Too much smoke from CI grill pan

[mj1]

Other than turn the exhaust fan to high, is there anything else I can do to reduce the smoke from my CI grill pan while cooking?

Today I cooked two burgers in it and the kitchen was four times smokier than the last time I cooked burgers in that pan. The kitchen was nearly filled with smoke and my dining and living rooms were smoky as well. I know the exhaust fan is working because when I looked outside the back of the house, the entire deck area was smoky. It was smokier than when I cook on the charcoal grill. All this smoke is completely unacceptable -and stinky. I don't know if using a splatter screen contributed to it being so smoky today or not. Is there anything I can do to reduce the smoke?

[AllenOK]

Was the pan clean to start with? How high was the heat when you cooked the burgers?

I tend to cook on high heat almost all the time, which is probably a little to high for home cooking. My kitchen, and home, get extremely smoky as a result. Luckily I have a "whole house exhaust fan", what some folks call an attic fan. It clears the smoke out of the house pretty good, as long as there are a couple open windows in the back to let air in.

[Jeekinz]

Maybe it's too heavily seasoned? Give it a good scrubbing with a new coat of vegetable oil.

Too much fat content in the ground beef? Spoon off excess fat drippings while the burgers cook. Lower the heat a tad. CI transfers heat pretty good.

[suziquzie]

I think burgers are about the worst thing inside... I'd just ski[ it and grill those outside.

[mj1]

Originally Posted by AllenOK

Was the pan clean to start with? How high was the heat when you cooked the burgers?

The pan was clean and the heat was on medium.

Originally Posted by Jeekinz

Too much fat content in the ground beef? Spoon off excess fat drippings while the burgers cook. Lower the heat a tad. CI transfers heat pretty good.

I suppose it could be too much fat from the burgers. I've been experimenting with burgers and grills recently and these burgers are definitely loaded with fat. They're frozen burgers and have a lot more fat than ground beef.

So is it the grease/fat that's causing the smoking? Would pouring a little out reduce the smoke?

Originally Posted by suziquzie

I think burgers are about the worst thing inside... I'd just ski[ it and grill those outside.

That's kind of depressing. I bought the pan for the sole purpose of "grilling" indoors when I can't grill outdoors.

I knew before I bought the pan that it could get smoky, but this was ridiculous. I guess I'll have to experiment more with it to see how I can reduce the smoke. At least next time I should be able to open the kitchen window. Last time, it was too hot out and the screen wasn't in the window.

[AllenOK]

Try grilling the burgers in question on a charcoal grill, if you can. However, be warned. If it's truly the extra fat content in the burgers, you could be facing a flare-up situation. We had some frozen burger patties that had so much fat content in them, that I would get a raging grease fire in my grill every time I cooked them. They tasted good, but the temp would go over 400 degrees F, and my entire firebed would be engulfed in flames.

[bowlingshirt]

Originally Posted by AllenOK

Try grilling the burgers in question on a charcoal grill, if you can. However, be warned. If it's truly the extra fat content in the burgers, you could be facing a flare-up situation. We had some frozen burger patties that had so much fat content in them, that I would get a raging grease fire in my grill every time I cooked them. They tasted good, but the temp would go over 400 degrees F, and my entire firebed would be engulfed in flames.

Keep a squirt bottle full of water handy for taming the flare ups.

[DramaQueen]

Originally Posted by bowlingshirt

Keep a squirt bottle full of water handy for taming the flare ups.

I hope you're referring to squirting water on the grill rather than in the pan on the stove. Am I right?

[bowlingshirt]

Originally Posted by DramaQueen

I hope you're referring to squirting water on the grill rather than in the pan on the stove. Am I right?

Yep, that's why I quoted Allen's post

[Grillncook]

MJ1

You might try starting at at a lower heat and bring the meat and pan to temperature together. I don't think that is your problem, I think it's the splatter shield and seasonings. I can't do a stir fry using red curry powder in the house, it gets too smoky and my wife and I can't breathe. I have to do it on the propane burner outside. In your experimenting what have you found out? I make all my burgers from 90/10 ground beef and supplement fat content by stuffing with either butter or cheese. It gets me a nice juicy burger but little smoke and excellent flavor. I particularly like a stuffing of feta cheese and chives. Feta tends to melt pretty evenly and the chives give a nice flavor overall. A nice lice of melted cheddar on top and some 'maters and onions, and Im good to go.