Corned Beef Smashburgers!

I’ve had this brick of QuickSteak in the freezer for a long time. Quite a long time. Was always planning on using it for a corned beef hash recipe or something, but if you leave it in there long enough, some fantastic ideas spawn themselves out of nowhere. Corned Beef Smashburgers sound like a dream dinner, come along and see if it’s true!

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Recipe

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The Prep Table

Went to the store and grabbed some Rye bread and some kraut. Sauerkraut is another one of those things that just happen to grow on you over time. Still could go without it in life, but I can dabble once and awhile. If you read through my Pastrami (One, Two) posts, you know I rock out the homemade Russian dressing. I didn’t have any this go-around, but I did have some leftover horseradish fry sauce from last week’s post. Let’s do it on this corned beef burger too.

Also didn’t really care too much on throwing too much seasoning on the burger. Hit with some cracks of salt/pepper and let the rest of the flavors we’re planning on do its thing. We’re going to shape these to best match the bun, or in this case, the loaf. Half-pound smash burgers, sound good to me!

I usually buy the ground beef when they’re in a multi 5lb pack and separate them out in one-pound vacuum sealed packs. Vacuum-seal them pretty darn flat, and you can fit more in the freezer and they thaw out pretty darn quick. Just a lil’ trick-of-the-trade after loads of ground beef eaten.

Since 1981? Cooks from Frozen? Meals in Minutes? Gary, where have you been! This kind of meaty lifehack is right up my alley, so I had to pick it up when I saw it. After today, I’m sure I’ll have another beef brick in the freezer in no time. Is it as good as homemade? Nah, but you know that going into it.

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The Process

Got that Blackstone heated up and put the freezer brick down. It turned out to be three bricks, and looked surprisingly good. After a few minutes of cooking, it started to smell pretty darn good too. After it grabbed some more heat, it started to separate and I let out a little chuckle. Compressed corned beef strips formed into rectangles, frozen together with two other rectangles and and I’m over here loving it. Toast the bread up a little bit and let’s get ready for the smash.

Took a strip of the beef out and it tasted pretty alright. When it definitely flaked off from it’s frozen self, I knew it would top that burger perfectly. You know how I do the smash, so I won’t belabor the point – but if you didn’t crack any S&P during the shaping, feel free to do it now.

That 80/20 is spitting out that fat, making quite the Blackstone mess. But a beautiful mess nonetheless. When that color creeps up the side, give it a flip and check out that char you put on her. Throw some of that Tillamook Swiss on there (MrsForensicBBQ loves Tillamook) and when she’s nice and melted let’s build up that burger.

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The Result

Flip on through those pictures above to see the build. Throw down a layer of that horseradish sauce – or russian dressing, whatever you got with ya. When that swiss is melted down and that burger has that crispy edge, throw it on top. Throw some of that Gary’s on there and some kraut to finish it off. Speaking of finishing it off:

The simplicity of this one was overshadowed by the flavor. Had all the elements of being great, and it was. I was concerned there’d be too much meat product, maybe causing a tastebud clash, but nope. Not with this one. I’ll throw quick recipe on this one, but it’s pretty straight forward. Try it! You’ll make it again (I know I will)

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The Recipe