Best Burger & Baked Beans Ever

Every year when birthdays or special holidays roll around, I always ask people what they would like me to make for them. I give them the choice of anything I've ever made or if there is something they'd like me to try, I'll do that as well. Three out of the last four years my mother's answer has been hamburgers, which are her favorite meal. So each year I've tried to find a new hamburger recipe to try to make the best burger I can. This year I made the recipe Burgers with Grilled Onions from Serious Barbecue. A great burger deserves great rolls, so I baked up a batch of homemade hamburger rolls for the occasion. I accompanied the burgers with Boss Hawg's BBQ Baked Beans from America's Best BBQ. These beans are the best doctored baked beans recipe I've ever tried. I've made these beans several times before and the prep pictures I'm showing are from a batch I made last summer. The pictures of the beans on the table are from today's cook. I lucked out this year and hit it out of the park. My wife, my father and most importantly, my mother all declared these were the best burgers they've ever had. All of us of already had said that about the beans, so this really was an all-star meal.




The beans used: canned pork and beans, BBQ sauce, golden raisins, sweet onions, Granny Smith apples, brown sugar, chopped bacon, garlic and coriander.





Everything has been measured out, chopped up and is ready to be combined in a large nonreactive bowl.





After the items are thoroughly whisked together in a large bowl they are poured into a disposable aluminum pan.





The beans smoke on the CG at 225 for about 2 1/2 hours.





Meanwhile I have some fresh baked hamburger rolls coming out of the oven.





The hamburger rolls had an egg wash applied to the top along with some sesame seeds. The rolls are now cooling after 15 minutes in the oven.





The rolls are toasting on my grills flattop griddle grate.





The rolls are done toasting and now four 1/2" slices of onion are on the griddle grate grilling in some canola oil. I am using a couple SR grill presses to help caramelize the onions.





As the onions are turned, they are brushed with butter and they're also sprinkled with red pepper flakes.





The onions are done in are off the griddle. The burger patties, which use 73% lean ground beef, are on the open grill grate. They grill for three minutes a side before they are transferred to the grill grate. There was quite a bit of flare ups due to the fat content of the meat, but the patties were on the open grill grate for such a short period of time, I didn't worry about the flareups. When the patties are turned they are brushed with a basting sauce consisting of butter, chopped fresh herbs, salt-and-pepper.





The patties are off the open grate and are now grilling for two minutes a side on the griddle grate. Once again they get brushed with the basting sauce at every turn.





The patties are on their final side on the griddle grate. The final step is to put on some slices of cheddar cheese.





Time to eat! You can see the homemade hamburger rolls, the four burgers and the Boss Hawg's barbecue baked beans.





This was an excellent meal. The beans have such great flavor they are a meal unto themselves. The burgers had such great flavor I didn't use any condiments on them nor did anyone else use any condiments on their burgers. We had condiments out, but everyone tried the burger first and decided it had such great flavor it didn't need condiments.





As I mentioned: today was a great success. My mother declared this to be the best hamburger she'd ever eaten. This made all my time and effort worth every minute of it. I couldn't have asked for more.

Jim

What a way to treat your Momma! You're a wonderful son. Sounds and looks like the burgers and the beans were a big hit. Wish I had smell-o-vision.

jfm theay look great where did you find the pans for the buns or are theay giant muffin pans the burgers just make my mouth water looking at them

Thanks Tim and Dyal.

Dyal:
RE Smell-o-vision: Be careful what you wish for. The onions on the griddle got brushed with melted butter & seasoned with red pepper flakes. I thought I was going to have to wear a gas mask to get within 10' of the grill. The smoke from those smoldering red pepper flakes make some powerful tear gas, as I found out. The beef sure did smell nice though.

Tim:
It is indeed a hamburger roll pan sold by King Arthur Flour. It can also be used for small single serving pies.

Here is the url:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/individual-pie-and-burger-bun-pan?go=DetailDefault

It is pricy, but they are professional grade bakeware and I expect it will easily outlive me.

Jim

Great job proving that simple food can be an outstanding meal! I really like the looks of those burger buns, too.

Brad

When momma's happy, everybody's happy! Nice job!

That is awesome. Love that you take it to that next level by making the buns as well. That is something I've wanted to do, just never have the time. Love all the pics.

You did an excellent job with this meal Jim. Very nice.

Looks awesome Jim. I have to get me a hamburger and hot dog pan. Your breads always look amazing.