When I was growing up one of the meals my mom used to make was a stuffed bell pepper.  Made with ground beef, rice and tomato of some type it was a favorite of hers.  As a kid I was never very fond of eating the bell pepper but my adult pallette is much more agreeable with peppers now.  I decided to use a nice poblano better instead of a bell pepper.

I think this was a good start to what, I hope, will be a great recipe for my friend.  The flavor was a little mild and the BBQ sauce I used for the glaze didn’t compliment the rub I used for the seasoning.  I smoked the whole chub of hamburger so I got plenty of nice smokey flavor along with a sort of “bark” on the meat.  I’ll use this technique again.

I took a whole 1 pound chub of 93/7 hamburger and seasoned it with some rub and herbs.  I smoked the chub for about 90 minutes using cherry wood until it reached 165 degrees internal temp.  The chub was wrapped in foil and cooled.

I picked up some nice poblano peppers and another pepper that was called Red Lipstick Pepper.  I diced up three cloves of garlic, the red lipstick pepper and the pieces removed from the poblanos.  These were sauteed along with some onions until tender.

While the peppers and onion were cooking I rough chopped the smoked hamburger chub and ran it through the food processor to get a fine chop on it.  The hamburger was added to the cooked peppers along with some salt, pepper and the “secret” rub.  After mixing for a minute and heating through I added 15 ounces of tomato sauce and 1 cup of cooked rice.

I cut a triangle out of the top of each poblano with a pair of kitchen shears and removed all the seeds and veins.  A layer of pepper jack cheese was added to the inside of each poblano.  The hamburger and rice mixture was then spooned into each pepper.  The poblanos don’t hold all that much so I piled it up high.  I smoked the stuffed peppers for about 30 minutes at 275 degrees in the smoker.

That’s the first try at this new recipe.  More to come…

Enough said…

I love kitchen gadgets more than any other gadgets types.  For years I’ve wanted a hamburger press.  Don’t ask me why, I just want one.  But for the life of me I can’t bring myself to spending $25 to $30 for a decent one.  Maybe because I’m getting older and wiser I just can’t cost justify it.

But I want those perfectly formed hamburger patties when I grill burgers.  Some people just make hand formed patties but most of the time they just seem to fall apart on the grill.  So I use what I call the “plate burger press.”

Most salad plates have a ridged circle on the bottom that is roughly the same size as a quality hamburger bun.

After forming the hamburger into a firm ball, place it in the center of the circle on the bottom of the plate.

Using another plate centered on the bottom one gently start pressing the ball of hamburger into a patty.

With some practice, not much this ain't rocket science, you can form some great hamburger patties.

There you go a simple, easy to use hamburger patty press with “gadgets” you already have.