It's a warm spring Friday, and the return of nice weather has us thinking about cooking outside this weekend. What could be better than some juicy burgers hot off of the....griddle?
Yes! A grilled burger is terrific, a delicious classic. But a burger on a stainless steel griddle has a few advantages:
1. A Delicious Crust: When you grill, you have a combination of direct heat from the grates combined with heat from the coals or flames and also circulating above the food. When you place a burger patty on an outdoor stainless steel griddle, you have an advantage in crust formation, because the entire surface of the meat comes in contact with a hot, flat surface. The 100% direct heat on both sides of the patty forms a delicious brown crust on the burger. Don't worry about missing out on the "smoky" flavors from the grill - heating your grill to pre-heat the griddle is creates some smoke from the grates or firebox to flavor the food, and your burgers will still have great grilled flavors.
2. Retained Juices: When you grill over the grates, a significant amount of the juices in your meat run off into the grates. This is a key cause of overly dry burgers, even when the burger is not over-cooked. When you cook your burgers on a griddle, the patty is not as likely to dry out.
3. Even Heating: Grill heat is intense, but it can be inconsistent between different parts of the grill. When you use a stainless griddle, the entire griddle surface is heated by the hot air from the grill, and you have a cooking surface that maintains an even and predictable temperature throughout. This means that you can achieve the degree of doneness that you want, but it has the further advantage of cooking the inside of the burger to the degree that you prefer without burning the outside before the inside is done. This powerful combination of great crust + evenly cooked interior is one of the reasons that griddles make such delicious burgers.
4. No Flare-Ups: This is obvious, but worth noting - if you are not cooking directly above the flames, grease won't drip onto them and flare up. Using a griddle as your cooking surface prevents flare-ups from singing your burgers or burning them before the inside can cook through.
5. The Toppings: An area where an outdoor griddle simply excels is in providing both excellent toppings, and a great platform to build your finished burger. With the griddle surface, you can caramelize onions and grill mushrooms before you cook your burgers., and searing the meat where the toppings had cooked acts as an additional layer of flavor. When you’re ready to eat, the griddle provides a warm surface to build your burger, allowing the bun to toast and the food to stay warm.
Burgers on the griddle taste great, cook easily and are really fun to make! You get all of the things that make a grilled burger great (tasty crust, smoky flavor from the grill, eating outside), with additional benefits that you can only get from the griddle.
Check out our portable, stainless steel grill-top griddles and try this for yourself – the results are truly delicious.
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