Chipotle-Honey BBQ Bacon Burger with Gorgonzola Cheese

Claudia Dawn's Note:

I try a new recipe that I find on the Internet at least once a week. If it's a "keeper", I put it in my recipe file with comments; such as "a best of 2003" etc. I tried this recipe a couple of weeks ago. Immediately my entire family responded the same way. It rated not only a best of 2003 but perhaps a best of EVER. We had it again last night. And again it got rave reviews - not just an impulsive response from a new recipe. My son declared the next day, "We will NEVER have ordinary burgers again in this house!" This is an "oh, my God" recipe. There is something about the way the flavors blend together that leaves your taste buds wanting for more. This is THE BEST EVER burger recipe. This was the People's Choice Prize Winner ($5,000) in Build A Better Burger Contest submitted by Adam J. Payson, Omaha, Nebraska My only recommendations on improvement is to 1) throw the vegetables in a food processor to speed up the chopping time 2) add a little corn starch after simmering the vinegar to thicken 3) double or triple the recipe for the sauce and freeze for later use

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

Burgers

• 1 ½ lbs ground beef
• ½ lb pork sausage
• 1 ounce green onion , diced
• 1 ounce red pepper , diced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons fresh cracked black pepper

Sauce

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 ounce chipotle chile in adobo , chopped
• 1 ounce green pepper , diced
• 1 ounce red pepper , diced
• 1 ounce red onion , diced
• 1 ounce roma tomato , diced
• 1 ounce garlic , minced
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 1 cup ketchup
• ½ cup honey

Additional ingredients for building the burger

• 8 slices thick pepper bacon
• 6 five-inch kaiser rolls , split
• 4 ounces gorgonzola , crumbled
• 8 slices roma tomatoes , 1/4 inch thick

Directions:

1. Mix ground beef, ground pork, green onion, red pepper and garlic.
2. Form into 6 patties.
3. Roll in black pepper.
4. Refrigerate until needed.
5. Heat grill to medium heat.
6. Place a 2-quart saucepan on grill.
7. Heat olive oil in saucepan.
8. Sauté chipotle peppers, green peppers, red peppers, red onion, roma tomatoes and garlic.
9. Deglaze with apple cider vinegar and let simmer.
10. Add dry mustard.
11. Blend sauce mixture; combine until smooth.
12. Add ketchup and honey.
13. Bring to a slow simmer.
14. Cook bacon in a griddle/frying pan on grill surface.
15. Keep warm for later use.
16. Place burger patties on grill.
17. Cook until medium-well, basting with Chipotle-Honey BBQ Sauce.
18. Place 1 teaspoon Chipotle-Honey BBQ Sauce on top and bottom of each Kaiser bun.
19. Assemble as follows: bottom bun, Gorgonzola cheese, peppered bacon, burger patty, roma tomatoes, and top bun.

Reviews

[Chef SuzyQ]

I feel awful disagreeing with so many reviewers, so I'm thinking maybe it was just us...We didn't like this recipe at all. It was a lot of work and took a lot of ingredients and was WAY too vinegary for our tastes. The other ingredients in the sauce and burger were great--I felt like the vinegar really ruined it for us--that's all we could taste or smell. If you don't mind lots of vinegar, you'd probably like this recipe.

[*pink*]

WOW mm mm mmmm! I tell you what, I knew these would be delicious from all the yummy ingredients in them. The sauce gave the burgers a great added flavor and tangy-ness. My bf wasn't for sure about putting the sauce on his burger (he's plain). But after he tried it he really like the sauce on them. Since it was just him and myself, I formed all the meat into patties and froze the rest, including the left over sauce we had, for next time! I have never had gorgonzola cheese on a burger but it sure was delicious! I made exactly as stated except added a little mayo, red onion, and lettuce on the burger! This is a great recipe when your wanting something different than the ordinary burger! SOOO GOOD!

[Chef Mean Green]

I loved this recipe and I will definitely will be making this again!!!! I couldn't find the peppers anywhere and our store didn't have Gorgonzola so I substituted blue cheese instead and it still turned out great. Thanks for posting Claudia Dawn