Monday, February 12, 2018

Bacon Lettuce Avocado Turkey and Pepper Jack Burger

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I had a craving for a good burger this weekend.  Despite the soaking rain, I fired up one of my kamado grills and made a favorite of ours - the BLAT Burger.  

Yeah, that's a horrible name, but that's what we call it at our house.  
  • It started out being a BLT burger long time ago.  
  • Then it morphed into a club sandwich burger by adding grilled turkey.  
  • Finally, I swapped the tomato out for avocado and added the pepper jack cheese.

I'm not doing a recipe for this post because I think you get the basic idea from the pictures.


I grilled these on the flat side of my GrillGrates, instead of straight grilling them. I just wanted a hot, flat surface. I could have also used my Little Griddle, a cast iron griddle insert for my Craycort grates, a cast iron skillet, or my flat top grill.

Griddle cooking turkey on GrillGrates on a large Big Green Egg kamado grill.
Griddling the turkey does 2 things.  It warms it up, and it creates the Maillard reaction that makes the flavor.

Schweid & Sons are my preferred burger patties if I am not making them myself.
For the burgers, I used Schweid and Sons C.A.B. All American burgers that we bought at Food City.  They also sell The One Percenter, which is the same thing except made with USDA Prime Certified Angus Beef.  These are my preferred burger patties when I'm not making them myself.

Grilling burger patties on GrillGrates in a kamado grill, such as Kamado Joe, Big Green Egg, Primo
I grill my burgers in the 450-500f range and do 4 minutes per side.  I don't worry about using oil on the GrillGrates.  The seasoning is enough, and the burgers will only stick if they aren't ready to flip yet.

Burgers on GrillGrates
Grill marks look good on a burger, but the crust from a hot flat surface is unbeatable, IMO.  When I flipped the burger, I seasoned this side with finely ground salt and pepper.



GrillGates protect the burger patties from burning when the dripping grease flares the flames.
Some of the rendered fat will drip through the holes and kick up some flames, but the GrillGrates keep the burger patties from burning.

Sargento pepper jack cheese on top of burgers
After 2 minutes on the second side (6 minutes in), I put the slices of pepper jack cheese on top.  Another advantage of using a flat griddle is that instead of cheese dripping into the fire below, it hits the griddle and gets crispy edges that are amazing.  I like using Sargento, Boars Head, or a local dairy, Sweetwater Valley Farm for the pepper jack cheese.

Avocados work magic with taste and texture, much like egg yolks do.

The best burgers start with the #BestAngusBeef - Certified Angus Beef.

This is a fantastic burger combination because everything works together. The avocado soothes the bite of the pepper jack cheese. The bacon and turkey make the burger sing.  I count this as one of my top 5 burgers including the following in no specific order because it depends on my mood.

What are your favorite burger topping combinations?