Let's talk about burgers

[rickjames]

Street Kitchen, who make "gourmet" hot dogs, have just taken over the catering at The Miller near London Bridge. Seemingly very good hotdogs and, handily, where I'm doing the sound and lights for a comedy show next Saturday - hotdogs, beer and entertainment all in one place!

 

Have you had some of their wings? They're great, possibly a bit too sweet for some, mind.

 

Also best hot dog trader in London is Big Apple Hot Dogs. Very good.

[sidewinder]

Heading to Byron tonight to try one of their Big B's which are apparently amazing. Wasn't bowled over by their standard burgers but this should be good.

 

Also go to Dirty Burger in Kentish Town quite often which is a great little shack at the back of a pizza place. And have tried Meat Liquor & Market. No others so far, but will definitely check out Five Guys soon

 

OK so the Big B was really good, far better than Byron's standard burgers. However when it costs a tenner it's hard to recommend it as that is more than any burger at Meat Liquor and probably any of the other places, and it wasn't as good.

[Pyroman]

They look lovely, however we moved from a Gas to a coal one, don't know why but you seem to get a better taste from coal. Also sold the gas one for £300, and got the coal one for £20. Will be looking at making my own smoker as well as smoked venison burgers are just the best!

 

Agreed, using a gas barbecue is cheating!

[CHR1S]

Best burgers I have ever eaten -

 

First was in a little Irish bar in the financial district of San Francisco - stilton and caramelised onion burger, nothing unique but tasted amazing!

Second was a fish and chip shop come bar in Caleta de Fuste in Fuerteventura - Half Pounder with a secret recipe spice and pepper topping - VERY hot but tasted amazing too!

 

Despite what people think, the Americans dont always do the best burgers!

[glennda]

Best Burger I have ever had was from a street vendor on a side street in Patong, (Phuket) Thailand. It was famed for it, tried it and was soooo good

[Dos_Box]

Best Burger I have ever had was from a street vendor on a side street in Patong, (Phuket) Thailand. It was famed for it, tried it and was soooo good

 

Erm..What type of burger was it?

[glennda]

Erm..What type of burger was it?

 

It was a beef burger honest!!!

[Flatpackhamster]

Agreed, using a gas barbecue is cheating!

 

Nah, it just cuts out an hour or more of messing around and means you can guarantee you won't poison anyone. I defy anyone to do a blind taste test between gas-cooked and charcoal and tell the difference.

[tmcd35]

Nah, it just cuts out an hour or more of messing around and means you can guarantee you won't poison anyone. I defy anyone to do a blind taste test between gas-cooked and charcoal and tell the difference.

 

Erm, is that the whole point of a BBQ? (and how you tell the difference).

[LosOjos]

Nah, it just cuts out an hour or more of messing around and means you can guarantee you won't poison anyone. I defy anyone to do a blind taste test between gas-cooked and charcoal and tell the difference.

 

I always pre-cook any white meat in the oven before it gets to the BBQ - not worth the risk! red meat however the quicker it's off the BBQ the better, give it to me bloody!

[featured_spectre]

I can tell you the difference. My neighbour has a gas and I have a coal. We can tell the difference.

 

As for chicken an other white meat, I bake it first for half hour before putting it on the BBQ.

 

As for cutting an hour out lighting it...where do you get that from? 10 minutes and I am ready to cook.

[arwen]

The best BBQ I've ever had was a large firepit style one, with a grill on a chain that you can lower over it and stop at various heights. Cost about £15 from lidi one year. Can get loads of food on it, cook things slowly or quickly with ease, and it tastes excellent.

 

Those big fancy things with control knobs are just outside cookers imo, not real BBQ's...

[Flatpackhamster]

I can tell you the difference. My neighbour has a gas and I have a coal. We can tell the difference.

 

That's not a blind taste test, is it?

 

As for chicken an other white meat, I bake it first for half hour before putting it on the BBQ.

 

As for cutting an hour out lighting it...where do you get that from? 10 minutes and I am ready to cook.

 

Loading the barbecue, getting it lit, waiting for it to be hot enough, clearing up the ashes afterwards...

