Hello folks, I did burgers on the BGE last night for the first time last night and the taste came out very charcoalee. It was like almost I rubbed them with charcoal. I let the charcoal burn in for about 30 mins and cooked them on high temp around 500ish. Did I not let the charcoal burn in log enough? Any thoughts or tips?
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What type of charcoal are you using? (Brand) -
I would second scottranda question about charcoal. My second question, would be was smoke visible when you put the burgers on or barely visible? I like to run my Egg up to 600 put the burgers on, shut the lid for two minutes, flip them for another 2 minutes and then shut the egg down with the burgers inside until desired doneness.Comment
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I've probably done 1000 burgers on my BGE and never had that happen. How long did you cook them at 500? Could you have charred the outside enough to taste that way?Comment
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I was using BGE charcoal. They were not charred really, I did have a few flare ups not sure if that caused the taste. It was not smoking when I put them on but during the cook I did notice a lot of smoke starting to come out of the top.Comment
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Hmmm... how and why that happened will be irrelevant once you are properly equipted to grill hamburgers on your BGE or any other grill. Buy Grill Grates and ALL of your problems are solved!
Last edited by Breadhead; January 22, 2017, 03:44 PM.Comment
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I have had that happen with my Vision grill. I used a bad tasting/smelling lump charcoal and made a pizza that was inedible. I don't use lighter fluid, yet the unit and pizza smelled like charcoal and lighter fluid. It took a few cooks after to get that smell out. I would get rid of all of that charcoal. Run a shop vac to it - top to bottom. Run another hot fire with Kingsford and shop vac it out again.Comment
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Did you wait for the "bad smoke" (white, bad smelling) to burn off and the "good smoke" to appear (blue or invisible and good smelling)? If you put the food on before the bad smoke clears you'll get a bad taste. If the fire doesn't smell "clean", wait until it smells good to load your food.
Also, you may want to consider cooking burgers, chicken etc. raised direct. You want to raise your grid to the gasket level or above. I use a Woo from the ceramic grill store, You can just put a second grid on top of some fire bricks or empty cans. Raised direct prevents flare ups and moves your food up to a higher temp area and adds radiant heat from the dome.
Please check back if you are still having issues, and have fun with your egg!Comment
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BGWolf - along those lines: If you have done something to impart an unpleasant smell or flavor in your BGE, is there a simple way of ridding that taste/smell? As I noted in my response, I used a bad charcoal once on my Vision grill and it took a good deal of work/time to get rid of it. I did a lot of research before buying the BBQ and knew to not ever use lighter fluid or charcoal that had starter on it.Comment
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I agree with EdF, a clean burn (or two) may help remove that smell from your Vision. And I recommend switching to a good quality lump charcoal. Briquettes may have all sorts of nasty stuff mixed in, you may have used a bag of Match Light or other charcoal with the lighter fluid mixed in. -
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venyv Are you sure the charcoal was really dry? I had something like that happen last year because a poor quality lump had picked up some moisture. Blech!
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I have sometimes had an airflow issue when cooking at very high temperatures. The heat can cause the airflow to reverse through the bottom vent and when it reverses again, it carries soot and ash back up.
Also, I highly recommend adding a little real mayonnaise and, oddly enough, anchovy paste to the burger when mixing the meat. You don't taste either, but they collectively add the whole-mouth, umami feel and taste of a burger. About a tablespoon of mayonnaise to a pound of beef and about 1 1/2 inches of anchovy paste.Comment
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