WESTERN BACON SLIDERS WITH FRIED CHEESE CURDS
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
FOR THE SLIDERS
- 1 lb. ground beef (I use 85 percent lean)
- Seasoning Salt and Pepper
- 6 buttered slider buns
- 6 slices sharp cheddar cheese
- 6 slices bacon, cooked
- BBQ Sauce (your favorite or homemade)
FOR THE FRIED CHEESE CURDS
- cheese curds
- oil for frying
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
- 1 egg, beaten
Directions:
FOR THE SLIDERS
- Preheat grill to medium high heat, about 350 degrees.
- Brush grill grates with oil to prevent burgers from sticking.
- While the grill is preheating, form your ground beef into 6 small patties. Be careful to pack them only as much as you need to to keep them together.
- Sprinkle seasoning salt and pepper to taste on both sides.
- Place burgers on the grill, cooking about 5 minutes on the first side, and then flipping.
- When you have cooked your burgers for 3 minutes on the second side, place a slice of cheese on top and add your buttered slider buns to a cooler part of the grill to toast them.
- Assemble burgers with BBQ sauce, bacon and fried cheese curds.
FOR THE FRIED CHEESE CURDS
- In a large heavy bottomed pot, pour oil (vegetable, canola, or peanut oil) so that it is 1-2 inches deep. Turn the heat onto medium high, and stay close by as it preheats.
- In the meantime, you can make your batter for frying. In a medium bowl add flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. In another small bowl, whisk water and egg. Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.
- You will know your oil is ready when you can drop a bit of batter into the pot, and it immediately starts to bubble and fry. If you have a cooking thermometer, the oil should be about 350 degrees.
- Dip your cheese curds into the batter and then carefully drop them into the hot oil. In order to keep them from sticking together, you can do about 8 at a time. Stir them around a bit, and when they have just turned golden brown, remove them from the oil with a metal slotted spoon and drain them on a paper towel. Repeat with remaining cheese curds.
- Some of your cheese curds may ooze out a little bit. Most of mine stayed intact, but this happened to a few of them and they tasted just fine.
Notes:
Recipe for the fry batter is from Food.com.