 

Even if you were 'ready to cook in 10 minutes', which I simply don't believe you can be unless you're cooking on unheated coals, you've still got an awful lot of mucky setup and clearing which you don't have with gas.

[Flatpackhamster]

The best BBQ I've ever had was a large firepit style one, with a grill on a chain that you can lower over it and stop at various heights. Cost about £15 from lidi one year. Can get loads of food on it, cook things slowly or quickly with ease, and it tastes excellent.

 

Those big fancy things with control knobs are just outside cookers imo, not real BBQ's...

 

That's just snobbery. As if the production of large amounts of delicious, uncindered food that doesn't taste of lighter fuel is somehow a bad thing.

[Dos_Box]

Erm, is that the whole point of a BBQ? (and how you tell the difference).

 

Heh, I had ours up and running on Saturday. I started off trying to use large charcoal brickettes which marketed themselves as 'easy to light' After 30 mins of failure and the use of a whole bottle of BBQ lighter fluid and a Saturday paper I had to admit defeat and go around the corner to get a bag of those 'ready to light' packages (smaller pieces of charcoal wrapped in paraffin soaked paper). That did the trick. it was still another half an hour or so before the flames and heat died down enough to make it ready to cook over.

I still think gas is cheating though

[glennda]

Gas is cheating a little bit although i use my bbq all the time (i cook normal dinners on it). So gas makes sense for me!

 

The best thing we cooked on it was baked alaska :-)

[featured_spectre]

A bbq coal chimney...costs a tenner....tajes 3 pieces of crumpled paper...use lumpwood coal...no ash, high heat, quick to light, burns for a long long time (got 7 hours out of 1/4 of the pack).

 

And as for the taste test, no, not blind I grant you that, but the charring effect from coal (and associated wood chip smoke which absorbs into the food if you do it right) makes a difference. I have not bren able to reproduce the same char effect with a gas bbq short of incinerating the food

[john]

Those in London need to visit these guys - Bukowski Grill NOM NOM NOM for burgers I do enjoy trips to them

[rickjames]

No no no Bukowski; why go there where Honest is 10 seconds away?!?!

[bondbill2k2]

Burgerac

[Flatpackhamster]

A bbq coal chimney...costs a tenner....tajes 3 pieces of crumpled paper...use lumpwood coal...no ash, high heat, quick to light, burns for a long long time (got 7 hours out of 1/4 of the pack).

 

And as for the taste test, no, not blind I grant you that, but the charring effect from coal (and associated wood chip smoke which absorbs into the food if you do it right) makes a difference. I have not bren able to reproduce the same char effect with a gas bbq short of incinerating the food

 

I think it depends what design of barbecue you've got. My gas barbecue used to have a diffuser but I've replaced it with a base grill covered with lava pebbles. The difference in the heat is remarkable (the first time I used it all the paint peeled off the barbecue and the grill warped). The diffuser ones, I agree, there's not the same flavour, but the lava ones, particularly once it's been used a few times and the lava has been caked in cooking juices - I guarantee you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. And if you like the wood flavour, toss a handful of wood chips on to your lava while it's on preheat, and you'll get that smoked effect.

[john]

No no no Bukowski; why go there where Honest is 10 seconds away?!?!

As its nom nom nom? and you can get a sun tan whilst waiting for your burger

[the_one_that_cant]

Yeah I do agree that gas is cheating a bit, and charcoal does add more flavour, but when you just fancy some burgers and hotdogs, and its a nice day, then why not? Its quick, easier, less messy et al.

 

The first bbq picture actually had the flames underneath and lavarock under the main grill section, and that was nice, however the 2nd picture bbq is just flames and grill.

I suppose I could try and put another shelf in for the lavarock and woodchips.

I do miss that bit.

[sidewinder]

Went to Patty & Bun on Friday. The burger was possibly the best I've had so far. The chips were sensational. The coleslaw less so. And the staff were extremely friendly which makes a change from MeatLiquor

[john]

Any Londoner tried either of the two American burger joints that have opened up in Covent Garden yet? The Evening Standard ran a piece on them the other week and seemed a bit luke warm.