"Patti and I love a good fatty, and we’ve made lots of variations, with lots more to come. This time it’s burgers…not just any old burger, but a burger that combined all the goodness—aka bacon and cheese—of a fatty. So, we stuffed half-pound burgers with bacon and cheese and added the bacon weave. Plus, we added lots of garlic to cut down on the cholesterol. LOL."
2 pounds ground beef (we used sirloin)
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup bacon, chopped and cooked crisp
1 teaspoon Country Bob’s Seasoning Salt
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground fresh black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh garlic, minced
3/4 pound maple bacon strips
Step 1: After seasoning your meat, form it into four equal patties. Lay a patty flat in your hand, and, using your thumb, form a pocket in it. Fill the pocket with some of your crispy bacon and cheese. Make a pocket in the top patty, and place over the bacon-filled patty.
Step 2: Using your hands, apply pressure, and roll the patties in your hand, sealing them together.
Step 3: Make a basket weave with your bacon. Lay your stuffed patty on it.
Step 4: Fold the bacon around it. We used six strips of bacon for our weave. Place the patties back into the refrigerator until you’re ready to grill them. (Cold burgers hold together better on the grill.)
To prepare the grill for cooking, check your pellet supply—top off or change flavors as needed. Scrape grill grates off. Set the temperature to 450°F, and press the “start” button. Give the grill about 15 minutes to reach temperature and the grates to burn clean.
After the grill comes up to temp and burns clean, turn it back down to 170°F. Place everything directly onto the grill grates, and just let it hang out in the smoke and get happy. For these burgers, I went with maple smoke for an hour.
After the hour of smoking, turn the temperature control up to 350°F, and pull the meat off the grill. When the grill comes up to temperature, put your meat back onto the grill. I did this for 10 minutes per side with a quarter turn at the halfway point. Perfect.
When the meat reaches an internal temp around 160°F, pull it off, cover it, and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving. Keep in mind that the meat will continue cooking for another 5 to 10 degrees after you pull it off the grill. The U.S.D.A. says 165°F for all ground meat.