An egg-ceptional lunch, hamburgers in the BGE!

Spring seems to have physically arrived here in Chicago. And along with this I dusted off the Big Green Egg and moved it to its Summer-long home on the communal space between our coach-house and the front-house. Thanks to our fairly moist basement, it had started to grow some small spots of white mold on the interior. So a quick fire-up at 500˚ inside killed it quickly. I scrubbed it down later (after lunch) to remove any visible signs of the unwelcome visitor.

I picked up a bag of Cowboy Lump Charcoal from Home Depot, 20oz. of stewing beef and a couple fresh baked rolls (one sesame/one cheddar). At home I ground and mixed the beef with some Pickapeppa sauce, fresh black pepper, garlic powder and crushed red pepper. I formed 2 huge (see the picture below) patties that would fit nicely onto the rolls. One got bagged up for the next day. The other was seasoned with more black pepper (I am a fiend) and sea salt (I never salt ahead, it pulls out too much moisture if not used soon).

Onto the grill grate it went, directly over the flame for a nice crust. I follow the rule to close the lid for anything thicker than your hand. Since was just under, open it stayed. A few minutes on each side and out it came at a medium-rare. I tend to like my burgers away from home at least medium, but since I ground this myself, the medium-rare was nice.

I also toasted the bun and cooked off a couple slices of some bacon, all in the egg. I topped it off with some miso-pickles from my friend Steve, and a combo of yellow and dijon mustards.

This was incredibly juicy and flavorful. I swear I could taste some Spring sprinkled on it. Maybe it was something in my head since it has been fairly nice out here in the Windy City. But if this is any sign of the warm days ahead, keep an eye out for some more meaty posts!