Outdoor Grills and Smokers

What is a Burger Bundle?

How to make a Burger Bundle?

One of our favorite family meals are Burger Bundles. We grill them on the Gas Grill or you can use a Charcoal Grill if you desire. I would recommend using the Gas Grill, because it is quicker and you would not get any charcoal flavor anyway.

To make a Burger Bundle, you start with three layers of aluminum foil approximately 18″ long. The reason for the extra layers is you don’t want to take the chance of a hole being poked in the bottom which will cause a flare up and also keep the ingredients from burning on the bottom.

The ingredients can vary from each family members tastes. You start with a 1/4-1/2 lb of ground hamburger pressed into a patty. Place the hamburger in the center of the foil. Now you can layer sliced potatoes (not peeled), sliced carrots, sliced onions, sliced green peppers, sliced mushrooms or any other favorite raw vegetable. Sprinkle in your favorite seasonings, we like Montreal Steak seasoning, garlic salt, pepper & Jane’s mixed up salt. For the moisture, slice up a 1/2 stick of butter and place on top. The butter will melt down through the ingredients.

Now its almost time to start grilling. Start the grill and let it preheat to 200-300 degrees. Fold up your foil in a bowl like shape on the bottom to keep any juices from escaping out the sides and overlapping on the top to seal together. In our family, each person makes their own bundle with the ingredients that they want. For example, my youngest daughter only likes hamburger, potatoes and onions. I personally throw everything in. We take a permanent marker and write our initials on each bundle, so you don’t have to search for your bundle when it is time to eat. Place each bundle on the grill and cook for approximately 20-30 minutes on low to medium heat. You can test them by opening one of the bundles and poking the vegetables with a knife to see if they are tender. Be careful when opening, don’t burn yourself on the steam and also don’t poke a hole in the foil. When the vegetables are tender, your bundle is ready to eat.

When the Burger Bundles are cooked, remove from the grill and place on each family members plate. You can now add shredded cheese or my favorite would be Famous Daves devils spit BBQ sauce. You can eat your bundle out of the foil or you can pour it on a plate, but be careful not to burn yourself.

We grill our Burger Bundles at home on the backyard gas grill. When camping or tailgating, we use my gas grill attached to my truck hitch.

Outdoor Grills and Smokers

Gas Grills, Charcoal Grills or Wood Flavored Grills

Which one will suite my lifestyle?

Which one will give me the flavor that I am looking for?

The debate over charcoal vs gas vs wood flavored grills is a debate that will live on forever. When deciding, the one thing you need to know is that it is a matter of taste and convenience. You could also throw in electric grills into the equation.

Convenience: The best way to think about this problem is to remember that generally the more convenient a grill becomes the less really smoke flavor you are going to get. An electric grill is easiest to use but doesn’t have that real fire flavor, gas grills will be the next quickest with some smoke flavor, while charcoal or hardwood fires give you the best flavor, but take the most time. However, some people think the flavor is worth the wait. The authentic smoke, off the fire taste of grilled foods is strongest with the original heat source, wood. As you move to electric you find very little of this flavor left. In fact, many electric grills add virtually nothing to the taste of foods. However the simplicity of flipping a switch and grilling can’t be beat.

Taste: When cooking hamburgers it is hard to tell the difference between the charcoal or gas, but there is a difference with the steak. The charcoal grilled steak had more distinct smoke flavor. Grilling or smoking ribs is whole another story. Ribs have the best taste using a wood flavored smoker grill. You can use your wood of choice as in Apple, Alder, Cherry, Maple, Mesquite, Oak, Hickory or Pecan. You may have to experiment with which wood is the flavor of your choice.

Space or Transporting: To decide what kind of grill is right for you, first you need to decide where you are going to be using your grill. If you need a grill for tailgating, the best grill I have found can be attached to your hitch on your pickup or SUV. There are various camping grills to choose from, what you need to consider is what would be the most convenient to transport. If using in the back yard, a small patio or covered area is not the place for a large charcoal grill. Electric grills produce no flare-ups and are safer in smaller areas. Gas grills do produce flare-ups and need to be away from any structure to avoid those pesky house fires. Charcoal can be lit with an electric starter and therefore can be used with virtually no open flame.

Grilling: Another thing to consider is how you plan to grill. If you want to be able to come home from work and throw a couple of steaks or chicken breasts on the grill with virtually no hassle then electric or gas might be what you are looking for. If you are planning a weekend party you could consider the charcoal or wood smoker grills to impress your guest with some the best flavored barbecue.

I have friends that have more than one grill. They have a gas grill on the patio for the quick barbecue, they have a wood smoker for the weekend bash and a gas tailgating grill that attaches to their SUV hitch.

Outdoor Grills and Smokers