Were they pliable?

Were they pliable?

Yes they were, it worked out well. There was enough shape to give the shells form, but they were flexible enough to manipulate a bit if needed.

A friend of mine recieved tickets for his birthday to go and see the Atlanta Braves. Included with the tickets was a picture of one of their ballpark menu items. It is called "The Burgerizza", a 20 ounce burger with bacon and cheese, between two 8" pizzas. For some reason he thought of me and figured it might be an idea for next year's Superbowl party. It has possibilities. If I get the logistics figured out, I may try it for an end of school bash.

My thought is to ramp it up and go big. I have a 20" cast iron skillet and could cook the burger in the smoker. However, the first thing to figure out is how many pounds of burger would it take for a 20" hamburger patty. I would like it to be good sized and was thinking 10-15 lbs. My wife says 5-7 lbs. Has anyone made a 10 lb (or larger) burger or meatloaf that would help me put this in perspective?

A major frozen hamburger manufacture says that their 1/2 lb. patties are 5" in diameter. Applying a little math would make one think that an equivalent 20" patty would weigh ~8 lbs. (area of 1/2 lb. 5" burger divided into area of 20" divided by 2.) I'm not sure how one would flip it. Maybe a pizza peel.

I think first would be to decide how thick you want this burger to be. I would probably opt for 2 thinner burgers instead of one thick one, thinking by the time i got the center cooked the outside would be over cooked. A nice griddle would work great to cook them.

Maybe this will help, I am making meatloaf for dinner, so I put it in a skillet first.

About 1600 grams or about 3.5 pounds of ground beef and pork. Tfal skillet 10.25" diameter, meat is about 1.25" thick.

I would think add another 2 pound to it, in a 14" skillet to shape and after cooking use 12" pizzas. Estimating the 3.5 pound I used in the picture, in a 14" would be 0.75" thick depending on how packed it was.

I would think it would depend on how thick you want to make it.

I would think it would depend on how thick you want to make it.

I am thinking around 2" thick, but that is just a stab in the dark.

Big Dave, thanks for the info you provided. It is good to have some data and a visual to put things into perspective. 

The more I think about it, I should not need the frying pan at all if I am doing it in the smoker. I can just put the patty on a 20" pizza pan. This should be a whole lot easier than making the tacos!

My guess as to amount of meat above is based on ~ 3/4" burger. For 2", it would be more like 21lbs.

My guess as to amount of meat above is based on ~ 3/4" burger. For 2", it would be more like 21lbs.

Thanks, I appreciate your calculations. 20 lbs would be a lot. I have been guessing for the most part on the thickness. I think I will do a test run around National Hamburger Day, somewhere aroud the end of May. My thought is to go with 10 lbs of burger and see what happens for thickness and cooking time. I can make adjustments from there for the the end of the school year party.

The date has been set for the trial run, April 14. We are going to self proclaim that we are setting the all time record for the biggest burger in the county. Since we are self proclaiming it, we won't need to worry about silly little things like facts.

I do have a question. Should binding agents be used, like eggs and bread crumbs? I don't want to end up with the county record for the largest Sloppy Joe.

Myself I wouldn't add anything like that in. Some seasonings maybe. I used to make 1 and 2 pound burgers for myself and friends and never added any eggs or bread crumbs. Biggest thing is not drying it out. I used to mix 80% and 73% to help with that. I had even at times when I would find a good deal on bacon ends and pieces, freeze them some and grind to mix in to the beef mix.

Myself I wouldn't add anything like that in. Some seasonings maybe. I used to make 1 and 2 pound burgers for myself and friends and never added any eggs or bread crumbs. Biggest thing is not drying it out. I used to mix 80% and 73% to help with that. I had even at times when I would find a good deal on bacon ends and pieces, freeze them some and grind to mix in to the beef mix.

Yeah, but a one or two pound burger is a lot different than a 10 lb burger.  I would think you need some binders in there to keep something that big and thick together.

I really have not been following until today.  It sounds intriguing.   Although I have never made a burger of that size if I did I would do the following.  I would not use any binders such as eggs and/or bread crumbs.  As to spices of course salt and pepper and any other that you normally use. If not sure how much spices to use you could always divide the hamburger into smaller portions add what you normally do and then recombine into a large bowl and mix together.  If you are concerned about it drying out do not use lean beef.  IMO the more fat the better, also what I have done in the past is mix into the beef finely chopped mushrooms, onions and cheeses.  I have found that helps keeps it together however I do know not everyone likes those items.  I also believe the temperature will play a major role.  So ensure the pan is hot before you add any oil to it and I also brush mine with oil to help with the burger not sticking to the pan.  Also do not forget to press in the middle of the burger before cooking and only flip once. This will help ensure the burger does not break apart.

Just my opinion and I apologize in advance if I went into to much details.

If it is going to be very thick, I think the only way you cook it without burning top and bottom is to finish in oven.  The reason I have never like huge burgers is, if cooked on a stove top, by the time the center is cooked, one side of the burger is going to be burnt!  I don't care how many time you turn it.