When you talk about good old fashion American cuisine, a burger is probably somewhere near the top of that list. I can’t think of a much more American thing to do to a burger than incorporating bacon, and deep frying it! This is quite literally a burger of epic proportions. I made a rookie mistake and accidentally bought the worlds “normallest” hamburger buns….and this burger is extremely abnormal. If i had to do it over again, I might opt for a larger brioche style bun made for a bigger burger. The overall process is simple, make the mac and cheese, stuff the burger, bread it, fry it and eat it. However, there are a few nuances that will keep you from ending up with a crumbled mess at the end of the process.
To stuff the burger, I used a tool called “Stufz.” I received this one a few years back when my wife and I were just dating in college. Back then it ran me $20 and I heard about it on one of those “Billy Mays here!” infomercials!! Looking back I probably spent one too many days skipping class, standing around a hot grill, with friends, on a porch, full of booze, sticking the worlds most ridiculous things inside of burgers and trying them! You can find the link to this handy little kitchen tool here. Needless to say, it will make your life a whole lot easier, and the end product will be much more consistent. The key to making the perfect burger with the Stufz, is not to over-pack it with burger. When you do, you tend not to get a great seal when you attempt to put the top half on after stuffing it. If you don’t have one handy, and don’t feel like shelling out a little cash to get one, you can do this by hand….it just may be a little more difficult. Regardless, the process remains the same.
Bacon Mac&Cheese Stuffed Deep Fried Venison Burger
Equipment
- Deep Fryer
- Stufz Burger Stuffier
Ingredients
The Burger
- 2 lb lean ground wild game (we used venison)
- 2 large brown eggs
- 1/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Bacon Mac & Cheese
- 1 box store bought mac and cheese (we used Kraft brand)
- 6 slices thick cut bacon
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
For Frying
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 large brown egg
- 2 cups crushed Ritz crackers
The Fixin's
- 6 large brioche burger buns
- 6 slices yellow american cheese
- ketchup
- mayonnaise
- pickles
Instructions
Bacon Mac and Cheese
- Fry the six pieces of bacon in a pan until crispy and golden brown. Remove the bacon from the pan. Do not drain the bacon grease from the pan, we will use this later on.
- Once the bacon cools, chop it into small pieces and set aside.
- Cook the mac and cheese to the instructions on the back of the box. Add the macaroni noodles to boiling water for 8-12 minutes. Once finished, strain the water and add the cheese packet from the box along with the appropriate ratio of milk and butter.
- In addition to the box ingredients, add the cup of shredded cheddar cheese, and the pieces of crumbled bacon. Mix thoroughly until the cheese is melted and the bacon is incorporated into the mixture.
The Burger
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the burger, two eggs, breadcrumbs and Worcestershire sauce. Mix by hand until the mixture becomes sticky and the ingredients are well incorporated.
- Pack a fist full of meat into the "Stufz" device. Press down to make an indentation. Fill with the mac and cheese mixture.
- Flatten out a patty to use for the "roof" of your burger and add it to the "Stufz" device. Press down to seal.
- Remove from the "Stufz" and season both sides with garlic salt and black pepper. On the stove top on medium heat place the burger top side down into the pan used to cook the bacon. Fry the burger in the hot bacon grease for about 3-5 minutes per side until each side is seared. Keep careful watch on any spots where the inside of the burger begins to leak out.
Fryin' it Up!
- Remove the burger from the pan, and coat it thoroughly in flour. Dust off any excess.
- Once completely coated in flour, place into an egg wash and coat the burger. If you need to, use a brush to completely cover the outside of the burger. Be very careful, the burger can be fragile at this stage in the process!
- Remove from the egg wash and pack crushed Ritz crackers around the outside of the burger to form a crust. Use the crackers to seal up any spots where the stuffing could leak out.
- Drop the burger in the deep fryer. Your oil should be between 350 and 375 degrees. The burger should take about 5 minutes to fry. Remove from the oil when the cracker crust has browned up nicely. Keep a close eye to ensure that it does not burn.
- Stick that sucker on a bun, top it with whatever you like on your burger, and pair it with an ice cold beer!
