Tag: backyard brew burgers

If I’m going to take the time to fire up a grill for burgers, I’m not going to make boring ones. That doesn’t mean they have to be complicated, though. These Backyard Brew smash burgers pack a lot of flavor in each and every bite. The sauce on the burgers, as crazy easy as it is to make, is delicious. Steak sauce. Beer. That’s it. No fancy steak sauce. The cheap stuff. No fancy beer, either. Good ole Budweiser does just fine. Or whatever you want to use. Heck, you’re grilling. Probably got a beer already in your hand. Use that one. A little cheese and fresh toppings, all on good buns, and you’ve got one great dinner.

A Lot Of Flavor.

Once you’ve made a smash burger or two you’ll find them to be as easy to make as the non-smash ones. Before long you’ll be a master at it, making great burgers like these Backyard Brew smash burgers. My only suggestion when you make these is: use lots of the sauce. It’s good and it works great with grilled beef. Kinda figures, right? Steak sauce. Beer. The perfect pairing. Now on a burger.

The equipment

Here’s the equipment I use. You can get by using two cast iron skillets. Use a larger skillet for cooking the burgers, and a smaller one to smash the burgers and keep them flat. Since I’m a cooking gadget collector, I prefer to use a few more tools.

The griddle

First, a griddle. You can buy griddles that sit on top of your grill grates or ones that replace them. Just about every grill I have has a griddle on it. I use them for a lot of things, not just smash burgers. You want one that can be placed over the hottest part of your grill so it gets screaming hot.

A burger press

Next, you need a burger press. You can use a heavy cast iron skillet, like I mentioned. Or get a burger press. For easy cleanup I wrap mine in foil first. When I’m done, just peel off the foil and toss. Super easy. Get a press that’s at least big enough to cover two burgers. You only smash one at a time, but if you want to keep them flat, you want to rest the press on top so bigger (and heavier) is better. Plus I’ve found that a bigger, heavier press tends to stay on the burgers whereas a smaller, lighter one is hard to keep centered on the burgers, especially if you have a bunch of them cooking at once.

A dome

Next up, a dome. While not 100% required, it does speed the time it takes to melt the cheese and it does it in a nice even fashion. In my opinion you don’t really need one if you’re using a super melty cheese, such as American, but for thicker slices like say a deli pepper jack, you want the cheese to melt before you over-cook the burger and that’s where a dome comes in handy.

Cleaning time!

Lastly, you need something to clean your griddle. I like to clean mine when I’m done cooking, but you can do it at the start instead. I use one of these pad holders with a griddle cleaning pad. Then I add a bit of water to my griddle then use the pad (connected to the holder) to scrub off any big chunks and get up some of the grease. I don’t go crazy with it, I always heat the heck out of my griddle before cooking, but I get the worst. The long arm on the pad holder makes it perfect for scrubbing a hot griddle, too.

Also try my taco smash burgers!