[FTC Standard Disclosure] I received no direct compensation for this post; however, I have accepted two trips to the Certified Angus Beef® Brand Culinary Center this year.
I just ate the best burger last night - a pan-seared Certified Angus Beef® Brand burger on a toasted bun topped with sauteed onions, homemade pepper jack pimento cheese, and our home-cured bacon.
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| This burger was cheesy, smoky, gooey, and slightly spicy from the poblano and pepper jack cheese. I would be thrilled to get this burger at a sports pub. |
Dinner was a last-minute thought process last night. Alexis was calling me from Food City and I just told her to buy "burger stuff." I wasn't sure what kind of burger I was going to make, burgers just sounded like a good idea.
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| My favorite way to make a burger is to start with a home ground brisket and sirloin flap blend, but I wasn't about to do all of that tonight. For quick nights like this, we often go with Schweid and Son's. The C.A.B. All American is made with Certified Angus Beef® Brand chuck with the One Percenter burgers are made with USDA Prime Certified Angus Beef® Brand beef. |
When Alexis got home, she reminded me that we had a batch of Pepper Jack Pimento Cheese that we made earlier in the week. Naturally, we decided to make pimento cheese burgers.
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| Digging in the freezer, Alexis found some home-cured Sorghum and Bourbon Bacon that we smoked a while back. The burgers just got upgraded. |
My set up for the cook was a large Big Green Egg filled with Tennessee hardwood lump charcoal lit in three places with a gas torch. I ran it with direct heat in the 400°f range for the bacon and onions. When I put the burgers on, I upped the temperature to 450°f.
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| I placed a small cast-iron skillet directly on the grill grates. I added a bit of beef tallow and then a thinly sliced onion for sauteed onions. I just tossed them every few minutes until they were golden brown. Then I seasoned them with some of my finely ground beef rub, but you could just use salt and pepper. |
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| This Sorghum Bourbon Bacon is a recipe from my second book, The Offset Smoker Cookbook. That's cooking in a Lodge 8SK, a fantastic skillet for the grill. It is inexpensive, built like a tank and fits well inside an Egg or other 18" sized grill. Just take care of it, and you'll have a grill skillet for life. |
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| I cooked the bacon in a larger cast iron skillet while the onions cooked. |
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| Since these weren't actual caramelized onions, when they got about this color, I pulled them from the grill, sprinkled in a few pinches of sugar and let the carry-over heat of the skillet finish browning them. This gives them some of the sweet taste and color of caramelized onions. |
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| I lightly brushed the buns with some mayo and toasted them on the grill. I know that might seem weird but try mayo instead of butter the next time you do a grilled cheese or toast buns for burgers. |
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| I cooked the burgers in the fat from the bacon. I cooked the burgers about 4 minutes per side. When there was about a minute and a half left, I topped each with some of our homemade pepper jack pimento cheese. |
Pepper Jack Pimento Cheese
We didn't really make this a recipe, we were having fun and just mixing it to taste. But it was pretty close to this.1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup whipped cream cheese
1/2 cup chopped roasted red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped fire-roasted poblano
1/3 cup Duke's mayo
1 tablespoon finely chopped green onion
1/2 teaspoon sweet BBQ rub (I used my NMT Southern Sweet)
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
salt to taste
Mix all together and refrigerate for a few hours before serving.
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| I swear I could eat them just like this. |
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| Mmmm pimento cheese waterfall! |
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| When I see pimento cheese on a burger on a menu, there's a high-percentage chance I'm going to order it. In Knoxville, I like the Volhouz Burg'R at KTown Tavern and the Southern Caviar Burger at Big Kahuna Wings. Both are laden with delicious pimento cheese and other toppings. |
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| This might just be the perfect pub-style burger. The home-cured bacon, sauteed onions, spicy pimento cheese, and thick Schweid and Sons burger are amazing together. |