Is it possible to cook a good burger on a gas grill? If I close the lid the
burgers bake and all the flavor is lost. If I leave it open there's barely
enough heat to cook the burger. I don't want to put a chunk of butter or
cheese in the middle of my burgers.


W. Pooh (AKA Winnie P.)

On 7/7/2010 2:32 PM, Christopher M. wrote:
> Is it possible to cook a good burger on a gas grill? If I close the lid the
> burgers bake and all the flavor is lost. If I leave it open there's barely
> enough heat to cook the burger. I don't want to put a chunk of butter or
> cheese in the middle of my burgers.

You should leave it open to grill burgers.

Your grill isn't hot enough. Turn all the burners on and pre-heat with
the lid closed for at last 10 minutes or more. You want it HOT when you
put the meat on the grill.

George L

"Christopher M." > wrote in message
...
> Is it possible to cook a good burger on a gas grill? If I close the lid
> the burgers bake and all the flavor is lost. If I leave it open there's
> barely enough heat to cook the burger. I don't want to put a chunk of
> butter or cheese in the middle of my burgers.
>

Perhaps you need a more powerful grill. Mine does burgs very well. Sear
lid up then close it.

"Ed Pawlowski" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Christopher M." > wrote in message
> ...
>> Is it possible to cook a good burger on a gas grill? If I close the lid
>> the burgers bake and all the flavor is lost. If I leave it open there's
>> barely enough heat to cook the burger. I don't want to put a chunk of
>> butter or cheese in the middle of my burgers.
>>
>
> Perhaps you need a more powerful grill. Mine does burgs very well.
> Sear lid up then close it.

I guess it isn't that bad. Seems to take twice the cooking time though. I
use a Weber model that doesn't work with briquettes.


W. Pooh (AKA Winnie P.)

On Wed, 7 Jul 2010 15:47:39 -0400, "Ed Pawlowski" >
wrote:

> Perhaps you need a more powerful grill. Mine does burgs very well. Sear
> lid up then close it.

Don't close it if you like your burgers with color other than brown
inside.

--
Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.

On Jul 7, 3:32*pm, "Christopher M." >
wrote:
> Is it possible to cook a good burger on a gas grill? If I close the lid the
> burgers bake and all the flavor is lost. If I leave it open there's barely
> enough heat to cook the burger. I don't want to put a chunk of butter or
> cheese in the middle of my burgers.
>
> W. Pooh (AKA Winnie P.)

Just cook your burgers and all will be fine. In other words,
experiment with different heats, lid up/down etc. I prefer high high
heat, lid open.

On Jul 7, 3:32*pm, "Christopher M." >
wrote:
> Is it possible to cook a good burger on a gas grill? If I close the lid the
> burgers bake and all the flavor is lost. If I leave it open there's barely
> enough heat to cook the burger. I don't want to put a chunk of butter or
> cheese in the middle of my burgers.
>
> W. Pooh (AKA Winnie P.)

Mine does an excellent job of grilling burgers. It's a Weber Silver-A
model. I'm not sure what size burner it is. I have the papers but I
don't feel like looking for them right now. I preheat with both
burners set on high until the temperature gauge is all the way up,
around 550°. I place the burgers on the grill, close the lid, and
turn the burners down to medium. I flip them 5 minutes later and cook
them an additional 5 minutes. I like my burgers well done. If I'm
adding cheese, which is always the case, I put the cheese on the
burgers, turn the burners to low, and close the lid. It usually takes
about 2 minutes for the cheese to melt.

On Jul 7, 12:32*pm, "Christopher M." >
wrote:
> Is it possible to cook a good burger on a gas grill? If I close the lid the
> burgers bake and all the flavor is lost. If I leave it open there's barely
> enough heat to cook the burger. I don't want to put a chunk of butter or
> cheese in the middle of my burgers.
>
> W. Pooh (AKA Winnie P.)

I cook great burgers on my gas grill. I have one that has ceramic
briquettes over the burners so they heat up as well and
make good smoke. I looked far and wide to find one wth the ceramic
briquettes. I don't like the diffusers they use for
gas grills these days. I find the ceramic briquettes mimic the
charcoal ones in heat and good smoke.

