*BUMP* for Burgers

While I can see the flavor impact of marinating for 18hrs, I'm a steak purist I guess. A little salt/pepper 30 minutes before grilling. That's it. I'd rather taste the steak than the marinate or rub. And those 30 minutes are spent outside the fridge coming up to room temp just before grilling.

I've been dabbling in smoking buffalo and elk burgers this summer. IMO hickory brings out a great flavor. Apple was a close second.

Now explain to me smoking with apples?

Another thing Ive had success with is buying one of those large $1.98 cooking pans, putting my charcoal inside of it, and lighting that sucker in the bottom of my 55 gal drum pit when Im cooking chicken. It brings up high, even heat and the coals are still more than hot enough to cook with a couple hours later.

Apple wood, from an apple tree... lol

Never thought about doing that, but yeah I could see the shiny pan reflecting the heat up ward. Can't imagine though that it would work well for indirect cooking.

I agree wholeheartedly. I like to taste the meat rather than a marinade (usually), but I do like a little fancier dry rub than you:

My "regular everyday" rub:
Olive oil, salt, black pepper, basil, and a touch of garlic powder and onion powder

My "a little bit lighter" rub:
Olive oil, black pepper, and Beau Monde (it's a "Spice Islands" blend of salt, onion, and celery seed.. REALLY good, goes well on fish, too)

My "punch up the flavor" rub:
Olive oil, salt, black pepper, paprika, crushed cumin seeds, ancho chile powder, and a touch of garlic and onion powders

I find that the olive oil really opens up the pores of the meat and lets the flavors seep in.

I like to mix my hamburger with Worcestershire sauce, A-1 sauce, chopped garlic and chopped onion. Sometimes, I'll stuff some cheese inside the burger. It makes for a nice gooey surprise when you bite in!

I should have been more specific in my post. The salt/pepper is if I have a real nice cut. Depending on the quality I'll intensify the rub just as you posted above with lesser cuts and marinate for tips.

Never tried the olive oil before, I'll have to give that a go sometime. Thx.

For ground beef I like to mix in Worcestershire and beer. Playing around with different types of beer can really change the taste of the burger. I've also put cheese in the burger. I really like to do that with blue cheese and then jalapeños on the burger.

Ooh... I like the sound of beer in my burgers... I've never tried that before. Have you ever cooked brats in beer before grilling them?

Try seasoning your burgers and steaks with Montreal Steak Seasoning. Its by far the best "over-the-counter" dry rub out there. Don't confuse it with Canadien Steak Seasoning.

Cavenders Greek Seasoning on all my steaks.

That is some of my favorite, too, when I want a quick and dirty rub. It tastes phenomenal. Always have some on hand.

You drill a hole through it, and maybe add a third hole for a carb. Oops, that's outlaw baking, not cooking.

As for burgers, add a little breadcrumbs to mix to suck up the juices and fat and keep them in the burger.

My mom does this but I don't eat brats because of something that happened to me while I was eating a brat.

Shouldn't have tried to stuff it all in there at once....

I wish thats all it was. But I am scared for life.

I could have soooooo much fun with this.....