Need BBQ help

Morph the Cat

Hi all,

Got a brick BBQ alcove made last year; got it built to a grill kit from Argos: http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/3451247/Trail/searchtext%3EBBQ.htm

Anyway, any time I make burgers on this new grill they fall through the grill, break up, and I usually lose half of them. It's serious hassle.

Photos attached. Any idea what I'm doing wrong? Are the bars in the grill tray too wide apart? I never had this issue on my old gas BBQ.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

vicwatson

Morph the Cat wrote: »

Hi all,

Got a brick BBQ alcove made last year; got it built to a grill kit from Argos: http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/3451247/Trail/searchtext%3EBBQ.htm

Anyway, any time I make burgers on this new grill they fall through the grill, break up, and I usually lose half of them. It's serious hassle.

Photos attached. Any idea what I'm doing wrong? Are the bars in the grill tray too wide apart? I never had this issue on my old gas BBQ.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Grill bars definitely too far apart.

You could try one of these (they sell them in Aldi and Lidl sometimes and I've seen them in pound shops - Mr Price being another I've seen them in)



Or for a more permanent solution I would go with a trip to the local Tesco or whoever to see if they have the likes of this disposable Barbeque, buy however many you think you'll need, use the barbeque and when finished with it take the wire out of the top of it to sit on top of the existing grill bars (you might have to tie this to the existing grill bars with heavy duty wire so as to make it a permanent feature) There are large versions of this disposable bbq and it might be better to buy two of them and cut one to size to fit atop your current grill bars. The wire used in the disposable bbqs is good as it is "flat" so handy when using a fish lift to flip burgers.



Let me know if I'm not explaining myself very well

vicwatson

Actually let's have the dimensions of the grill bars in situ and I'll check into how many disposable bbqs you'll need

Edit - I see this from your link from Argos that these would be the dimensions of the grill bars ?

Overall size W67.5, D39.5cm

So I reckon 2 of the the large or party disposable bbqs will do you

gerryk

Are they shop bought burgers? They are minced very fine, so will tend to disintigrate easily. Home-made tend to have better structure for grilling.

stepster

Yes the grill bars look a little far apart, however, one or two of the damaged burgers look like they stuck to the grill. Try rubbing the grill with a little olive oil before cooking.

Failing that this should do the trick (and I think I've seen them in Woodies before):
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Man-Law-MAN-V1-Hamburger-Basket/dp/B00BMUWJAG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1371739852&sr=8-2&keywords=beef+burger+grill

Best of Luck!

thegreatiam

make em home made with nothing in them.
adding onions etc will have them fall to pieces easier. just add salt. leave the rest of the ingredients till serving

lightly oil the grill bars to stop them sticking. get the grill nice and hot before adding the meat so it chars the outside faster. Don't touch them until you need to. no early flipping.

defo invest in one of them disposable grills suggested by vicwatson. 2/3 will be enough if you only need it for the burgers.

Im no expert but the coals look far enough from the grill, is it hot enough?

rubadub

thegreatiam wrote: »

Don't touch them until you need to. no early flipping.

Ideally flip them just once. Drives me mad seeing guys flipping them over & over, letting all the juices out and ruining them. Put them on and do not touch them again, its always drunk lads I see shifting them all around the second they go on.

If they are really thin burgers they they will shrivel more, the bottom can stick and/or mould around the bars, so when it shrinks the bottom is held in place and it all comes apart. Having too few bars means the weight is dispersed over a small area and so moulds around it more.

My tip is to squish the burger out flat on a bit of tinfoil thinly. Now place the tinfoil with the meat on the grill, tinfoil down. Now when it shrinks it does it on the tinfoil, it also half cooks it so it holds together nicely for the first flip.

if burgers are thrown down onto the grill it will mould into the bars even more, many people tend to do this as its so hot. The tinfoil overcomes this too.

Also use very high fat mince.

Morph the Cat

That's great - thanks all for your replies!

thegreatiam

Morph the Cat wrote: »

That's great - thanks all for your replies!

If you can get hold of it online look for Heston blumenthal's burger from his series cooking like heston. He uses only mince and salt, no binding ingredient like egg. if you dont have the right equipment you can't really do it easily but it will give you an idea for making homemade burgers that don't break apart

Martyn1989

Just to add, don't flip them to early or they'll be stuck, as above, let them cook on one side, flip em, cook the other and serve

vicwatson

I think you need to sort out the grill bars problem still.

Use up the disposable bbqs and then use the wire off the top of them, wire this to your grill bars and your food is guaranteed not to go through !!

Getting hungry now.

My Burger recipe ?

Ingredients all per burger

150g Mince with min 10-15% fat content (makes a 1/3lb burger, come on it's summer!)
Pinch Salt and Fresh ground Black Pepper
Small bit of Fresh Chopped Parsley
Teaspoon of Worcestershire Sauce

Make it into a patty - not squeezing the bejaysus out of it mind

Cook and mill, nom nom

hargo

The distance between the rack and the coals looks to be far too much, I would say about 25mm max for burgers and steak. You want plenty of heat Meat will stick initially to the bars but if you leave it for a minute or two it will release itself and should not be turned before this stage. As previously said only turn once and don't press down. I rub a bit of olive oil on to the burgers not the bars. Try marinade them in olive oil, rice wine and soya sauce with crushed garlic and a few drops of tobasco sauce. I have used similar bars without problem although not great for very small items.

Bateman

hargo wrote: »

The distance between the rack and the coals looks to be far too much.

That's the first thing that came into my head when I looked at the pictures...

Wyldwood

I use a large cake cooling rack on top of the grill, easily bought in any supermarket

BailMeOut

four things

The grill bars are orientated wrong way. You cannot flip your burgers properly with a spatula unless you can scraping from the side. Can you turn them 90 degrees so you can flip them from the front?

With charcoal you can test if the heat is correct by holding your hand 1 inch above the grill bars. If you can leave your hand there for three seconds then the heat is perfect. If you cannot do 3 seconds its too hot and of you hold it there longer then it is too cool or your grill bars are too far from the heat.

Brush the raw burgers with some melted butter before putting on or rub the bars with some oil Great way to do this is to stick a fork into half and onion, dip in some vegetable oil and rub on the bars.

Your grill bars do look kind of crappy (sorry!), they are way too far apart, thin and light. If you are going to cook out a lot I would be replacing them.