More Inside Out Burger: Full of Surprises

Quite a while back I posted a piece about one of our favorite ways to fix a burger at home. Of course it involved grilling. We grill just about everything at our house. If I am able to get outside and start a fire we will put dinner on the grill. I even grill the Thanksgiving turkey each November.

So grilling burgers is an absolute natural for us. Back then I had posted our take on the somewhat famous Juicy Lucy (http://turnerbudds-burgerblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/inside-out-burger.html) that we had been doing for quite a while. We refer to it as an inside out burger because you put what are traditionally considered the toppings inside. We keep playing around and trying new things and recently we found an absolutely delicious combination.

Now this takes a little more prep work than the typical burger but it's worth it. You start by frying up some bacon and then use the bacon grease to saute some green peppers and mushrooms. You could add onion if you like. In fact, you can use just about anything that sounds delicious. When you have them cooked, you want to finely chop everything up, including the bacon. Then mix it all together.

Next, put the meat in a large mixing bowl and season it with salt and pepper. You want to start with good quality meat. I prefer ground Angus sirloin that is 80/20. Remember, you want some fat content because that's where a lot of the juicy flavor comes from but too much will just cook away on the grill.

Pour some of your favorite steak sauce on the meat. For close to two pounds of meat we used two tablespoons but you might want to adjust this depending on what you like.

Stick your hands in and mix it up good. You want the spices and the sauce equally distributed.

Now you want to make the patties. Keep in mind that two patties are actually going to go together to make one burger so be sure to make them fairly thin. Also, because two go together you may want to limit the size. But also remember that you are going to need some size to put the goodies inside so this might take a little trial and error.

Once you have the patties ready, put a slice of your favorite cheese down on one of them. On this occasion we used Provolone. Next, spread the chopped peppers, mushrooms and bacon on top of the cheese. When you feel you have enough then put another piece of cheese on top of that and finish it off with another patty.

The two slices of cheese are going to do a couple of things. First off, they're going to take great but they are also going to help hold everything together.

Now you want to put your burgers on the grill. I always cook with charcoal and wood. For a burger I use hickory wood or a blend of hickory and mesquite. Then you want to grill the burgers how you like them.

When you bite into this burger you will a ton of flavor from the green peppers, the mushrooms, the bacon and the cheese.

Try out different items for the middle of this kind of burger. There are some amazing combinations that we've been playing with and more that we're going to find in the future. Enjoy.