Directions:

Do a fine chop on the sweet onion. Cut the bacon in 1 to 2 inch pieces. Add to the skillet with the onions. Cook until soft, not done, just soft. They will finish cooking on the grill and the bacon will add its juices to the ground sirloin, so it won’t be to dry. Add to mixing bowl with all the other Ingredients and mix well. Form into six patties. Place them back into the refrigerator for at least an hour. Burgers hold together better if they go on the grill cold.

Cooking Directions:

Open the lid and set the dial to “Smoke”, after about five minutes shut the lid. Give it about 10 minutes to heat up. Place your burgers directly onto the center of the grill and just let it hang out in the smoke and get happy for 30 minutes or so.

This is referred to as “cold smoking”; the temperature is around 160-180 degrees. Thirty minutes of cold smoking is not enough to have any cooking effect on your meat. But, it is enough to open the pores up so that the meat can pick up all the flavor of the smoke.

After 30 minutes, turn the digital control up to HIGH and pull the meat off the grill. When the grill comes up to temperature return the meat to the grill and cook for about 5 minutes per side. Add the cheese the last 3 minutes or so. You are looking for an internal temp around 130. Pull them off, cover and let them rest for 10 minutes before serving. This will be rare to medium rare. Keep in mind that the meat will continue cooking for another 10 degrees after you pull it off the grill. So for medium pull it at 140 and overdone at 160.

Note: I get a lot of questions about the kind of pellets you can use with a recipe. Keep in mind that a recipe is just an outline. Some you need follow closely like when you are making bread, but most you can do anything you can dream, our favorite way to cook. Feel free to mix and match the pellets until you find a combination you really like.

Directions: Gas Grill
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Grill: Gas

Preparing Grill: High Direct Heat

Preheat your grill to High heat (400-500). Add your wet hickory chips to the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this. (Note: you can add your hickory directly to the grill or you can use foil smoke packets.(Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.)

Preparing Charcoal Grill

Get the Grill ready, you will want your temperature of around 400-500 degrees. Remember, you are going high heat here for about 14 minutes. Bank your coals over to one side of your grill. Add your “drained wood chips” and you are good to go… Your cooking times and temps will be the same as above.

About our Recipes

We do our recipes on our patio where we have a lineup of grills, including Royall, Traeger, Charmglow, Char-Broil, Brinkman and Weber. I call it our “Wall of Grill”. Our grilling styles will fit pellet heads, gas, natural wood and even charcoal purists. Almost any of our recipes can be done on any kind of good BBQ.

The important thing to keep in mind is TIME & TEMPERATURE. You can even do some of them in the oven or crock pot, but, then you lose all the flavors you get from cooking outdoors. But sometimes it does rain.

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste.

Take it and run with it….

Live Your Passion,

Ken & Patti