Smokehouse Burger
- Level: Advanced
- Yield: 4 servings
- Total: 3 hr 55 min (includes cooling time)
- Active: 40 min
Ingredients
24 ounces ground beef, formed into four 6-ounce patties
Salt and pepper
Eight 1-ounce slices Smoked Pork Belly, recipe follows
3 tablespoons melted butter
4 brioche buns
4 slices sharp Cheddar
Whiskey Aioli, recipe follows
4 slices tomato
Smoked Pork Belly:
6 ounces chili powder
2 ounces ground cumin
2 ounces paprika
2 ounces salt
2 ounces brown sugar, sifted
1 ounce garlic powder
1 ounce fresh ground pepper
1 skin-off pork belly
Whiskey Aioli:
1 cup whiskey
1 quart mayonnaise
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons roasted garlic powder
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
Directions
Special equipment:
a smoker- Preheat grill to medium-high; wait until grill reaches 400 degrees F.
- Sprinkle the patties on both sides with the salt and pepper. (We suggest aggressively, as most will sweat off the patties during cooking.)
- Cook the patties for 5 minutes, then flip.
- Place Pork Belly on grill. Brush the butter on the brioche buns and place on grill. Toast until it reaches the desired color (we like it a little darker for more of a char taste).
- Flip pork belly after 2 minutes, then place Cheddar on the patties to melt.
- Remove brioche buns from grill and spread Whiskey Aioli on all inside bun areas.
- Place patties on bun bottoms, then top with tomatoes and the bun tops. Let rest for 4 minutes, then devour.
Smoked Pork Belly:
- Preheat a smoker to 240 degrees F.
- Mix chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt, brown sugar, garlic powder and pepper in a bowl until well combined, then reserve.
- Score the pork belly on the fat side with a sharp knife 1/2-inch apart, being careful to not cut into the meat. Turn the meat 90 degrees and repeat, forming a crosshatch pattern. Cut belly into five 3- to 4-inch-wide pieces.
- Rub all sides of the pork belly with the reserved rub.
- Place in smoker and cook for 3 hours. Remove from smoker and place in a pan to collect fat.
Whiskey Aioli:
- Starting from cold, reduce whiskey by half in a saute pan over medium heat. (Be very careful, as it can catch fire. Do not attempt to blow out if this occurs. Remove from heat and cover with a metal lid to extinguish the fire.)
- Pour reduction in a bowl and place in refrigerator to cool, 10 minutes.
- Place mayonnaise, lime juice, Worcestershire, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Add whiskey reduction to bowl and mix.
- Place aioli back into refrigerator until needed.
Cook’s Note
Another way to make this burger more like ours at Fat Daddy's is to save the fat from the pork belly once it is removed from the smoker. We place the belly in a pan and let it rest and cool. This should result in fat pooling at the bottom of the pan—this is smoker's gold. Even if you do not use the fat for this purpose, it is great to cook anything else that you can think of; just store in the refrigerator. We season our patty, then place in a plastic bag and add 2 tablespoons of the fat to the bag. We set an immersion circulator (sous vide) to 140 degrees F. Using the water displacement method, we seal the bag. Place the patties into the water and cook for 2 and 1/2 hours. To cook the burgers this way, preheat the grill to as hot as it can get. Remove the patties from the bag and pat dry. Grill on each side for 2 minutes, following the same directions as above for all other procedures.