To Stuff or not to Stuff- the hamburger that is!

Today was the perfect break day in a very busy summer for me in upstate NY. We had intermittent torrential downpours, the occasional rumble of thunder, and I got to spend the day indoors puttering around! We needed the rain so badly that I didn't even feel a twinge of guilt at not being outside doing hard physical house and lawn labor. LOL
When it came to the hour where I had to stop puttering (which for the record, I LOVE- and am very good at, haha.) I came to a dinner dilemma. We, the hubby and I, had gotten ground chuck earlier in the day to have grilled hamburgers- but what had sounded good earlier was boring the hunger out of me now. You know the feeling, I know it happens to others, too! So- what to do at this late hour when the hubby has heard me moving around the kitchen and has that expectant, "I'm going to get to eat soon" look on his face.

While rooting through the cupboards, looking for inspiration, I found an relatively unused culinary toy- the stuffed hamburger maker-.relegated to a lower cupboard. I had bought it a couple of years ago- used it unsuccessfully, once. I pulled it out and thought, honestly.... "Blog post! Let's see what this baby is capable of". So here goes.






I took the package of ground chuck, seasoned it with salt and pepper and "fluffed" it up a bit. On the first burger, I used the maker the way that I remembered the instructions (limited as they were) had told me to do.

1. Make a thin beef patty and place it in the bottom of the maker.
2. Twist the maker handle to the indent position and press down, hard.























3. Place the stuffing ingredients into the indentation.

In the hubby's case- pepperoni and mozzarella cheese.

4. Add ground beef to the top of the patty, covering all of the stuffing, and twist the maker into the "smush" mode, and press down firmly to seal.

Okay- so I did all of that, and wasn't displeased with the result. It was a thick burger, but was sealed on all sides. When I made them the last time, all of the stuffing ingredients oozed out during the cooking, and the result was disheartening- so I was determined  not to repeat that again. I have to admit that while I was working,  I was also determining what the garage sale price of this gadget would be should that be the result again.




Next onto my burger. I tend to be much more adventuresome with my taste flavors and I once again went through the fridge and the cupboards looking for inspiration.  What I found? Pesto, feta cheese, and for some fun.. a couple of leaves from my purple and green basil plants. (More on my spectacular simple herb garden and self watering patio box in a later post.)
In order to fine tune the burger technique, I modified the original with the following:
1. I crumbled the beef into the bottom of the maker, and then pressed down in the indent mode. Much easier and I got a better indentation.
2. I made the indentation a little deeper by finger pressing some of the beef up the walls.

3.  Added a thin layer of the pesto, feta cheese and layered on the basil leaves.
4. Crumbled on more of the ground beef- making sure to cover all of the stuffing mixture.
5. Use the "smush" mode, firmly, to seal all of the burger.
This one sealed better and more firmly- but was still really big. Some fresh ground pepper on the top and I sent them out to the hubby to grill. He is the grill master!



This is how they came out- grilled to over 165 degrees- and the stuffings were still well contained in their burger casings! Yeah!











This is how I plated mine, as much as I would have like a bun- I had already eaten my gluten rations this morning... sad, sad, sad.

This is how the hubby's looked.
They were umm,..... Yummy.

And the taste- ummm, Really Yummy.

I am officially a fan, and this little gadget gets a special place in the summer kitchen. This Friday, I'm thinking that it is not so much a pizza on the patio- but a stuffed burger. What stuffing mixture? Oh, let me count the ways! Lots to plan before Friday's patio adventure.

So let me know what your dream stuffing mixture would be- you might see a picture of it later on
here.. And who knows I may choose someone to send your own maker....

Keep grilling- it's the summer and...
Live Peacefully. Cook Fearlessly.
Chris

Ketchup, Mustard, Pickles on pizza? ....WTF! (Would Taste Fantastic, of course.. )

First off, let me show you a picture of what we are making today- then I will give you the background story and the how-tos. Ready? You may need to steady yourself. Drum roll....Bacon Cheeseburger pizza!

I was cleaning the house this morning.( I have that kind of time now that the college degree is complete.) And listening to the TV playing in the background. Some famous pizza place that we don't have in the area was advertising it's Cheeseburger Pizza. I looked up briefly and saw pickles... yes PICKLES, on the surface of the pizza and in that instant I knew I would have to make it. I LOVE pickles and how could this be wrong?
I collected all of the ingredients that I like on a really guilty, really, really good cheeseburger. The hamburger was seasoned and then browned all the way through in fairly large chunks and left to cool a bit. Now, I am a fan of the bacon cheeseburger, and as most of you know, I made my own a few weeks back. Out that came, and I clipped it into small pieces and warmed it through. I put all of the other ingredients out on the counter- because pizza making is a fast and swift thing to accomplish. If you let that stretched pizza dough stick on the peel a minute too long well, it welds itself to the peel. I promise that the first time you have to try to take an unbaked loaded pizza off the stuck peel and drop the soggy raggedy mess into the oven... you don't ever do it again. So lets start with the pictures, while I explain.
I am going to confess- with all of the house cleaning, and a longer than expected trip into town to get supplies; I didn't have enough time to make a Wolfgang Puck pizza dough batch, which is superior. (And, if this pizza was sooo good using store-bought, I shudder in delight to think what the next time will be like! Can't wait!) So, shamefully, I bought a store frozen blob of "dough".
I rested on the floured board for about 5 minutes, then started stretching it out, finally making it to a ten inch circle. It was pretty thin at this point and I didn't want to stress it even more.

I always use a peel to make my pizzas on. It feels more traditional and because I like to slide them directly on a stone- this is the way to go. Mine dusted with a good amount of corn meal.

