Ingredients:
3 - 3 1/2 lbs fresh ground turkey
1 tablespoon smoked paprika 1 tablespoon salt 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
4 cloves garlic (to press)
1/3 cup bread crumbs
2 egg whites
Fresh chopped veggies:
Jalapeños
Bell peppers
Parsley
Onions
Celery
For the ice cubes (the night before):
1 cup Chicken broth
4 dashes Hot sauce (Tiger Sauce)
1 teaspoon garlic salt
Burger toppings suggestions:
Buns
Cheese
Lettuce and/or spinach
Avocado (or guacamole)
Canadian bacon
Tomatoes (sliced)
Sprouts
Pickles
Mayo
Mustard
BBQ Sauce
Materials:
Ice tray
Freezer bag (to store ice cubes)
Mesquite wood
Cherry wood
Water bowl for BBQ
Cooking spray
Smoker
Meat thermometer
Lump coal or briquettes
Prep time:
6 hours (for ice cubes)
30 minutes for burger recipe
Cook time:
1 1/2 - 2 hours*
*Make the ice cubes the night before. Chop up veggies to go inside the patties. Have them ready to go before you start.
The Method:
1) Make the ice cubes the night before. Basically mix some chicken broth, garlic salt and hot sauce and freeze it into small ice cubes. Learn more from the masters here, BBQ Pit Boys.
2) Put the ground turkey into a large bowl, add two egg whites, bread crumbs, paprika, salt, pepper and press the garlic cloves in.
3) Mix the desired veggies into the ground turkey. You can easily customize patties (e.g. some with onions, some with jalapeños) in the batch. Form large patties around ice cubes (e.g. chopped red onions, chopped bell peppers and finely chopped parsley). Cover the patties at this point and refrigerate or freeze them for 20 - 30 minutes to make them hold form and give you time to prep the smoker.
4) Clean the grill, prepare with hot charcoal. Mix some wood chunks in with the coals (2/3 mesquite, 1/3 cherry wood). Place a bowl or water in the grilling compartment. Spray cooking spray on the grill to prevent sticking. Turkey burgers will stick easily!
5) After the initial white smoke has burned away (5 minutes), carefully place the patties on the oiled grill (sprayed with cooking spray earlier). Cover the smoker and allow the turkey burgers to smoke for 75 minutes at 225 - 250 degrees. I place the patties directly over the water bowl so that they don't dry out of get burned by too much direct smoke. The turkey meat absorbs the smoke flavor easily and you can see the smoke ring clearly when you are done. Of course, with turkey you want to look for 165 degrees inside.
6) After 75 minutes, start checking on a regular basis. Look for the clear juice leaking out, then check for the 165 degree doneness point. Carefully remove the patties from the grill, they will want to stick for certain.
7) Top and serve right away. You must get the cheese on right away for proper melting action.
Great side dishes are baked or mashed potatoes, beans or french fries (sweet potato fries too).
There must be a million variations you can do here, to name just three:
1) Frank's Red Hot instead of hot sauce in the ice cubes, serve burgers topped with Frank's Red Hot and blue cheese sauce
2) Chopped pineapple chunks in the turkey patties, serve with Canadian bacon and a slice of provolone or mozzarella and teriyaki sauce
3) Top these off with a slice of swiss cheese, turkey bacon and a head of fresh avocado or guacamole
My personal favorite is to make a large patty with light onion and heavy jalapeño, then top it with swiss cheese and Franky's crazy kicked up quick BBQ sauce.
Inspired (heavily) by the recent post from BBQ Pit Boys, thank you, Gentlemen!