Recipe #13 - Stuffed Bacon Cheeseburgers

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/stuffed-bacon-cheeseburgers-recipe/index.html

Memorial day weekend is upon us and what better way to celebrate or remember the day that with a cookout, right?  There are probably better and more patriotic ways to remember our fallen heroes so I mean no offense to anyone who has lost someone in the military.  And now some background information on this holiday.  According to Wikipedia:

Formerly known as Decoration Day, which was first recorded to have been observed by Freedmen (freed enslaved southern blacks) in Charleston, South Carolina in 1865, at the Washington Race Course, to remember the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War. The recognition of the fallen victims was then enacted under the name Memorial Day by an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)^[2] — to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War. Over time, it was extended after World War I to honor all Americans who have died in all wars. Now known as Memorial Day, it is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.<sup>[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day</sup>

For most people Memorial day is the unofficial start of the summer and we kick it off with one of my favorite ways to cook, the grill.  And what's more American than a burger on the grill?  Maybe a hot dog, or a beer, so let's have them all!  So I searched Tyler's recipes and found a simple Stuffed Cheese Burger recipe.  The ingredients are as follows:

Mustard (spicy brown), Foxy lettuce, tomato, Monterrey jack cheese, sesame seed rolls (so much better than plain rolls), 80/20 ground beef, premium bacon.   While the recipe doesn't call for 80/20 (20% fat) beef, Tyler mentions using this in the video on the recipe page.  I suggest giving it a watch. 

^{First step is to fire up the grill to a medium to high heat.  While the grill heats, now is a good time to cook the bacon.  I did it in the oven.}

Bacon in an oven on aluminum foil cooking at 400-425.

^{Cook until it becomes crispy so you can chop it up like this.}

Chopped crispy bacon on a pirate plate.  (Notice the X marks the spot in the top left).  Shiver me timbers of bacony goodness!

^{Now let's get the meat going.  Season it with salt and pepper and use your hands to mix it all together.  Make sure you wash your hands before and after or use some gloves, not winter gloves.  Once the meat is mixed up you want to make about 1/4 lb patties and use your thumbs to make an indentation in the middle.  Then add some of the chopped bacon like so.}

Bacon in the middle.  Bacon in the middle. Wish I knew how to play a fiddle.

^{Now you add the cheese.}

Cheese and Bacon sitting on the meat.  Looks so good I can't wait to eat!

^{While the recipe says to mix the bacon and cheese together in a bowl, I had some friends who could not eat the bacon so I kept the ingredients separate.  For their burgers, I put in brocolli and peppers.  So get creative and use anything that suits your palette.}  

Peppers peppers, whose got the peppers? 

^{After you fill the meat with the cheese and bacon, you fold over the burger and mold it into a patty shape so they look something like this.}

I added a little bit of the filling on top so I'd know what was inside each burger.

^{Now they are ready for the grill.}

Bacon and Cheese on top and the mixed variety on the bottom.  Also note the mini size Ally burger in the middle.  She never ate it so it made a tasty snack the following day. 

 
<sup>Cook them about 8 minutes or so per side or more or less for desired doneness (I don't think doneness is a word but I couldn't think of another way to phrase it).  I tend to cook mine on the more medium well to well done side. 


Serve with lettuce, tomato, avocado, ketchup, mustard, mayo, honey mustard.....you get the idea.</sup> 

The finished product.  Realized after the fact that I should have taken a picture with it cut in half to see the middle.  Oh well, you'll have to just make it and see for yourself.

 
 ^{I paired this with grilled asparagus}

A little olive oil, salt and pepper.  Tastes great but makes my pee smell for a day.  Still worth it.

^{These burgers were a big hit with my guests.  Everyone received their correct order and there were no leftovers to speak of.   The first bite or two tasted like a regular burger but when you hit the middle and get that extra salty cheesy bacony bite, it all comes together and transports you to hamburger heaven.}

Hamburger heaven! Or hamburgers after drinking red bull.

<sup>I highly recommend this recipe as it's quick, easy, tasty, and can be customized to anyone's diet.  This recipe recives 8 clean plates as there were 8 of us who ate. 



Next up: Chicken and Pinneapple Skewers
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chicken-and-pineapple-skewers-recipe/index.html



And here's a pic of Ally in the kitchen just cause I always have a pic of her on these blogs.</sup>

That's my shirt, not her bathrobe.