Blue Cheese Burgers

Have you ever made a cheese-stuffed burger? The most common method is to put a mound of cheese between two ultra-thin hamburger patties and pinch the sides. The downside to this approach is that if you haven't sufficiently sealed the edges of the burgers, all the melted cheese leaks out when you cook them. Also you can scald your tongue on the hot melty cheese if you're not careful. So, when my pal Garrett described a way for making blue cheese burgers that mixed the cheese in with the burgers, I was all ears. The recipe comes from Garrett's friend Rob Dodge (thanks Rob!). Garrett calls the burgers "Sassy" and sassy they are indeed. They aren't as pretty as a stuffed cheese burger, but you'll get a great dose of tangy blue cheese flavor with every bite. Garrett made these for my parents the other day and they loved them.

Here's a tip, although you might be tempted to go with extra lean hamburger meat for this burger, given all the cheese, I don't recommend it, unless you want blue cheese flavored dry burgers.

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef (16-20%)
• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup (about 2 ounces) crumbled blue cheese (get Pt. Reyes blue cheese if you can find it)
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp water
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1 Put ground beef, mustard, garlic, onions, blue cheese, water, and egg into a large bowl. Use your hands to gently mix the ingredients together until just incorporated. Do not over-mix. Shape into patties, about 1/2 inch thick and larger than your bun. Chill until you are ready to cook.

2 Prepare charcoal or gas grill for cooking over high direct heat. Using tongs and a folded up paper towel dipped in vegetable oil, oil the grill grates. Make sure grill is hot and well oiled before laying down the patties. Season patties with salt and pepper. Place the patties on the clean, well-oiled grill grate. Grill the burgers for about 5 minutes per side. Do not press down on the burgers while cooking.

If you don't have a grill, you can use a grill pan or a cast iron frying pan for the burgers.

Serve on hamburger buns with lettuce and mayonnaise.

Makes 4 burgers.