griddle.
Sounds like Kenji needs to be introduced to Grill Grates or a Grill Grate Griddle, though.
Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
I’ve been saying this for a couple years now; maybe Kenji is lurking here?
Simpler: form the balls of meat. Sprinkle the salt and pepper on a paper plate, and roll the ball around in it until it is well coated. Smash it flat with another paper plate. Remove it to your holding platter, and repeat. You can get four patties in before you need new paper plates (they get sticky).
I don’t know. I guess there are different techniques for different people. What ever works best for you is what you should use.
My wife and I like the smashing little meat balls into the griddle method. We learned this method a LONG time ago from a place called White Manna in Hackensack NJ (https://www.whitemanna.com). I’ve been going there with my wife for 30+ years and she’s been going there for 50+ years, long before this current smashburger/slider craze.
They (and we) put the meat balls on the griddle and smash the meat onto he griddle with sliced white onions on top of the meat using an unslotted spatula. Flip them once, put on the cheese, then put the top of the roll (Martins potato) on the cheese and the bottom of the roll slightly offset on top and cover with wax paper for a couple minutes so the rolls absorb some steam and get a little moist. Then take off the wax paper and the bottom roll, use the spatula to take the meat and roll top off the griddle, put the roll bottom under the spatula and slide out the spatula and you’ve assembled your little burger. Add pickles and ketchup and you’re ready to eat. Delicious!
Yes, that's how you make smash burgers, I do the same without the onions. This is simply a different process that creates a thin burger which you cook over charcoal. So not a smash burger but a thin burger with some flavour from the charcoal. This is not intended to replace smash burgers, just another method to make delicious burgers.
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