Smoked Gouda and Bacon Burgers with Barbecue Sauce

By lorik

Ingredients

• Sweet Barbecue Sauce:
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• One 1-pound onion, halved and thinly sliced
• Salt
• 1/4 cup Frank’s Red Hot or other hot sauce
• 1/4 cup beef broth
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• Eight 1/2-inch-thick slices of firm white bread
• 8 slices of thick-cut bacon
• 2 pounds ground beef chuck (20 percent fat), formed into 4 patties the same size as the bread slices
• 3 ounces smoked Gouda, shredded (1 cup)
• 1/4 cup Sweet Barbecue Sauce
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• Salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons unsulfured molasses

Details

Servings 4
Cooking time 40mins
Adapted from foodandwine.com

Preparation

Step 1

For Barbecue Sauce:
1. In a large skillet, heat the oil. Add the onion and a pinch of salt. Cover and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until richly browned, about 20 minutes. Add the butter and melt. Add the ketchup, brown sugar, apple juice, lemon juice, ginger and molasses. Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened and reduced to 2 cups, about 25 minutes. Transfer the sauce to a blender and puree. Season with salt.

Make Ahead The barbecue sauce can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

For Burgers:
In a large skillet, heat the oil. Add the sliced onion and a pinch of salt, cover and cook, stirring a few times, until the onion is crisp-tender and just turning translucent, 5 minutes. Stir in the hot sauce and beef broth and remove from the heat. Season with salt.

Heat a large griddle. Spread the butter on 1 side of each bread slice and griddle buttered side down over moderate heat until toasted, about 2 minutes. Transfer the toasts to a plate. Add the bacon to the griddle and cook over moderate heat until crisp, about 4 minutes per side; drain on paper towels. Wipe off the griddle.

Season the beef patties with salt and cook on the griddle over moderately high heat until medium-rare, about 2 minutes per side. Top each burger with 1/4 cup of smoked Gouda and cook until the cheese melts, 1 minute.

Set the burgers on the unbuttered sides of 4 toasts. Top with the bacon, onion and Sweet Barbecue Sauce. Close the burgers and serve, passing more barbecue sauce at the table.