First things first: what should I make?
As a first time planker I wanted to try a summer classic, Grilled Hamburgers.
So what if it’s a little cliché to have hamburgers in the summer, it’s what one does with two pounds of fresh ground burger and an empty grill. To understand the planking process, a comparison was in order. One hamburger on the plank, one on the grill, and a final question – which would be better?
I had the hamburger seasoned and formed into patties, the Red Oak planks soaked, and the grill hot, without further hesitation I placed the burgers on and waited – only a minute though because then I saw how fast the planks dried out after two hours of soaking. After frantically searching for a spray bottle I realized they were all out of commission for the evening, either full of Windex or broken.
I had to improvise, which didn’t necessarily bother me, but flinging handfuls of water from a Tupperware didn’t look quite so graceful as delicately misting with a spray bottle. Oh well, something to remember the next time around. After a while, the burgers were browning in a mouth watering way and the toppings were ready to be placed. I don’t believe a burger is really a burger if it doesn’t have barbecue sauce so I spread it on liberally before placing Monterey Jack cheese on top.
One Tiny Mistake
After the cheese melted and was in danger of dripping off, I knew that the burger placed directly on the grill was done; time – 8:18pm. One of my dinner companions (Mom) likes her meat to be a little red on the inside, and cut her planked burger in half to see if it was close to done. At 8:18pm it was still entirely too red to eat. Exactly six minutes later, her burger was cooked to perfection for my standards, meaning it was brown all the way through. I figured it was time to take mine off as well.
The first bite I didn’t think I had a hamburger in my hands, it was delicious of course, but moist and slightly smoky, kind of like a meatloaf sandwich that’s been cooked on a campfire, sprinkled with barbecue sauce. The second bite was the same, however the third bite in I realized my mistake. Grilling on a plank I had thought that the burger wouldn’t need to be flipped, I was wrong.
It would have been the perfect burger if the top hadn’t had a thin layer of undercooked meat of which no amount of barbecue sauce could hide. Those first two bites had sold me on the plank theory. If only I had flipped the burgers at the end. I guess the grill won this time, leading me into a false sense of security with the cut planked burger, but we’ll see how well it does in the next round. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go buy a spray bottle.
