Stuffed Hamburgers
These are enormous, stick-to-your-ribs kind of burgers with a surprise in the center. A real family favorite. I like to serve them on a bun topped with sauteed mushrooms and Swiss cheese. Use extra lean or lean ground beef instead of medium because the bacon adds to the fat content of the meat.
These are enormous, stick-to-your-ribs kind of burgers with a surprise in the center. A real family favorite. I like to serve them on a bun topped with sauteed mushrooms and Swiss cheese. Use extra lean or lean ground beef instead of medium because the bacon adds to the fat content of the meat.
- Carbohydrate 6.3904025 g
- Cholesterol 166.45752025 mg
- Fat 35.3329335 g
- Fiber 0.76612500166893 g
- Protein 49.3260745 g
- Saturated Fat 13.4152541873 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (279g)
- Sodium 945.8064821 mg
- Sugar 5.62427749833107 g
- Trans Fat 4.22042750325 g
- Calories 555 calories
Step-by-step
- Prepare a grill for medium heat. When hot, lightly oil the grate.
- Fry the bacon in a skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add onions to the pan; cook and stir until bacon is browned, but not crisp and onion is soft. Remove from the pan and drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Season to taste with black pepper.
- In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef and onion soup mix. Divide into 8 balls and then flatten into thin patties. Place a quarter of the bacon mixture onto each of four patties. Top with the remaining patties and press the edges together to seal.
- Grill the burgers for about 15 minutes, turning once, until well done. Serve on buns with your favorite condiments.
Forming the outer rim demands meticulous pressure, because any microscopic gap in the raw ground beef will allow rendering fat and trapped moisture to escape prematurely onto the hot grill grates. Divide the two pounds of meat into eight equal portions before flattening them, ensuring the top and bottom disks share identical mass to promote even thermal transfer.
Pre-cooking the chopped bacon for five minutes renders out excess moisture while keeping the meat pliable enough to stay contained inside the center pocket. Combining dry onion soup mix directly into the beef introduces sodium chloride that dissolves myofibrillar proteins, creating a sticky matrix that helps bind the patty together without requiring extra binders like breadcrumbs or eggs.
Maintaining a medium heat zone on the grill prevents the exterior from charring before the center reaches a safe internal temperature. Turning the thick patties precisely once at the midpoint of the fifteen-minute cooking window minimizes moisture loss caused by constant flipping and pressing.
Overworking the beef during the initial mixing stage develops too many protein bonds, resulting in a dense, sausage-like texture instead of a tender bite. Handle the meat gently and keep the patties cold until they hit the hot grates to preserve pockets of intramuscular fat.
