Smoked Bacon Onion Burgers Dry Rub 3 tablespoons paprika 1 tablespoon ground black pepper 1 tablespoon salt 1 tablespoon sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder 1/2 teaspoon cayenne Bacon Onion Butter 1 stick salted butter -- at room temperature 4 strips lean bacon -- cut into 1/4" sliver 1 medium onion -- finely chopped 2 teaspoons brown, Dijon, or Dusseldorf mustard 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (or to taste) Hamburgers 2 pounds ground beef ---------------------------------------------------------- Combine all of the rub ingredients together. Make the Bacon Onion Butter as follows: Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until the fat begins to render. Add the onion and saute until the bacon crisps and the onions are golden brown. Do not let the bacon burn. Transfer the bacon mixture to a mixing bowl and cool to room temp. Add the remaining butter, the mustard and pepper and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until light and fluffy. Correct the seasoning, adding more pepper or mustard if needed. Arrange a 12 inch square piece of plastic wrap on your work surface and mound the butter in the center. Roll it up into a cylinder 1 1/4 inches in diameter, twisting the ends of the wrap to compact the butter. Store the butter in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. To make the burgers: Cut 1 to 2 tablespoons of the bacon onion butter off the roll. Imbed it in the center of about 1/3 of a pound of hamburger (or more or less depending on how big you like them). The butter should spread itself through the center of the burger when you form it into a patty. Seal the burger around the edges so the butter is encased inside. Sprinkle the burger patties with the rub. Reserve some of the rub if you want to for extra seasoning later. Cover them with plastic wrap and put them in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours. Remove from refrigerator and let sit at room temp for 15 minutes. Smoke them at 200 to 220 for about 1 hour. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NOTES : The rub recipe is Wild Willies Number One-derful rub from the Smoke and Spice cookbook. The Bacon Onion Butter recipe is from the Barbecue Bible Sauces, Rubs and Marinades book by Steve Raichlen We smoke burgers once a week at 250 indirect for a total of 1 hour. We generally stuff them, mushroom swiss or jalepeno cheddar and place on upper rack. One thing I've found is that you don't want to buy the best (ie. Leanest) Beef. From experience it seems that beef with about 15% fat works best. It's same as for roasts the more fat cap the better for a longer cook. for juicy burgers, besides getting the "high fat" stuff (always always!), you can also add 1-2 T. h2o (or wine, or beef broth, or onion juice) to the meat before making patties. i always do this, and juice will almost squirt out when you bite in. and that's without a buttery (yummmm) center! I make my burgers juicy without high fat ground beef. I purchase a ground sirloin and then add finely chopped mushrooms to the beef before shaping into patties. The mushrooms act like a sponge and keep the juices in the burger. For the most part, you don't even taste the mushrooms. My favorite is to make two thin patties and place some good blue cheese on top. Then put the second patty on top and pinch the edges firmly together. I smoke mine at around 300 until they are done. YUM! I've always loved these burgers but missed that nicely grill/seared outside that you get from grilling. Took me long enough to figure this out but today, I smoked them indirectly for an hour and pulled them off. Then I took the pizza stone out, and left the K open to get some serious oxygen. In just a couple of minutes my fire was raging. Put the burgers back on for just a minute or two on each side and had that nicely grilled outside to go along with that nicely smoked inside.