Unless you’re after a fruity burger, leave Apple pellets to veggies, pork, and chicken. In fact, pretty much any pellet apart from Apple works well with beef. Mesquite pellets offer a smokier and robust taste you can pair with spicy BBQ flavors, while natural Hickory gives off a big punch that goes well if you’ve added garlic or a bit of spice to your seasoning. The wood pellets for you are going to depend a lot on the seasoning you’ve used. Your burger will only be as good as the meat that you choose, so choose wisely. Ground chuck is tender and it’s way richer in flavor. This is the perfect fatty sweet spot in order to keep your burger from drying out while giving you the perfect amount of flavor. Ground chuck is cut from the shoulder and is normally between 15 and 20 percent fat.
When you’re using a recipe to make a burger, you’ll normally be asked to use ground beef – but if you see anything in the store that’s simply labelled ground beef, it’s normally just code for some random collection of cuts that have all been mushed together. The most important part of crafting the perfect hamburger is actually making sure you’ve got the right meat to get the job done. This option will leave you with a juicier burger that’s safe to eat.The long and winding road to burger glory begins way before it’s time to fire up the grill. If you have a few extra minutes, you can pasteurize ground beef for 12 minutes at 140☏ using the sous vide method to kill the internal bacteria. Unfortunately, store-bought ground meat needs to be cooked to 160☏ to consume safely. There should still be a slight pink color in the middle.ġ60☏ to 165☏ (Well-Done): Burgers are typically overcooked and very dry at this temperature. It’s the best temp to grill burgers, leaving you with a juicy, delicious burger.ġ50☏ – 155☏ (Medium-Well): When your patties reach this hamburger meat temp, they will start drying out. Under 125☏ (Rare): While you can eat steaks at this temperature, eating a rare burger with raw meat is unsafe.ġ30☏-135☏ (Medium-Rare): While you can eat burgers at this burger done temp, it’s not ideal unless you’re extra cautious and take the correct steps.ġ40☏-145☏ (Medium): This medium burger temp will leave your burgers a light pink in the center. When cooking homemade, ground-in-house burgers, you can adhere to the burger temperature chart section below to help gauge burger doneness. If you grind your own burger meat, it is safer, and you can cook your burgers at a lower desired temperature (more on this in the next section). Temperature Guidelines for Burger Doneness