I heat my grill with the lid closed for about 30 minutes before I use
it. I want it screaming hot.
Put nice thick burgers with the "thumbprint" in the middle on and
close the lid for about a minute.
Turn the burgers to get a cross hatch grill mark and close the lid.
After about 2 minutes, flip the burgers over. They have great grill
marks and are nicely browned.

Repeat for the other side.
We like our burgers medium to medium rare so it doesn't take long if
your grill is screaming hot.

ImStillMags wrote:
> On Jul 7, 12:32 pm, "Christopher M." >
> wrote:
>> Is it possible to cook a good burger on a gas grill? If I close the
>> lid the burgers bake and all the flavor is lost. If I leave it open
>> there's barely enough heat to cook the burger. I don't want to put a
>> chunk of butter or cheese in the middle of my burgers.
>>
>> W. Pooh (AKA Winnie P.)
>
> I cook great burgers on my gas grill. I have one that has ceramic
> briquettes over the burners so they heat up as well and
> make good smoke. I looked far and wide to find one wth the ceramic
> briquettes. I don't like the diffusers they use for
> gas grills these days. I find the ceramic briquettes mimic the
> charcoal ones in heat and good smoke.
>
> I heat my grill with the lid closed for about 30 minutes before I use
> it. I want it screaming hot.
> Put nice thick burgers with the "thumbprint" in the middle on and
> close the lid for about a minute.
> Turn the burgers to get a cross hatch grill mark and close the lid.
> After about 2 minutes, flip the burgers over. They have great grill
> marks and are nicely browned.
>
> Repeat for the other side.
> We like our burgers medium to medium rare so it doesn't take long if
> your grill is screaming hot.

That's almost exactly what I do, except my grill heats up to 400 degrees in
about 10 minutes... oh the propane! The dimple is essential, plus I shape
my burgers with a lid from a deli coleslaw package so they are uniform in
size. Another key to great burgers is to only use fresh beef, 80/20 for
juiciness. Frozen beef does not make good burgers.

On 7/7/2010 4:35 PM, wrote:
> Mine does an excellent job of grilling burgers. It's a Weber Silver-A
> model. I'm not sure what size burner it is. I have the papers but I
> don't feel like looking for them right now. I preheat with both
> burners set on high until the temperature gauge is all the way up,
> around 550°. I place the burgers on the grill, close the lid, and
> turn the burners down to medium. I flip them 5 minutes later and cook
> them an additional 5 minutes. I like my burgers well done. If I'm
> adding cheese, which is always the case, I put the cheese on the
> burgers, turn the burners to low, and close the lid. It usually takes
> about 2 minutes for the cheese to melt.
>

We also have the Weber Silver-A. Tonight we cooked ribs and we grilled
yellow squash, zucchini and onions. After the vegetables came off the
grill, they were put in a bowl, drizzled with Italian dressing and we
put the lid on it.

Becca

dj wrote:

> Mine does an excellent job of grilling burgers. It's a Weber Silver-A
> model. I'm not sure what size burner it is. I have the papers but I don't
> feel like looking for them right now.

You only need papers if you're in Arizona.

Bob

On Jul 7, 2:32*pm, "Christopher M." >
wrote:
> Is it possible to cook a good burger on a gas grill? I

Yes, it possible to cook a very good burger on a gas grill. It is,
however, impossible to make a great burger on gas. That requires
wood.
>
> W. Pooh (AKA Winnie P.)

--Bryan

In article >,
"Christopher M." > wrote:

> Is it possible to cook a good burger on a gas grill? If I close the lid the
> burgers bake and all the flavor is lost. If I leave it open there's barely
> enough heat to cook the burger.

In that case, you need a better grill.

Isaac

On 7/7/2010 19:20, Food Snob® wrote:
> On Jul 7, 2:32 pm, "Christopher >
> wrote:
>> Is it possible to cook a good burger on a gas grill? I
>
> Yes, it possible to cook a very good burger on a gas grill. It is,
> however, impossible to make a great burger on gas. That requires
> wood.


Do you mean wood as in wood chunks, natural wood briquettes or just
briquettes?

Save the natural wood for barbecuing or grilling foods that need the
smoke and/or require more cooking time. Burgers cook up too fast. Don't
waste natural wood on them. A great burger can be grilled on gas.

