Quick Question: On page 114 in The Meathead Method Meathead advise against cold-smoking meat - does this also apply if the meat is being grilled right after, e.g. cold smoking burger patties before grilling them? The reason I ask is that I have used a metal box with wood-chips while grilling, but this only smoked the burger patties lightly (if any) for about 10-15 minutes as the smoke is quickly dragged out of the gas-grill, while a smoking device with an air-pump can cold smoke full blast for 20 minutes to give smokey flavors and then grilling the patties afterwards to ensure a nice crust and Maillard reaction flavors.
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I prefer to NEVER cold smoke. I'm either grilling or smoking. In other words, I could care less about getting any smoke on something I'm about to grill.
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You really need to know what you are doing to cold smoke meat or fish. You could kill somebody if not done properly.Comment
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When I do mesquite smoked ribeyes I set up a two zone cook on the kamado. I’ll bring it up to about 200 F with mesquite chunks and lump then add the cold steaks on the indirect side and leave them to come up to 120 F. At that point I pull the steaks and leave the lid open to let the coals get ripping hot. Since they’ve been burning a while they get hot fast. Then it’s back on the direct side for a hot fast sear. By putting the steaks on cold they really get nice and smokey without leaving them in a low temp area too long. I think a cold burger patty would be much the same. You’ll just finish it at a higher temp than I would a steak.Comment
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Not to rain on your parade, but why? Just to try a different method? If you are grilling immediately after and cook the patty properly, I don’t see any harm.
For me, though, just adding a little chunk of a favorite wood to my charcoal and reserve searing gets me a smoky burger with a delicious crust.Comment
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With Meathead being science based, coupled with liability... you won't see him or many other buisiness chefs promoting cold smoking.
The only thing I truly cold smoke is cheese. Everything else I reverse sear or smoke at 180+. The only thing with a massive difference is cold smoked salmon, but its not terribly expensive to just buy vs the risk of DIY.
What you are doing with your burger patties is probably safe, Im not sure I would even define it as cold smoking? Get yourself a cheap kettle and use 2 zone cooking to reverse sear your burgers though, I bet the end result would be better than what you are doing now?Comment
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I see the original question from Lars Axelsen mentions cold smoking burgers for 15 minutes to give them a smoke flavor before putting on the grill. I think that is ok, although I would personally just prefer to get that smoke from vaporizing meat drippings while grilling.
Lars - the issue with cold smoking is that the meat can stay in the danger zone between 40F and 140F for way too long for food safety, and botulism is a real concern - especially with ground beef. Smoking at temps of 225F and above (i.e. hot smoking) serve to kill off botulism producing bacteria on the surface quickly. Ground meat should probably never be smoked at home at smoking temps less than 225F, due to the fact the botulism producing bacteria can be mixed throughout the meat.
You pretty much want anything produced with ground meat, such as burgers, sausages, etc, to reach food safe temps internally (140F or higher) within 2 hours from the fridge.
Note that sausage is a special case as it is typically cured with nitrates that serve to inhibit the activity of botulism producing bacteria.Comment
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Per Meathead. Just take the meat out of the fridge and put it immediately on the grill or smoker, if you want a more smoky flavor.Comment
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The advise on cold smoking in Meathead's book is sound because to cold smoke at home you need a sound knowledge of microbiology, food safety and food handling for example including the range of pathogens likely to cause problems. Whilst potentially very serious botulism wouldn't be top of my list given it is an anaerobic pathogen and more likely to cause issues with home canning, there are plenty of other nasties out there in terms of cold smoking!
Conversely if you have a good grounding in these subjects cold smoking at home is perfectly safe. My wife is a microbiologist, I am a medical scientist in a different speciality but have worked in a microbiology lab, done food handling courses and regularly cold smoke fish and meat but the overriding fact is that all have been cured first.... salmon, white fish, bacon, ham, brisket the list is quite substantial in addition to cheese, garlic, potatoes and condiments such as salt.