Then, because I like the crust to be flavorful ( for when I dip it in Bleu Cheese dressing, a Consler tradition), basil-infused olive oil was brushed along the outer crust along with a sprinkling of garlic powder.

The sauce, the sauce..what to do? I had looked at one recipe where the chef used thousand island dressing to mimic a local big box franchise. Umm, I don't like thousand island dressing on really anything, and the look on the hubby's face when I told him- well, we didn't go that route. He had suggested pizza sauce, which I had bought over the objections of the nagging inner chef voice in my head. But, I had an light bulb moment at this point and mixed together ketchup and mustard, adding until I liked the taste and on the pizza shell it went!





Cheese next, a taco blend that I had in the fridge, mainly for the mix of cheddar in the cheese.












The hamburger















The bacon- my own. (Had to put that in, I feel so high-falutin' when I say that!)

Dried onion. Okay so I know that you foodies- you know who you are, just sighed and slowly shook your heads back and forth. I did that the first time I tried it- but it is great! It re-hydrates with the cheese grease and tastes spectacular! Try it, go on, I dare you.








Sliced dill pickles. It felt a little weird putting these on, I will admit. And, because I was hesitant- not enough got on the pizza. Pizza dill pickles ROCK! I can't imagine not making them an ingredient on all sorts of other pizzas! Many more will go on the next time.














For my own little slice or two of heaven- I added roasted red pepper strips, I just love the things.

















A little more cheese of the mozzarella type. It just isn't pizza without mozzarella stringy action going on.
And here it is, ready for the oven.














Now when I say oven in relation to pizza, at our house that makes it special. A few years ago, my parents (who know our love of pizza) gave us a gas grill pizza oven accessory for our grill. It is great! Not only do we make pizza in it, but I bake hearth breads in there too. Here is a picture
The pizza oven had been patiently warming while I made the pizza so it was at a balmy 500 degrees.






I slid the pizza in and off the peel- catching the timing just right, it was just starting to stick. The pictures slowed me down a bit. LOL
Ten minutes after it went in, I rotated the pizza by 180 degrees. I could tell the bottom was getting crispy because the peel slid under the pizza perfectly.








About 7 minutes later, out it came!
It was delicious. I invited the sister over to try it- she loved it as much as us.
So thoughts on next time: My own dough, more pickles, and some chopped tomato. Sis talked about some cold shredded lettuce, but I will have to think about that and try to convince the inner chef who is negating that idea strongly at this point.
So that is it- go out there and get on this! Summertime pizza time is just starting, and just pepperoni is not an option in this house!

As always,
Live Peacefully. Cook Fearlessly.

Till next time,
Chris

Jumping off the plank and into the fire

(Note: this is a great one from 2 years ago- and I use the boards all summer. A new blog recipe is in the works, first trial done tonight, and it was yummy!  Just a ferw things to tweak and it will be out on Sunday. Want a picture preview? Click here. )

  While searching down a killer pulled pork recipe for a friend's dinner party,  I stumbled across grilling on a wooden plank.  These planks come in different woods: cedar, oak, hickory, maple were just a few I found.  Well, this inspired me to see what I could do.  
First off,  I found LOTS of boards on Amazon... but how to choose?  And, as many of my friends will attest too, when I get an urge to try something... in the very whiny, immortal words of Veruca Salt  (how's that for an obscure reference!  :)  "I want it, and... I waaannnt it NOW!"



Fresh from the soak

So off to Lowes... who just happened to have Cedar planks in their grilling section, I really wanted the hickory ones, but I live in the boonies.. and beggars can't be choosers. ( Or they have to wait for the Amazon Prime to get to their house  :)  I looked up a few recipes for ideas, but most all featured salmon, and neither the hubby or I can stomach fish . (Unless you count minced, heavily battered, deep fried and smothered in tartar sauce yumminess) I soaked the planks under water with salt added for a few hours.  At the appropriate time, I took the planks out of the water and "toasted" them on the fire. You are supposed to hear some crackling from the boards when they are toasted enough.
When I heard that I took them off the grill and lightly brushed some canola oil on them. WOW -did that aroma smell good, just like a campfire...


Toasted and brushed with canola oil

After heavily seasoning the hamburger patties with good ole sea salt and pepper, both sides! I put the patties on the grill and cooked 3 minutes or so each side to brown them. ( I rushed this a bit, the heat was a little low- next time I will really let them get brown and crispy!) 


Waiting to go onto the rolls

Then the patties were transferred to the planks and put over indirect heat in the grill. I tried to keep the middle burner on only and the grill at about 350 degrees.  It took about 5 minutes each side to get the burgers to well done. I usually like them rare, but I really wanted to try out the cedar taste.  Then, I melted cheese on the burgers and called over the men to try.  The last picture shows the final result and our supper for tonight.  The burgers were very well seasoned- and had a faint undertone of the cedar.  It was better than I had hoped... frankly I was a little afraid that I was going to end up with a hamburger that tasted like those pine tree car fresheners smell like... Yuck!  Its definitely going on the "must be made again" list.  I already have other ideas of hamburgers and combinations...  Maple board hamburger with cheddar cheese and grilled onions.....Hickory board with Swiss cheese, fresh coleslaw, and pickles... ahh the list goes on and on.


And, ps- the rolls are handmade too. I tried an new idea out this afternoon with a quick rise , 90 minutes start to finish.  This is definitely a keeper too- I always know its a hit when the hubby tells me how good something is... he's a bit (that a real understatement! ) picky about his food.

 So I think that everyone should try this!  Or let me know if you have tried other woods that I don't know about yet. 

As always- Live Peacefully and Cook Fearlessly!                                        Chris