It was time to take a step back and hone some necessary skills. Burgers are an American classic, and a well-grilled burger can be a hallmark of a man. I've goofed around with burgers on The Forge in the past, but without proper guidance I have not performed well. This was the driving force in selecting the Basic Burgers on page 32, found in the Rookie Section. To be honest, I was in the mood for a more interesting burger, but did not want to gather, buy, prep, and subsequently ruin various ingredients until I was more confident. If I was going to ruin more burgers, they would be very basic burgers so that I would be less upset. Since the grill was going to be fired up, I figured I may as well have a side, so I went with the Twice Grilled Potatoes on page 353.
This session presented some challenges that concerned me. In reviewing the recipe for the Twice Grilled Potatoes, I noticed that this would be a lengthy grill. My previous attempts with The Forge were what I would deem Quick Burns. I would get the charcoal started, cook for fifteen minutes, and then call it a night. This session, however, presented the challenge of maintaining proper cooking heat for fourty-five minutes to an hour. On Ol' Faithful this is not a problem. It is a significant advantage that a proprane grill has in that unless you run out of propane, a griller can sustain the same temperature for hours rather easily.
I began with my standard five pounds of charcoal for a direct medium grilling technique. The recipe called for thirty to thirty-five minutes of the first grilling session for the potatoes, with flipping them three or four times. I decided to flip the potatoes every seven minutes and thirty seconds. It was here that my inexerience and frustration with The Forge began to reemerge. Here is where I was at at the end of the half hour.
Notice that two of them are a perfect golden brown, one is just beyond perfect, and the other three are rather burnt. This has always been my issue with charcoal grills...irregular heat. It is what is always been so intimidating to me about them, and why I have always leaned towards propane grilling. Luckily, I was able to salvage these potatoes.
Using a simple paring knife, It was easy to trim the burnt layer. In fact, they pretty much peeled off on their own. So I used my melon baller to extract the inside of the potatoes and followed the recipe to create the filling (making a mistake in the process that I will discuss later). I filled the potatoes, formed and seasoned the patties, and was ready.
Here is where I was forced to make an inexperienced decision. By this time, the charcoal had been in use for fourty-five minutes, and were starting to look like they were on the downward slope. I only needed another ten minutes, but didn't know if the coals had it in them. I decided to not add more charcoal, as this would teach me for later sessions if it was necessary or not. So to the grill with the food!
Long story short, I probably should have added just a little bit. The above picture is after the burgers have been flipped. I also decided to move the pototoes to indirect heat, which was in contrast to what the recipe called for during their second time on the grill; I was timid about burning them again. The burgers didn't crisp up on the outside like I prefer, but that was because the coals were outright on their last leg.
In all, the coals were not hot enough towards the end. I learned that if I wanted to cook over an extended period of time, adding coals should be in the cards. The burgers ended up being well done instead of medium because they were cooked low and slow instead of high and fast. They were still rather juicy, and for only having salt and pepper were pretty delicious. The potatoes were rather nice as well.
I also added something to the burger recipe...cheese. I added the slices with about three minutes left on the grill. That turned out well. They were perfectly melted. To sum up, I'm glad I went with the basic burger recipe. I need more practice at burgers. I like mine firm and crispy on the outside (not burnt, but well cooked) and medium on the inside. More experience is necessary (and non-dead coals). As mentioned before, the potatoes were good. Not great, but good. I did goof up, though. I was supposed to only use half of the cheese in the stuffing, and place the other half on top of the potatoes on the grill. This will also have to be attempted again. I made a note in the cookbook to split the cheese into two bowls during my mise en place. In other news, I went with a new Tempranillo from the Rioja region of Spain. It is six bucks, and a terrific value. Otherwise, a good beer would suffice.
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