Getting Smashed

---

One of the things I love about camping is the different kinds of foods that I get to prepare and eat. While some people see camping as a vacation from their regular diet, @mrsbozz and I still eat pretty similar to how we eat when we are at home. We just use different methods to get from point A to point B.

If you were to do a search online for Blackstone Griddle, you would be hard pressed to find a video that didn't have something to do with smash burgers. They seem to be all the rage these days, so I thought I would give it a try this past weekend while we were camping.

---

I still haven't gotten a stand for my Blackstone griddle, but this campground had a picnic table that was a little more stable than the last one. Plus, we didn't have to deal with rain the first night, so that gave me a bit more space to spread out and work my magic.

---

In fact, here is a rare full body photo of me getting ready to throw down on the Blackstone. You might notice I am sporting my @eos.detroit shirt that I received during the short time I did some contract work with them.

---

You might also notice in the background my bottle of Bulleit Rye. The spices in rye whiskeys hit you just right on those chilly camping nights. Although the temperatures have been pretty hot around here, we were right off Lake Michigan this past weekend, so the breeze made things a bit cool at times.

---

Like I said, we don't eat much differently from how we do at home when we are camping. Where many people might settle for potato chips as a suitable accompaniment to their burger, @mrsbozz likes to ensure that we are still getting our fair share of green vegetables with every meal.

This was my first time cooking Brussels sprouts on the rolled steel flattop and I think they turned out pretty well.

---

Given the fact that they are so dense, the key was to find a way to steam them. I will get to that in a second. First, I just needed to get a good color on them. I had this side of the griddle on relatively low heat and I just let them dance around for a bit.

---

If you have been following me for a while, you know my wife isn't a fan of beef so she had a pre-made chicken patty ready to go. We make these ourselves. It's just ground chicken, some bread crumbs, onions, Parmesan cheese, and some herbs and spices to round it out.

---

Having the two zones to work with is pretty cool. It gives you a lot of flexibility.

---

Eventually, it was time to get some steam on the Brussels sprouts. I took my squirt bottle of water and put some down around the sprouts, then I quickly dropped this metal pan dish on top of the griddle.

I had to do this process twice and it never failed that both times I missed one sprout or two on the outside of the dish as you can see above. Looking back, the sprouts were good, but I should have cut the heat down just a bit and let them steam for a little longer. They weren't quite as tender as I like them.

---

With the sprouts and @mrsbozz's burger almost ready, I set about making my smash burger. I used an 80/20 (protein to fat ratio) ground chuck to make the patties. According to all the posts I have seen, you are supposed to start with a ball of meat and you then "smash" it down as you will see in the coming photos. Hence the name...

---

The majority of the cooking happens on this first side and many times you don't even need to flip them to cook the other side. The idea is that they are so thin, they just cook right through. I did learn some things and next time I do this, I am going to do it differently.

First, I should have cranked my heat up more. I didn't get as much of a crispy crust on the edges of the patties like you are supposed to. Second, I needed to smash them down even more than I did. I don't plan on making that mistake again in the future.

---

Despite all of that, they were still looking pretty good.

---

I threw some colby jack cheese on both patties until it started to melt down, then I threw them on top of each other with the chopped onions that I had laid down on the griddle under the balls of ground beef.

---

We also threw our buns down on the griddle so they could get a nice toast on them. Like I said, I should have moved my wife's burger over to the other side and cranked the heat on this side for my burgers. It's a rookie mistake and hopefully I can do better next time.

---

That being said, it was still delicious as you can see from the photos above and the opening photo. We are going camping again in just a few short days and I am looking forward to seeing if I can perfect these to get my nephews seal of approval.

He is a pretty picky eater, so if I can impress him, then I should be golden!

Personally, I think I still prefer my burgers grilled over an open flame on a charcoal grill, but I am eager to master this technique so I can add it to my skill set. If nothing else, the Blackstone has proven to be a very versatile tool.

In a pinch we could cook just about all of our camping meals on it. Where it really shines though is breakfast. I can't believe the amount of time I save now that I have all this real estate to cook on in the mornings.

---

Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports

---

---

All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced