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Crispy Bacon and Sweet Pickle Patty Melts

Source of Recipe

From "Cravings: Hungry for More" by Chrissy Teigen


Recipe Introduction

"By now, I'm sure you know that I find food mash-us to be a thing of absolute beauty. I go by the rule that if thing A is good and thing B is good then thing AB must be f*cking great. In this case, A is the grilled cheese you eat after 2 a.m. regrets and B is a Double Shackburger from Shake Shack. The most patriotic I get is my love for American cheese. I actually just googled 'what is cheese' to see if American even fits the criteria for actual, authentic cheese and basically the only rule is that it must be derived from milk. That is literally the only rule. So to anyone that wants to question my love of American cheese, you can suck it! Don't challenge my patriotism."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ ½ medium yellow onion
â—¦ ¾ pound ground beef (preferably 80% lean)
â—¦ 5 slices bacon, cooked and finely crumbled
â—¦ 3 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
â—¦ 1 egg, lightly beaten
â—¦ 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
â—¦ 1 teaspoon kosher salt
â—¦ ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
â—¦ ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
â—¦ 8 slices white bread
â—¦ Butter, at room temperature
â—¦ Vegetable oil
â—¦ 8 slices American cheese


Recipe

Using a box grater, grate the onion into a bowl. Scoop up the grated onion with your hands and squeeze and discard the liquid. (You're going to wash your hands for the rest of the day. Sorry.) Return the squeezed onion to the bowl and add the beef, bacon, relish, egg, garlic, salt, black pepper, and cayenne. Mix it all together using your hands, but gently. Pat out four thin patties and you get extra credit if you get them equal in size to the bread. Generously spread one side of each slice of bread with softened butter.

Heat a large, heavy-bottomed skillet or griddle over medium-high heat. Grease the skillet with oil and when you see it just start to smoke, cook the patties until browned and a crust forms, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.

Reduce the heat to medium and arrange four slices of bread, butter-side down, in the skillet. Layer each with a slice of cheese, a burger patty, and another slice of cheese. Top with a final slice of bread butter-side up. Cook, pressing down slightly once in a while, until the bread is golden brown, crisp, and toasty, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Serve hot.

Serves 4