Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Product Review: Fully Loaded Burger Stuffer


While “Jucy Lucy [sic]” style burgers have been around since the mid-50's, the trend of stuffed burgers has exploded in 2011. BurgerBusiness.com even declared 2011 as the year of the stuffed burger. 


Like with any food trend, there is a myriad of products trying to strike while the iron is hot and today I'm reviewing one of those – the Fully Loaded Burger Stuffer byHeadchefs.


I've used the Burger Stuffer a few times and here are my observations:

Upside
  • They are very well manufactured. The silicone and plastic parts fit together well.
  • The tapered cup design balances out the stuffing to the burger. The edges are thicker which ended up grilling perfectly with zero “cheese ruptures”.
  • Easy to clean.

“Not so up” side
  • I still ended up having to hand seal the edges to get a good closure. Despite the thicker edges noted above, they just didn't mix together in the tool.  Then again, no burger stuffer tool I have tried did not require some hand sealing at the end.
  • Price point – it's a bit pricy for a uni-tasker tool that you might use a handful of times per year

Another thing is the 7 step process required per burger. On one hand, it is entertaining to use in a “playdough fun factory” kind of way. On the other hand it is a bit convoluted compared to just doing it by hand. 

Click for animation

The burgers I made tonight were stuffed with pepper jack cheese and 1 Tablespoon of homemade salsa. I grilled them on my Big Green Egg at 450f using GrillGrates


I served them with a roasted red pepper mayo (1 Tbsp diced roasted red pepper and ¼ cup mayo). 


The flavors were simple and less extravagant than some of the over the top “burger stuffed with Himalayan yak cheese, shaved fennel and sodium free kosher salt” kind of things I've seen. But you know what? It worked.

[Standard Disclaimer] I received the Fully Loaded Burger Stuffer as a free review sample. I received my GrillGrates free at Kingsford University earlier this year but I would totally buy a set if someone stole mine – don't get any ideas, stay off my deck!