Bouncing Baby Bacon Burgers with Pickled Sweet Onion Bacon Butter and Secret Sauce

Ingredients

For the Cooked Bacon:
20 slices thinly sliced bacon
For the Secret Sauce:
3/4 cup steakSauce
1/4 plus 1/8 cup prepared mayonnaise
1/4 plus 1/8 cup Dijon mustard (Grey Poupon)
1/4 plus 1/8 cup grainy Dijon mustard
For the Pickled Sweet Onion Bacon Butter:
Cooked and crumbled bacon from step #2 below (should be completely cool)
16 Tbsp. salted Ultra Creamy Butter, room temperature
1/2 cup minced "mini" or "baby" dill pickles
3/4 cup minced sweet onion
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
For the Baby Bacon Burgers: 4 oz. thinly sliced bacon
1 cup minced sweet onion
1/3 cup minced fresh rosemary
1 1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
1 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 3/4 lbs. ground chuck (80% lean, 20% fat)
To Prepare and Heat the Buns:
18 3" dinner size eggs or potato rolls
Pickled Sweet Onion Butter
To Finish the Burgers: Heated/Steamed foil wrapped buns
Secret Sauce
avocado or grapeseed oil for oiling the grill and the burgers before grilling
18 uncooked baby bacon burgers
36 3"x3" slices Gruyere or Emmentaler cheese (about 8 oz.)

Instructions

1) Prepare Your Grill: FOR A GAS GRILL: If you have a grill that has more than one section, heat one section to high and one to medium. If you only have one section, heat it to medium. 2) For the Cooked Bacon: Place a large cast iron skillet onto the grill over medium heat. Place the bacon into the pan as it heats in one layer (you will probably have to do this in batches). Cook until golden brown and crispy and all of the fat has been rendered. Remove teh bacon as it is done to a paper towel lined plate to drain and cool Cook the rest of the bacon, layering it between paper towel to drain and cool as it is done. Cool the bacon completely, and then crumble (by hand) into a small bowl. Set aside to use in the Pickled Sweet Onion Bacon Butter in step #4 below 3) For the Secret Sauce: Place the 3/4 cup Heinz 57 Sauce, 1/4 cup plus 1/8 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup plus 1/8 cup Dijon mustard and 1/4 cup plus 1/8 cup grainy Dijon mustard into a blender or food processor and process until thoroughly blended. Scrape out of the blender into a small bowl and set aside until ready to serve (if preparing more than 1 hour ahead, cover and refrigerate sauce). 4) For the Pickled Sweet Onion Bacon Butter: Place the crumbled cooked bacon from step #2 above, into the food processor and process until finely ground. Add the 16 Tbsp. butter and process until thoroughly combined. Scrape down the sides of the food processor and add the 1/2 cup minced dill pickele, 3/4 cup minced sweet onion and 1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds. Pulse just until the ingredients are combined (you do not want to chop the onion or pickle any further). Scrape Pickled Sweet Onion Bacon Butter out of the processor into a small mixing bowl. Set aside at room temperature until ready to make burgers (refrigerate if preparing more than 1 1/2 hours ahead-let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before using). 5) For the Baby Bacon Burgers: Place the 4 oz. raw bacon into the food processor and process until uniformly ground into a paste. Scrape the processed bacon into a large mixing bowl. Add teh 1 cup minced sweet onion, 1/3 cup minced fresh rosemary, 1 1/4 tsp. fine sea salt and 1 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper and use a mixing spoon to mix thoroughly. NOTE: You want to thoroughly mix these ingredients before you add the meat so that you handle the meat as little as possible. Crumble the 1 3/4 lb. ground chuck over the onion mixture in the bowl and gently but thoroughly incorporate the onion mixture into the meat (you will need to use your hands for this). You do not want to handle the meat any more than necessary, but you do want to make sure the onion mixture is evenly distributed throughout the meat-you may have to squish the mixture through your fingers a bit. When the meat and bacon/onion mixture are thoroughly combined, divided the mixture into 18 portions (about 1/4 cup of the mixture per patty). Wet your hands with cold water and form the portions into 18 small patties, about 3" in diameter. 6) To Prepare and Heat the Buns: Cut or tear off two 45-50 inch long sheets of heavy duty aluminum foil (the extra wide variety-about 18.5 inches wide). Split each roll (as you would a burger bun) and gently remove a little if the excess bread from the inside of the top bun-creating a little "divot" (this will help the burger stay together a little better and gives a more pleasant bun-to-meat ratio). Spread about 1 heaping Tbsp. of the Pickled Sweet Onion Bacon Butter into the "divot" in each top bun and reassemble the buns on the two sheets of aluminum foil (9 reassembled buns per sheet) in one layer (arrange them in a 3×3 square in the center of the foil). Fold the excess aluminum foil around the buns to enclose them completely (you may need to use more foil) your work surface. Now you have two foil wrapped packages of buns. Place them onto the grill over medium high heat to heat/steam for at least 10 minutes while you get ready to grill the burgers. Remove the buns from the grill after 10 minutes (do not unwrap until just before you cook the burgers). 7) To Cook and Finish the Burgers: NOTE: Have a spray bottle filled with water ready (grill-side) when you cook the burgers to put out any flare-ups (flames) that result from the melting/dripping fat from the burgers. Unwrap the buns and place 3 buns on each of 6 serving plates (each person gets 3 Bouncing Baby Bacon Burgers) and open up the buns. Spread 1 heaping Tbsp. of the Secret Sauce onto the cut side of each bun half. Brush the grill with a little avocado or grapeseed oil. Brush the burgers with a little oil as well. Grill the burgers on the hottest part of the grill, uncovered for about 2 minutes per side. After flipping the burgers and after they have cooked for about 1 minute on the second side, top each one with 2 slices/squares of the cheese and cover the grill. Cook, covered, for about 1 minute, or until the cheese melts, and then remove the burgers to the prepared buns (one burger per bottom bun). Place the top buns onto the burgers and prepare for baby burger heaven SERVES 6.