Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Another day, another burger


We always have plenty of cheese on hand for snackin', so a lot of times, I'll put stuffed burgers on the menu for the week and have no clue what I'm going to do with them until the moment hits me. This past week, Kroger had some decent looking smoked gouda on sale - and few things go better with gouda (besides more gouda) than bacon (which of course, we also always have on hand).

Bacon & Smoked Gouda Burgers

1 lb ground chuck (80/20)
4 oz smoked gouda, cut into cubes
3-4 tbsp bread crumbs
4 slices of bacon, cooked crisp & coarsely chopped
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cracked pepper
1 clove garlic, minced

Garlic Paprika Aioli
3 tbsp mayo
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 minced garlic clove
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp smoked paprika


Combine all of the ingredients with your hands until very well mixed and form into patties. My personal preferred method is to make them into giant meatballs and flatten them just slightly - that way they don't cook too quickly or overcook. If you spy any of the cheese cubes poking out, thumb them back in and cover it up with ground beef. This will keep the precious cheese from oozing out during cooking when it starts to melt.

Toss them onto a hot grill (or cast iron, if you're sans grill) for about 3-5 minutes per side, or until they've got just a little give left to them, much like a medium steak (should create the same resistance as touching your nose with your finger). Don't squish the burger with the spatula. Love your burger, and let it keep all of it's juices. Love it!

As loyal readers know, Mr. FvF hates onions, otherwise I'd stuff those in, too. So, I like to caramelize some for myself and top the burger with it.

2 comments:

Desi said...

MMM looks yummy. I have probs trying to cook a thick burger all the way through without it being burnt. I will have to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing!

Vizz said...

I make all of my burgers this way. They're like softballs. It's more difficult to do indoors, but pretty easy on a grill.
I think the trick is mixing up other ingredients with it that don't require cook-through - helps space out the beef so it's not so dense. I've never burned them or had one that was too rare (for my taste) in the middle. They're just delightfully tender.

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