On Jul 7, 11:58*pm, Pennyaline > wrote:
> On 7/7/2010 19:20, Food Snob® wrote:
>
> > On Jul 7, 2:32 pm, "Christopher >
> > wrote:
> >> Is it possible to cook a good burger on a gas grill? I
>
> > Yes, it possible to cook a very good burger on a gas grill. *It is,
> > however, impossible to make a great burger on gas. *That requires
> > wood.
>
> Do you mean wood as in wood chunks, natural wood briquettes or just
> briquettes?
>
> Save the natural wood for barbecuing or grilling foods that need the
> smoke and/or require more cooking time. Burgers cook up too fast. Don't
> waste natural wood on them. A great burger can be grilled on gas.

Speaking of smoke, does anyone else besides me really not care for the
taste of meat that's been smoked to death? I like a little smokiness
for flavor but I want to be able to taste the meat, not the smoke. I
was at a family picnic over the weekend and everyone kept saying how
great the barbecued ribs were. I couldn't finish mine because all I
could taste was smoke. The flavor of the smoke should complement the
meat, not overpower it. The same is true of the sauce.

> wrote:

>Speaking of smoke, does anyone else besides me really not care for the
>taste of meat that's been smoked to death? I like a little smokiness
>for flavor but I want to be able to taste the meat, not the smoke. I
>was at a family picnic over the weekend and everyone kept saying how
>great the barbecued ribs were. I couldn't finish mine because all I
>could taste was smoke. The flavor of the smoke should complement the
>meat, not overpower it. The same is true of the sauce.

I can imagine this, but I've rarely experienced it, because
usually if it's barbecue my complaint is too little of an
infusion of smoke.

But once recently I decided to cook a grassfed, tough-ish
rib steak on a Weber with a goodly amount of wood in the fire.
The result was a pretty odd -- it was more smoky than you want
a steak to be, and there was an uber-smoke-ring effect in
which the entire cut of meat turned red, the entire way through.
It looked like a piece of corned beef! It did not get any tenderer
from this treatment either. It's a cut and source of meat I'm
familiar with, and I normally cook it under an electric broiler,
which would have been a better idea.

Steve

"Christopher M." > wrote in message
...
> Is it possible to cook a good burger on a gas grill? If I close the lid
> the burgers bake and all the flavor is lost. If I leave it open there's
> barely enough heat to cook the burger. I don't want to put a chunk of
> butter or cheese in the middle of my burgers.
>
I do this all the time and I'm only using a Blue Rhino portable gas grill.
Adapt as needed for a full-size gas grill.

1. Preheat the grill on high for 15 minutes. This helps heat-clean the grill
and also preheats for cooking. With the grill I am using, the temperature
needle has moved beyond 750 degrees and is pointing to 100 when the 15
minutes is up. That gives an estimated temperature of about 850 degrees.

2. Open the grill and place the hamburger patties on. Even if using frozen
patties, they will begin sizzling immediately.

3. Close the lid and also reduce heat to low.

4. This is the trial and error part--open the lid about once every two to
three minutes and try to move the burger patty with a spatula--if it moves
freely, flip it, if not, close the lid again very soon to avoid too much
loss of grill heat.

5. Cook to desired doneness, flipping as needed to ensure even grilling.
Avoid cooking to well-done that is also dry. Not quite as good as a charcoal
grilled burger, but much better than a fried or contact-grilled burger.

Ceramic briquettes or lava rock (if the grill can use those) can also be
used in addition to the normal gas flame. I find they help reduce the amount
of grill heat lost when the lid is opened each time.

Food Snob wrote:
>"Christopher M." wrote:
>>
>> Is it possible to cook a good burger on a gas grill? I
>
>Yes, it possible to cook a very good burger on a gas grill. It is,
>however, impossible to make a great burger on gas. That requires
>wood.

Who you kiddin'... you haven't had a woody in nigh on 20 years.

I cook great burgers in a stainless steel pan.

http://i28.tinypic.com/25g7wn6.jpg

http://i25.tinypic.com/a2x1l0.jpg

It's silly to light any grill for a couple of burgers. But
regardless, you cannot cook even a passable burger with preground
mystery meat.