BACON BURGERS WITH SMOKED CHEESE AND ONIONS

BACON BURGERS WITH SMOKED CHEESE AND ONIONS
6 slices bacon, chopped
3 tablespoons reserved bacon grease
2 medium onions, divided, 8 ounces
1 1/2 pounds ground sirloin *
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons Montreal steak seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces smoked Gouda or cheddar cheese, shredded or sliced

In a large nonstick skillet, fry the bacon until crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan and drain on a paper towel-lined plate saving the bacon grease. Keep 1 tablespoon of the grease in the skillet and set aside 2 tablespoons for later. Finely chop 1/2 of one of the onions and saut?it in the 1 tablespoon grease for 3 minutes; add to the bacon and let cool.

Thinly slice the remaining onion. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons bacon grease in the skillet and saut?the onions over medium heat, covered, about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Stir occasionally. Season with salt. Remove the onions from the skillet and keep warm while cooking the burgers.

Meanwhile mix the ground sirloin, Worcestershire sauce, steak seasoning and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the bacon mixture. Form into 4 patties. Heat the skillet over medium-high heat. There should be enough grease left in the pan to fry the burgers. Cook the burgers 4 minutes per side for medium-rare and 6 minutes per side for medium-well. Top each burger with 1/4 of the cheese; cover the pan until the cheese melts. Serve the burgers topped with the saut閑d onions.

Makes 4 servings
Can be frozen

* To save money, I used regular ground beef that was on sale for only $1.29 pound instead of paying $4.00 pound for ground sirloin. I used 2 pounds instead of just 1 1/2 pounds to make up for the shrinkage due to the extra fat in the cheap ground beef. Because there was so much fat in the skillet, I had to cover it with a lid to keep it from literally exploding all over my kitchen and myself. I don't know if that would be a problem with lean ground beef. If you want to use cheaper meat, I recommend grilling these burgers outside on a charcoal or gas grill. I thought about using my indoor contact grill, but I don't think that the grease receptacle could handle that much fat.

Per Serving: 672 Calories; 52g Fat; 42g Protein; 6g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 5g Net Carbs

This is based on a recipe from Rachael Ray's magazine. It was called Bacon-Bit Burgers with Smoked Gouda and Steak House-Smothered Onions. I made a few tweaks to make them low carb and to suit my tastes. I also shortened the name because it was MUCH too long. Rachael's version has you add 1/4 cup steak sauce to the onions, but I wasn't sure if I'd like them that way, and that much would add too many carbs. I topped my burgers with smoked Monterey Jack cheese because that's what I found at the store. Any smoked cheese will work fine. These are very good, but I have to say that it took me nearly as long to clean up my greasy kitchen afterwards as it did to make them.

Note that, although I marked these as suitable for induction, I think they'd be better suited without as many onions. Use your own judgement.

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