Stufz Bastille Burger

Filled with Cabernet, sweet onions, garlic, mushrooms and blue cheese!

Last week Dave Hanson from “Stufz Ultimate Burger” sent us one of his burger stuffers. Which we thought was really cool because I had been looking at this very same unit for a few weeks now. I gave Dave a call and we talked about his stuffer and some of his ideas. We are going to have to try lots of our own. I think the ones he has in mind for kids are great ideas that will be a big hit with the little kids and some of us bigger kids. For example, his inside out meat ball where you put the spaghetti inside the burger.

So, we got to thinking about flavors that we really like. How about a good Cabernet mixed into the meat and blue cheese? Good Stufz. Can you put that in a burger? Absolutely!! Then, add some sweet onion, garlic and mushrooms sautéed with a little bacon. We are truly headed for a delicious experience.

Here’s what we came up with. A 2 inch Stufz burger, weighing in at a little over a half pound after stuffing served up on a french roll with homemade smoked garlic mayo, piled high with fresh lettuce and tomato. Most Excellent.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes smoke, 10 minutes cooking

Grill: Royall 3000 Wood Pellet Grill/Smoker

Pellets: Mesquite

                                       Mixing the Meat

Ingredients: 2 Burgers

1 lb. ground beef (we like a 80/20 mix for burgers)

¼ c. Cabernet type wine (Merlot would work, too.)

1 Tbsp. coarse ground garlic

1 tsp. coarse ground black pepper

½ tsp. Country Bob’s Seasoning Salt

Stuffing

1 c. slivered red sweet onion (Patti used a potato peeler)

1 c. mushrooms, thin sliced

½ c. garlic, thin sliced

3-4 pieces of bacon, chopped

2 Tbsp. Cabernet wine

Blue Cheese

Directions: Meat

In a bowl mix the ingredients for the meat and set aside.

Sauté stuffing until just soft

Directions: Stuffing Mix

Add your onions, garlic, mushrooms, bacon and wine to a skillet. (We like cast iron) Cook until just soft and set aside.

Directions: Stufz the burgers

Form the pocket and fill the top with your meat

Filling the first few times can be a little tricky. Too much stuffing or meat and/or too much pressure, you’ll end up blowing it out the sides.

So, add your filling to the pocket. Be sure not to overfill by going above the sides. Keep the sides clear of any filling so you get a good bond with the top piece.

I put in as much blue cheese and filling as we could without going over the top.

These burgers were ½ pounders and you can make them smaller by cutting back on the meat. But why, these were perfect. The key I found was to take the amount of meat you want for a patty then take 1/3 of it out for the top.

A ½ pound of BEEF with Stufzing and 2 inches thick

Cooking Directions: Royall 3000 Wood Pellet Grill/Smoker

Open the lid and set the dial to “Smoke”, turn it on. After about five minutes you can shut the lid. Give it about 10 minutes to heat up. Patti has lined the drip pan with foil for me, it makes for easier clean up.

I used my Grill Grates tonight. So, I put them on now to let them start heating up.

Place everything directly onto the grill and just let it hang out in the smoke and get happy for 30 minutes or so. Do not put your meat on the grill grates yet. They conduct heat really well and will cook your meat before it gets to pick up any flavor from the smoke.

This is referred to as “smoking”; the temperature is around 225 degrees. 30 minutes of smoking is not enough to have any cooking effect on your meat but it is enough to open the pores so that the meat can pick up all the flavor of the smoke

After 30 minutes, turn the digital control up to High 425/450 degrees and pull the meat off the grill. When the grill comes up to temperature place your burgers on the Grill Grate for 3 minutes a side. If you want a nice looking grill char about half way through each side give the burger a quarter turn. Just beautiful…

The Royall 3000 with the Grill Grate

Note: I get a lot of questions about the kind of pellets you can use with a recipe. Keep in mind that a recipe is just an outline. Some you need follow closely like when you are making bread, but most you can do anything you can dream, our favorite way to cook. Feel free to mix and match the pellets until you find a combination you really like. Also you are only smoking at temps less than 250 degrees, anything higher is cooking and there will not be much if any smoke so it does not matter what kind of pellet you are using.

Directions: Gas Grill
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes smoke, 10 minutes cook
Grill: indirect Low & High Heat

Preparing Grill: Low Indirect Heat

30 minutes with your wet wood chips for smoking

Preheat your grill to low heat (180 - 225) and turn off one side so you will be cooking with indirect heat. Add your wet hickory chips over the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this. (Note: you can add your hickory directly to the grill or you can use foil smoke packets.(Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.)

Preparing Grill: High Indirect Heat

Preheat your grill to High heat (400-500) and turn off one side so you will be cooking with indirect heat. Add your wet hickory chips to the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this. (Note: you can add your hickory directly to the grill or you can use foil smoke packets.(Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.)

Preparing Charcoal Grill

Get the Grill ready, you will want your temperature of around 400-500 degrees. Remember, you are going high heat here for about 14 minutes. Bank your coals over to one side of your grill. Add your “drained wood chips” and you are good to go… Your cooking times and temps will be the same as above.

Cooking In the Oven:

We have been getting requests for recipe conversions for the oven. I tell folks all the time that cooking on a Royall wood pellet grill is just as easy as cooking in your oven. Just about anyone can do it and do it well. Think about it. You set your control knob to the temp you want, put your meat in and leave it for a set time.

It is the same thing, time and temperature is what it is all about. The Royall is just like your oven except it uses wood pellets and has wheels.

If you want to smoke in your oven they sell oven smokers for that. I, myself, would not spend the money on one of those when you can make your own out of foil. Foil smoke packets. (Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.) Just set it in the oven. You might want to make sure you turn on your vent fan or your house will fill up with smoke. You will give your alarms a good work out.

Lookin’ Good

About our Recipes

We do our recipes on our patio where we have a lineup of grills, including Royall Wood Pellet Grill/Smoker, Traeger, Char Griller side box smoker, Charmglow, Char-Broil, The Big Easy, Brinkman and Weber. I call it our “Wall of Grill”. Our grilling styles are healthy and low fat and will fit pellet heads, gas, natural wood and even charcoal purists. Almost any of our recipes can be done on any kind of good BBQ.

The important thing to keep in mind is TIME & TEMPERATURE. You can even do some of them in the oven or crock pot, but, then you lose all the flavors you get from cooking outdoors. But sometimes it does rain.

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste.

Take it and run with it….

Live your Passion,

Ken & Patti

http://datenightdoins.com

Check Out The Stufz Burger Stuffer at:

http://stufz.net

Check out the Grill Grates at:

GrillGrate, LLC

P.O. Box 1674 (mailing)

223 West Cherokee Ave. (shipping)

Cartersville, GA 30120

877-380-2527 phone / fax

grillgrate.com and infoATgrillgrate.com