"Pan Fried Honey BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger"

By RoketJSquerl

Ingredients

• For the creamy honey barbecue sauce:
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• dash paprika (smoked if you have it!)
• dash cayenne pepper
• For the burgers:
• 1 pound skirt steak
• 8 ounces boneless short ribs
• 3 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon vegetable or canola oil
• 4 Hawaiian rolls
• 4 slices good quality American cheese
• 4 slices of bacon, fried crisp and crumbled

Details

Servings 4
Preparation time 35mins
Cooking time 45mins
Adapted from chattavore.com

Preparation

Step 1

To make the sauce, whisk all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Melt one tablespoon of the butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions, the sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. When the onions begin to turn translucent, reduce the heat to medium. Cook, stirring frequently, until caramelized (conventional wisdom says to caramelize over low heat, but America's Test Kitchen says otherwise. I start on relatively high heat and add sugar to aid the caramelization.) Set the caramelized onions aside.

Melt one tablespoon of the butter. Spread the ground meat onto a sheet pan and sprinkle evenly with the melted butter, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and the pepper. Divide the meat into 4 piles then divide each pile into 2 smaller piles. Carefully pack each pile of meat into a ball then press into a thin patty. BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVERWORK THE MEAT! I would rather have a slightly "loose" patty than overwork it and have a tough patty!

Melt 1/2 tablespoon of butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Split two buns and brown the insides. Remove to a plate and repeat with the other two buns.

Heat 1/2 teaspoon of the oil in the 12-inch skillet (cast iron is my favorite) over high heat. Place four patties in the pan and cook for 2 minutes on each side. Make two stacks and top each with a crumbled slice of bacon and a slice of cheese. Cover the pan and cook until the cheese has melted. Remove from the pan and repeat the process with the four remaining patties.

Open each bun and spread the top and bottom bun with a thin layer of the barbecue sauce. Divide the caramelized onion among the bottom buns then top each with a burger stack. Place the top bun and serve immediately.