Smoked Cheeseburgers and Dutch Oven Fries

 

Today was my wife's birthday and I decided to make smoked cheeseburgers and dutch oven fries for her birthday dinner.  When you smoke a cheeseburger you get a taste that is delicious and completely unique.  All I do is mix some seasoning salt into ground beef and I used a hamburger press to shape the patties.  Using offset heat in my Weber Kettle Grill I smoked the burgers for at least an hour.  If you were making smaller burgers it would take less time.  The last 10 minutes I topped the patties with cheese and bacon.  Once I pulled them off the grill I toasted the brioche buns on the grill. The cheeseburgers have a great smoke ring and a flavor that cannot be beat.  

For the dutch oven fries I used a recipe I found in Barbecue Biscuits & Beans: Chuck Wagon Cooking.   

Slice the potatoes into thin wedges.  Preheat a 14 inch dutch oven to 450 degrees using 26 briquettes on top and 14 on the bottom.  Melt 1/4 stick of butter in the dutch oven and place the potatoes wedges cut side down in the bottom.  Make sure they do not overlap.  Cook about 20-30 minutes or until browned on one side an then flip the wedges over and cook for another 20 minutes until crispy.  You can top them with salt or seasoning salt.

Thanks for reading, and get out there and get cooking! 

Grilled Chicken and Vegetables

Instead of using my dutch ovens I decided to barbecue today.  Using a charcoal grill I off-set my heat by placing all the hot briquettes onto one side of the Weber Kettle and cook the chicken on the the opposite side.  I added a handful maple wood chips to the briquettes for extra flavor, don't add too much or your meat will just taste like wood.  Make sure when place your lid on that the vent is over the chicken and opened half-way for medium heat.  This is not as fast as if you grill a chicken over direct heat but it makes for a juicy, perfectly cooked and tastes like you have been smoking it all day.

When I normally use my smoker I make a homemade rub. but today I wanted to use this Smokehouse Maple rub and it was delicious.  It has a smoky sweet flavor with just a little bit of heat.  I used bone in skin on chicken thighs for this recipe.  I rubbed a little bit of oil on the chicken and then generously covered the chicken with the seasoning.   Place the chicken on the opposite side of the hot briquettes and cook it for 2 hours or until your chicken is almost done (use a meat thermometer to check, it should just be under 165°)  and then brush your favorite barbecue sauce on.  You don't want to put the barbecue sauce on too early because the sugars in the sauce will make it burn.  Cook 10 more minutes until the internal temperature reaches 165°.

For the vegetables I did the same thing as the chicken, added little oil and rubbed with the seasoning (today we used onions and squash but any vegetable would be great).  I placed them directly over the briquettes when I put on the barbecue sauce on the chicken and cooked until tender.

Thanks for reading, and get out there and get cooking!