However I would NEVER cold smoke ground meat or indeed any meat or fish that hasn't been cured first. Some electric smoker manufacturers advocate cold smoking at temperatures I would consider unsafe, basically the colder the better (within reason!) when cold smoking but as long as you are aware of the risks you can mitigate them to such an extent as to make cold smoking safe.
But how many people can or would go to those lengths so Meathead's advise is obviously sound but to my mind with a caveat!
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I have not cold smoked ground meat other than cured sausage. I don't think that smoking cold hamburgers for a few minutes would be a problem but for liability reasons most chefs and cookbook authors will advise against it. For example: people might get distracted and that "few minutes" turns into an hour or more and the ground meat is in the danger zone. If someone gets sick the liability may come back to the chef or author.
I have cold smoked fish before, it was heavily salted (I was making finnan haddie) and I did it in the wintertime when outdoor temps were in the low 30s F. I used a smoke generator that would not increase the temperature of the smoker so it stayed in the low 30s F for the hour or two that I smoked the fish. It was promptly frozen afterwards.Comment
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As a reference, here is my article on cold samoking
My attitude is that it is a bad business practice to kill your readers so I do not publish cold smoking recipes.Comment
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Lars Axelsen In direct anxswer to your question, why not hot smoke them while they cook? You can do a reverse sear. Hot smoke at a low temp, say 200 or so, and then sear over flame or on a hot metal surface?Comment
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My challenge is that I have a Weber Q3000 gas grill which does not allow proper 2-zone cooking with its inner ring and outer ring of gas flames. I have used a smokebox with woodchips placed in the middle of the grill to best ensure smoke passes the patties on the way out of the grill, but the smoking is mostly very unreliable. Got a smoking device similar to a smoke gun to pump smoke into the grill, but realized the few minutes a burger is grilling is not much time to get much smoke flavor. -
I do have a Traeger 575 smoker and a coal grill, but for just 1 or 2 burgers they are too much to use.
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I have read this before but had a re-read, it is an excellent well balanced article and the comment "it is a bad business practice to kill your readers" whilst to some extend amusing at face value is very sobering! However not all individuals or businesses are as ethical.Originally posted by Meathead View PostAs a reference, here is my article on cold samoking
My attitude is that it is a bad business practice to kill your readers so I do not publish cold smoking recipes.
The electric smoker I use has an excellent cold smoke attachment available for their older models, however their newer ones are out and out hot smokers they try and dress up as suitable for cold smoking and I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.
Been doing cold smoked salmon (lox) for 15 years plus now as part of a Christmas goodies pack for friends and family, food safety is none negotiable and something never to take your eye off the ball on.
From my point of view it would be bad practice to kill family and friends, there are some family members I am not that keen on but that is taking things a bit far and I need all the friends I can get!
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I agree with jfmorris, I don't think Lars is asking about "cold smoking" per se. Seems like he's simply double checking that 10-15 mins in light smoke prior to the high heat of grilling is ok and doesn't fall under the definition of cold smoking. If all you do is 10-15 minutes, like you say, then I'd say yes you're good. No different than the burger patties sitting on your counter while you season them and the grill is heating up, they're in warm-but-not-cooking environment for several minutes there. But as many others have pointed out, why not kill 2 birds with one stone and add smoke to your grill? Even with a gasser you can easily do it!Comment
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I have tried using a smokebox with woodchips placed in the middle of the gas grill to best ensure smoke passes the patties on the way out of the grill, but the smoking is at best very unreliable. Got a smoking device similar to a smoke gun to pump smoke into the grill, but realized the few minutes a burger is grilling is not much time to get much smoke flavor. I do grill my burgers to well done afterwards as the ground meat is mostly from the supermarket.
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Realistically, if you are VERY careful about the quality of the meat and you are very precise about temp control, I suspect the risk is low, but it is still much higher than hot smoking, hence my recommendation that you not cold smoke. I read food safety news reports and cold smoked salmon is often being recalled.Comment
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