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Outside-In Juicy Lucy Cheesy Burger

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This Outside-In Juicy Lucy Cheesy Burger is the perfect, non-messy solution to enjoy that cheeseburger with everything without wearing half of it, and losing the rest onto your plate!

 

No one loves a juicy, cheesy, bacon cheeseburger loaded with lots of fresh, summer goodies more than me, but let’s face it, everything wants to do the slip-n-slide, and usually right down the front of your shirt!

You practically have to strip down, change your clothes, and toss everything into the washer just for trying to enjoy a summer burger!

No more splats of ketchup, mustard, and globs of relish on your jeans! And no more feeding the ants that coveted bite of garden-fresh tomato that you saved for the last bite that slipped out and fell in the dirt! Those days are OVER.

 

 

 

 

 

So, I designed this monster of a burger, as not only a gift to us burger lovers who actually enjoy devouring every morsel of our burgers, but also as an enormous thank-you to several of the sponsors who were super cool and grateful to us bloggers who got together again this year for #BurgerMonth!

Blogs take SO much more time, effort, and money than most people realize. There’s the full development of an original recipe, gasoline and time running back and forth to the store, grocery money (hopefully) well spent, time and utilities cooking, washing the dishes and entire kitchen (or grill) cleanup afterwards using even more hot water, gas, electricity, and soap, photoing the recipe (which usually takes several days!), editing the photos, putting them onto our blogs (most of which aren’t even free), writing out and adding photos to an entire blog post (usually including links which takes a LOT of extra time searching the internet to find, copy, and paste for ease for our users), editing the blog, putting the recipe onto our blogs, and doing all of this without barely a thank-you ever.

Then comes the hours and days of sharing and promoting companies that have sponsored and donated to a prize package for a few lucky winners (which is offered to the public only).

When being paid to do this, it’s your job. Same as any other job. When you’re doing it for fun…the fun can quickly be sucked out of the room as it becomes stressful trying to see how in the world this is going to actually benefit (or just break even the cost involved) for the one doing all of the work and free advertising for these companies.

So. I can’t tell you how truly thankful I am when a company “gets it”. And they send product as a thank you for all of the hard work and free advertising that you just spent days and weeks doing for them.

And this year, several of the companies really came through like rock stars!

 

 

 

 

 

The Red Duck Foods, Microplane, Anolon, and Cabot Cheese companies MORE than made all of the hard work, blood, sweat, fears and tears all worth it! It’s just so nice to know that you’re appreciated!

 

 

 

 

 

The first gracious company up to bat, made my life one HECK of a lot easier!!! I cannot even tell you how much I’m enjoying Microplane’s grinder, especially! I grow most of my own herbs and dry them, and some of them are really a pain to crumble. On hot and humid, summer days, they don’t want to cooperate at all! But this grinder took care of that frustration in a matter SECONDS. A dreaded chore was actually FUN for once!

And that’s what I was able to effortlessly add to my burgers that makes people say…what makes yours taste so good??

Homegrown, dried, freshly-ground basil is the secret!

 

Next up, is the Cabot Cheese gods!

They made the effort to send us all a fantastic assortment of snack cheeses that are conveniently already sliced! Talk about a time-saver (and easy treat on crackers)! And Cab Cheeses never disappoint! Their crafted cheeses are full-flavored, and loaded with vitamins and minerals! We’re total cheese fiends, and I can’t even imagine living my life without it! So, of course their amazing cheese was definitely going to be happening all through this baby!

 

 

 

 

 

Once you’ve made your patties, add some of that delicious cheese, slices of meaty, roma tomatoes, dill or sweet pickles (or relish) and onions…..

 

 

 

 

…and then spoonfuls of that shockingly incredible Red Duck Smokey Ketchup! Which brings us to our next gracious company! I cannot give Red Duck enough stars and praise because they blew the ROOF OFF of the charts!! The ketchups that they sent us, “Smokey” and “Curry”, are absolutely OUTSTANDING.

My jaw literally DROPPED over the flavor, consistency, and even the overall color and appeal of the way it looked. I doubt I will ever buy another bottle of cheap, commercial ketchup again. I have now been introduced to what ketchup should taste like!! Add this to your must-try foodie bucket list. Now.

 

I also added, er,….tried to gracefully add, some spicy brown mustard, aaaaand it BLASTED out all over the place. Dangit. The pitfalls of plain ole, store-bought, commercial products.

I really hate it when mustard does this, though! And if this happens to you, too, no matter how hard you try to drizzle it (after prepping, shaking, and tapping the bottle for minimal error) evenly from their “genius-ly” designed bottles through just a fat hole in the plastic lid, just swipe up the mess and don’t let it get the best of you. (And put my name in the hat to be hired to help them with better packaging design for an easy-squeeze drizzle!)

 

 

 

 

Then add some more co-jack cheese on top, and drape the smaller patty over your toppings. Use your hand to cup it nicely over all the goodies, then just smoosh up the bottom patty edges all the way around to completely seal your masterpiece!

*Make sure the outside is smooth and there aren’t any cracks.

 

Because it was disgustingly hot and humid the day that I made these, dodging thunderstorms all day long, the beef and fat was getting soft and melting by the time I had these assembled and formed. So I wrapped each assembled burger tightly with plastic wrap and chilled them for a bit before firing up the grill and cooking them.

You’ll want to do this, too. Even the heat from your hands can make these burgers a little too soft on the outside to handle the weight of the inside when placed onto the grill and turned.

