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Friday, July 26, 2013

OMG Bacon cheese burgers!




Most years my little family stays home on July 4th. We like to have a nice family day that includes some fireworks, fun and (hopefully Great) food. I try my best to cook our main meal over our fire pit especially since we built what I affectionately call my “redneck” grill.

Our menu looked like this:
Loaded baked potato salad
Green salad

Simple I know that’s why I try to bring something special to the table and this year I tried something new with our Burgers.

To start I diced about  1/3 of a red onion to yield about ¼ cup


Add salt and pepper about ½ teaspoon of each
Then I added some shredded cheddar I had in the freezer.
      (Note: in some of the pictures it shows a white cheese. That is because I forgot to take pictures of all the steps when I made them with Cheddar and When I made them the other day to freeze ahead all I had was mozzarella so I said what the heck, let’s give it a go!)

When you have all this mixed up  add  1.5 pounds of ground beef
         (Approximately an 80/20 blend. (I cannot tell you a specific fat content because we now get our beef from a local farmer and I do not know for sure the ratio at which the butcher grinds the meat/fat)

To make the patties more uniform I enlisted the help of my large stainless scoop. 

I scooped 1 portion, made a small patty then added a thin slice of butter, yes butter. 

This was a new one for me but I had heard the tip from a friend so I said “OK, why not” I mean its butter how could it be bad? The slice was about a teaspoon worth, or as thin as you can get from a cold stick of butter. Then add another scoop and continue to form your patty. 

Now the best part… wrap your patties with 2 slices of bacon. Mine is thicker and super smoky because along with the beef we just got our first whole pig so my bacon does look a bit more “rustic”



Now throw them on the grill!



When they are just about done top your burgers with your favorite cheese.
Don’t forget the buns! I splurged and got really nice buns and buttered them up and grilled them slightly before building our burgers. 



Top however you like!

We were very hungry by the time they were done so I do not have a good picture of the finished product :)
Ingredients:
 Red Onion
salt
 pepper
shredded cheddar cheese
1.5 pounds of ground beef
1 stick of Butter (not Margarine!)
Burger buns
Instructions:
Dice approximately 1/3 of the onion to yield approximately ¼ of a cup and add it to a medium mixing bowl. Add ½ a teaspoon of salt and black pepper. Add ½ a cup of shredded cheese. Mix these all up well then add your ground beef. Mix well to distribute flavors but try not to over work the meat as it can make the burgers more tough. I find using my hands is the best way to mix them well.
Scoop approximately 1/4th of a cup of meat mixture and make  a small patty then added a thin slice of butter. Then add another 1/4th of a cup of meat mixture to form your patty.

Wrap your patties with 2 slices of bacon.

For best results grill burgers outdoors.

When the burgers are just about done top your burgers with your favorite cheese.

Butter both sides of the burger buns and grill them till they are golden.

Top with whatever other toppings you like!

This is a very basic burger recipe that you can easily tweak to your own tastes.
You could add some Worcestershire, hot sauce, diced Jalapeños just about anything.
My family loved them and I am making them for my daughter (at her request) and her friends when we celebrate her birthday tomorrow.

Wait till I tell you about our Desert!