Thursday, July 19, 2012

Up-in-Flames Burger

We asked for Pinstrosities, and we got this gem. Rachel, you're awesome. You know it's going to be good when the subject is "Pinstrosity that went up in Flames" and the email starts with this line: "I have one...I was almost in tears with disappointment...(1) I'm a good cook, (2) my son had helped me and was super proud of it and (3) I was trying to impress my husband." 

Rachel's email was fantastic. She just kept building the suspense and was quite entertaining. She says, "My husband has a little grouping of friends that like to make 'woman in the kitchen making a sandwich' jokes and my husband is a hamburger connoisseur. He LOVES them. I found this pin on pinterest and thought now THAT is a sandwich/hamburger...I am about to win the best wife ever award."

The Original Pin (are you ready for this?)
http://9gag.com/gag/1852845

"(looking at it thinking, oh ya...major wife points!!) " Um, best wife ever award for sure! Too bad it went up in flames...literally. 

The Pinstrosity (before it went up in flames)

The Pinstrosity (after)

Here's Rachel's story. "I rarely use pork bacon, but made an exception for this recipe. I knew it was going to be greasy, so I had my grill on the lowest setting (it is propane)...less than 5 minutes TONS of smoke was coming in from the back porch...the entire top of my grill was on fire." 

"I stood there a moment wondering WTF I was supposed to do...went inside to grab a bowl of water to douse the flames just enough for me to turn the propane off. The left over flames were enough to finish cooking the burgers..."

"The outside was black, my husband wound up burning the hair on his arms (his arms better than my hair! LOL)...but I will say, the patties on the inside were cooked perfectly."

"Its funny now, and you can see the pictures...so yes, this is a mega pinstrosity. LOL Im THINKING perhaps I should bake it next time rather than grill it. Maybe put it in a dish with a wire rack so the juices drip off and IF I need that smoky grill flavor throw it on the grill for just a few moments." 

So how do we prevent the inferno? In the original picture it looks like the "slow cooked" it over a bed of coals. With no flames, the chance of a blaze starting up is way lower (but not impossible...trust me). I did like her idea of baking the burger with a drip pan under it. That should work too.  

This would have scared many people off for good, but Rachel says, "I will try again...Im a stubborn woman and a humungous grease fire that sets my entire grill on fire, isnt enough to hold me back! LOL." 

This woman makes my day. 

                            

21 comments:

  1. If your grill has the griddle insert that you can put in instead of one of the sections of normal grill grates use that. Or if your grill has multiple burners turn on one but put the burgers over another so that they are not directly above the flames (works best if you keep the grill closed since it uses indirect heat to cook and will take longer). It's probably the bacon grease that caused the massive flare up.

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  2. Ok...this is AWESOME!!! Nothing like the smell of burnt arm hair and smoke inhalation to ramp up that appetite.

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  3. To repeat, cook them indirectly, with the lid closed. Also, she used bacon with a LOT of fat. When you buy your bacon, check the little window in the back to make sure that it's not all white fat. No window, no buy-o. The bacon with lots of fat is great for doing over a drip pan in the oven to make baco-bits for salad, and then use the rendered fat to make pasta carbonara.

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  4. My thought too Ross the Bacon fat/meat ratio was 90/10 for cheap ass bacon.

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  5. Where did she get the Juicy Lucy burger maker??

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  6. LOL i made this the other day and it ended up being SO big that my man and I had to share it and we were so full!! still got some brownie points though! the cheese also didnt want to stay inside so i ended up making a hollow centre putting in a large brown mushroom and filling that with cheese; the mushroom made it so much more yummier!!

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  7. Bless your heart lady! Wrapping stuff in bacon takes guts. Whenever I attempt it (bacon wrapped hotdogs last camping trip!) I use those disposable tin foil pans and put them right on the BBQ. Catches the flame starting grease. I am so happy to hear your hair made it out ok!!!

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  8. Be careful if you do bake these. I read where a blogger baked a bacon wrapped meatloaf and set her oven on fire and needed a new oven.

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  9. I believe the press in the pictures is the StufZ burger press. They can be bought on Amazon.com.

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  10. Oh man, I'm really lm*o over the description. What a woman! Cook on, sister!
    :D

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  11. hmm... i am definitely thinking this for supper! Thanks for the cooking tips!

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  12. I'm laughing so hard I am crying. Awesome!

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  13. LOL! i can't stop laughing so hard!

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  14. The submitter used a grocery store grade bacon (mostly fat). The OP looks like butcher's bacon (and super thin). Roasting it over the coals is the key so that the bacon doesn't drip off and become flames. I roast bacon in the oven and it takes 1 hour at 250 degrees (perfect bacon). Anything higher and it smokes, much higher and I am sure there would be flames. Do not try this over open flame. Either use an indirect slow cook method or skip the bacon wrap. I would consider using a prosciutto wrap instead.

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  15. I've found that whenever cooking anything wrapped in bacon it's best to cook the bacon a bit first. You need it to still be soft enough to wrap around something without breaking. I always ran into the problem of the bacon getting burnt and the inside still being underdone. As for a juicy lucy maker...just make 2 skinny patties and put cheese in the middle. Just make sure the edges are sealed real well.

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  16. We grill several batches of jalapeno poppers every summer and always use foil on the grill to keep the bacon grease from catching fire.

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  17. I did this with the turtle burgers, and yes, my grill is propane and I had it set too high. I also think I will only bake this from now on, as it is too awesome to be ruined.

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  18. The original LOOKS amazing, but wrapping anything in bacon is asking for trouble on the grill. Just mince a couple slices of bacon in a food processor and mix it with your burger meat to get the super bacon-y flavor. Grinding up a high-quality hot dog in there makes it even more insanely good.

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  19. I've made these without the fancy press, on my grill & came out wonderfully. They were one of the best burgers I've ever made. A tip....go to the dollar store & get a package of the small toddler bowls in different sizes...put meat for bottom part of the burger in a medium to large bowl (depending on size of burger you want) then use 2 sizes down bowl to create the indent. :-)

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  20. I did these and they turned out delicious. Low heat and thick sliced bacon.

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  21. Best way to avoid the inferno is a charcoal grill and cook it off the coals.

    You can do it on a propane, just turn on the burners on one side and cook the burgers on the side with the burners that are off.

    :)


    :)

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