 

 

 

 

Once your grill is hot, season the outsides of your burgers with a nice amount of salt and pepper, and lay these babies down!

Don’t rush these giant balls of yumminess. Just take your time as I did, and grill them on a medium-hot grill (keeping at about 375º – 400º) for a good 23 – 27 minutes, depending on the doneness that you prefer, turning them several times.

And always keep that lid closed while not turning them! It turns your grill into an oven, and will help to cook your burgers on the inside and get that cheese all melty inside as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Then top them with several more pieces of cheese, move them to a cooler spot if needed for less done, keeping the other side of the grill hot, close the lid again, and melt that heavenly cheese!

 

 

 

 

Once the cheese oozes down the sides and you can’t wait another second longer, remove them and let them rest!

 

 

 

Just like a good steak, chop, roast, or turkey, burgers, too, need time to rest so that all of those delicious juices bubbling inside don’t go running out!

 

 

 

 

Not to mention, it’s a good way to melt your tongue like a blow torch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the burgers are resting, broil the insides of your buns, then place a nice crispy lettuce leaf on the bottom bun.

 

 

 

 

 

Then place on that GLORIOUS burger….

 

 

 

 

 

…and a couple of warmed, crisp-cooked, peppered bacon slices on top….

 

 

 

 

 

…and dress your top bun any way that you like!

I, of course, couldn’t resist adding a little mayo and more of that AMAZING ketchup!! I mean, seriously! Just look at how rich that stuff is! It’s incredible!

 

 

 

 

 

I then used one of the sharp as a Samuri warrior’s sword knives from Anolon to slice through that baby like butter!!! The LEAST trouble I’ve ever had slicing through a monstrous burger ever! Just plain awesome knives!! And they each come with a nice cover to keep them sharp in your drawer, and keep your hands safe when rifling through to find them, too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The drumroll began, as I pulled it apart. Would it accomplish the whole point?

 

 

 

 

I’m thrilled to the moon and back to report to you that, yes, yes it did!!!!!

 

 

 

 

Did I end up wearing any of it? Nope.

Did any drop out on the plate, floor, ground, or my lap? NOPE!

Was it delicious? Worth making it? Would I make it this way again??

 

OH. MY. GAWD. Yes!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Not only did the whole thing work, cooked perfectly inside to our preference, and made a show-stopping presentation, the FLAVOR was outstanding!

A perfect, all-American, LOADED cheese burger that didn’t have me running through the sprinkler afterwards!

This Outside-In Juicy Lucy Cheesy Burger is a method that I created myself, and will be repeated and enjoyed throughout the summer! I’m sure that you’ll enjoy these, too, and thank me later for less laundry to do!! Enjoy all!

And many thanks again to the kind and generous companies, Red Duck Foods , Cabot Cheese , Anolon, and Microplane who went all out for all of the bloggers who worked so hard grilling and cooking for this year’s #BurgerMonth with Kita Roberts of Girl Carnivore!

 

*Though this is not a sponsored post, the above companies did send products for personal use as a thank-you for participating in the annual #BurgerMonth event of 2018. Any and all opinions of these products are solely my own.

 

 

Outside-In Juicy Lucy Cheesy Burger
Yield: 2 large burgers

Outside-In Juicy Lucy Cheesy Burger

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. ground beef tossed with 20 cranks of Microplane's Grinder full of whole dried basil leaves
  • 14 snack-sized slices Cabot Co-Jack Cheese
  • 2 thick slices roma tomato
  • sliced or chopped pickles (or relish)
  • sliced or chopped onion
  • spoonfuls of Red Duck Smokey Ketchup
  • spicy brown mustard to taste
  • sprinkle with salt and coarse ground black pepper
  • 2 onion poppy seed rolls, split open and grilled on the inside
  • 2 large crispy iceberg lettuce leaves
  • 4 thick-cut strips lean bacon, peppered and cooked crisp
  • mayo or Miracle Whip
  • more Red Duck Ketchup

Instructions

  • Crumble ground beef into medium bowl, add 10 cranks of dried basil, toss meat turning to expose unseasoned sides. Add 10 more cranks of basil and toss to mix. Divide into fourths.
  • Onto baking sheet, press meat into 4 patties making two larger and two smaller. Top each larger patty with 2 slices cheese (break one in half to fit easily), roma tomato slices, pickles, onions, ketchup, and mustard. Drape smaller patties over, cup with hands to mold to and cover inside ingredients, then fold up bottom edges and seal WELL all the way around forming a nice smooth ball with no cracks. Wrap each tightly with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes to firm.
  • Heat grill until very hot, then reduce temp to 375º - 400º. Season burgers with salt and pepper, then place onto grill top side up. Close lid and grill for 6 minutes. Turn, close lid, and grill for 6 more minutes. Turn 2 more times grilling 6 minutes each time. (Grilling bottom, top, bottom, top, then turn and move to a cooler spot, top side up.)
  • Top each with 3 slices cheese, close lid, and grill until cheese has fully melted. About another 4 - 5 minutes. Remove to a plate to rest.
  • While burgers are resting, grill insides of buns.
  • Top bottom buns with lettuce leaves, place burger on top. Top with bacon slices. Dress inside top of bun with mayo and more ketchup, and place on top. Enjoy!
  • NOTE: Total cooking time for lightly pink inside, depending on your grill, is about 28 - 30 minutes which includes the time it takes to melt the cheese.

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