Bacon Cheddar Turtle Burger

Today was a beautiful day here in Nebraska. Sunny & 71 degrees, after cleaning up the leftover leaves in the yard & trimming the roses i decided to do a little practice run on the Egg for an upcoming event here in town. I found these burger`s while surfing the Smokering Forum & thought what a novel idea. This burger just might win the contest. So....
What they are is a bacon wrapped burger with hot dog pieces sectioned for the legs, tail and head. First off make a bacon weave with 5-6 strips of thin cut bacon as such. 6 strips of bacon makes a jumbo sized burger so you might have to use less bacon. Your cardiologist would agree.

Next place a slice of sharp cheddar cheese(lower melting point) on the bacon. Make a hamburger patty to your liking seasoned as you wish. Then fold up the bacon ends over what will be the bottom of the patty. Carefully flip the bacon wrapped patty over onto a piece of tinfoil.

Cut up some Hebrew National hot dogs or any hot dog that you like as long as its a skinless hot dog. Cut the legs to two inches and the head to about three inches long. Cut one for the tail trimming to a point. Insert limbs between the bacon weaves on the sides of the burger to simulate a turtle. Cut 1/4 inch slits in the leg ends to simulate the webbed toes of a turtle, these will fan out while cooking.

While this is not a difficult task, it does require a bit of patience. Fasten the limbs with tooth picks to hold it together while cooking. When finished cooking remove the toothpicks the limbs will stay in place for plating.
Here are three finished turtles ready for the grill.

I set up the BGE with lump charcoal & fired it up. When ashed over I assembled the EGG & loaded the burgers. I ran the Egg at 350 degrees for 45 minutes finishing the burgers at 165 degrees internal temp. Here we are fresh off the Egg.

Add lettuce, tomatoes, ketchup, mustard, mayo or whatever you like and dig in.
Neat looking treat and tasty too. For an extra juicy burger make your patties with half hamburger and half pork sausage. As you can see some of my Turtle Burgers toes fanned out a little too much so make smaller toes next time. All in all not a real difficult burger. I made the 50/50 pork & hamburger patties which was juicy and tasty. Different from a regular ole burger. Kids love the novel idea too.

Thanks for reading about my latest adventure in outdoor cooking.