Stufz Bastille Burger
By: Ken & Patti Fisher
Published: Monday, September 19, 2011 - 11:31am

Ingredients




1 lb. ground beef (we like a 80/20 mix for burgers)
¼ c. Cabernet type wine (Merlot would work, too.)
1 Tbsp. coarse ground garlic
1 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
½ tsp. Country Bob’s Seasoning Salt
Stuffing
1 c. slivered red sweet onion (Patti used a potato peeler)
1 c. mushrooms, thin sliced
½ c. garlic, thin sliced
3-4 pieces of bacon, chopped
2 Tbsp. Cabernet wine
Blue Cheese, to taste

Preparation

1 In a bowl mix the ingredients for the meat and set aside. 2 Directions: Stuffing Mix 3 Add your onions, garlic, mushrooms, bacon and wine to a skillet. (We like cast iron) Cook until just soft and set aside. 4 Stuff the burgers. 5 Filling the first few times can be a little tricky. Too much stuffing or meat and/or too much pressure, you’ll end up blowing it out the sides. So, add your filling to the pocket. Be sure not to overfill by going above the sides. Keep the sides clear of any filling so you get a good bond with the top piece. 6 I put in as much blue cheese and filling as we could without going over the top. 7 These burgers were ½ pounders and you can make them smaller by cutting back on the meat. But why, these were perfect. The key I found was to take the amount of meat you want for a patty then take 1/3 of it out for the top. Cooking Directions: Royall 3000 Wood Pellet Grill/Smoker 8 Open the lid and set the dial to “Smoke”, turn it on. After about five minutes you can shut the lid. Give it about 10 minutes to heat up. Patti has lined the drip pan with foil for me, it makes for easier clean up.I used my Grill Grates tonight. So, I put them on now to let them start heating up. 9 Place everything directly onto the grill and just let it hang out in the smoke and get happy for 30 minutes or so. Do not put your meat on the grill grates yet. They conduct heat really well and will cook your meat before it gets to pick up any flavor from the smoke. 10 This is referred to as “smoking”; the temperature is around 225 degrees. 30 minutes of smoking is not enough to have any cooking effect on your meat but it is enough to open the pores so that the meat can pick up all the flavor of the smoke 11 After 30 minutes, turn the digital control up to High 425/450 degrees and pull the meat off the grill.  When the grill comes up to temperature place your burgers on the Grill Grate for 5 minutes a side. If you want a nice looking grill char about half way through each side give the burger a quarter turn. Just beautiful…

About

Last week Dave Hanson from “Stufz Ultimate Burger” sent us one of his burger stuffers. Which we thought was really cool because I had been looking at this very same unit for a few weeks now. I gave Dave a call and we talked about his stuffer and some of his ideas. We are going to have to try lots of our own. I think the ones he has in mind for kids are great ideas that will be a big hit with the little kids and some of us bigger kids. For example, his inside out meat ball where you put the spaghetti inside the burger.
So, we got to thinking about flavors that we really like. How about a good Cabernet mixed into the meat and blue cheese? Good Stuff. Can you put that in a burger? Absolutely!! Then, add some sweet onion, garlic and mushrooms sautéed with a little bacon. We are truly headed for a delicious experience.
Here’s what we came up with. A 2 inch stuffed burger, weighing in at a little over a half pound after stuffing served up on a french roll with homemade smoked garlic mayo, piled high with fresh lettuce and tomato. Most Excellent.

Comments:
Ken & Patti Fisher

You can easily do these without a "stuffer". Just make your two 1/4lb. patties and fill the bottom, fill then seal the two stuffed burger halves together.
Ken & Patti Fisher

These work great with any of your favorite fillings.