Ruff and Tuff Burgers 9

Some little girls grew up dreaming of princess gowns. They exclusively wore the pink section of their closet. They played house and had tea parties.

I was not one of those little girls.

I wanted to be a boy. More specifically, I wanted to be my brother.You see, Casey was my best friend. He taught me now to throw a jab-cross. He shared his mom-and-dad-can’t-know secrets – like his first ACDC CD. We ate massive amounts of junk food and played I-can-hit-you-harder – a game of trading increasingly harder punches until someone gives up. We didn’t know it then, but this would become one of the main reasons I was a successful basketball player. I’ve always been a bit of a bruiser on the court, hitting harder and taking more than anyone else.
While I am now very happy to be a pink-wearing skirt-twirling girl, I still love going on boy adventures with Casey. Last winter, I joined him and his buddies in Packwood, Washington for Late Buck (the last weekend of deer hunting season).

There was a lot of hiking, zero looks, and more than a foot of snow. By the end of each day, we were not only “buck less,” we were cold and hungry.

For dinner one night we made burgers. They weren’t your typical bun meets patty. These were for the ruff-and-tuff, fill-your-belly, warm-your-body crowd. Are you tuff enough?

Ruff and Tuff Burgers
Serves 4

1 lb sausage
1 lb ground beef
Worcestershire sauce, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste
½ pound bacon (8 bacon strips)
4 eggs
4 slices extra sharp cheddar
4 buns, toasted
Ketchup and mustard
1 large red onion, sautéed (or caramelized if you want to get fancy)

Pre-heat your BBQ.
Note – If gas is all you have, it will do. But, these burgers are designed to be cooked over charcoal.

Combine sausage and beef in a bowl. Season to taste with Worcestershire, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Form four large patties.

Cook bacon in a skillet. Set bacon aside, reserving bacon fat in the skillet.

Put burgers on the BBQ and cook thoroughly.

Roughly 3 minutes before burgers are ready to pull, get bacon fat good and hot. Hard fry all four eggs.

Tear bacon into pieces. Top each cooked burger with ¼ of the bacon and one slice of the cheese, allowing cheese to melt.
Note – This is an important step. The cheese helps hold the bacon in place, giving you bacon goodness in every bite.

Coat buns with ketchup and mustard. Plop cooked burgers on top. Layer each with a fried egg. Top with onions.

Serve warm. Eat in big bites.

Recipe in print-friendly format

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