Green Bay Packers Beer & Brats Burger

I don’t know a ton about Green Bay, but with just a bit of research, I found beer, brats, and cheddar cheese to be a common theme. For my Packers burger, I use all three. I simmer some brats in beer and onions, then sliced them thin to use as I normally would use bacon.

Of course, I'm going to let all that delicious beer braising liquid go to waste.  So instead of tossing it, I made a simple cheddar cheese sauce to pour all over my beef patty and brats. To finish, why not a few of those onions too. Damn, that’s a good burger, and thanks Green Bay for the inspiration.

• Kaiser roll
• 1/3 pound of ground beef
• Bratwurst
• Beer
• Onions
• Wisconsin Cheddar cheese
• Flour
• Butter 
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Fresh ground black Pepper

1. Place an oiled pan over a medium heat.
2. Add a sliced onion and season with salt.  Saute for 7-8 minutes, or until the onion is translucent.  
3. Form the ground beef into a patty, dimpled in the middle to avoid shrinking. 
4. Pour canned beer over the onions, several inches deep.
5. Season the mixture with pepper.
6. Place the brats whole into the pan of onions. 
7. Maintain over a low heat.
8. To prepare the sauce, mix oil and flour to a pasty consistency.  Set aside.
9. Season both sides of the patty with salt and pepper, and sear the patty over a medium-high heat for about 2 minutes.
10. Put the brats in the burger pan for about 2 minutes per side, so they will brown and caramelize.  
11. Flip the burger and cook for another 2 minutes.
12. Gradually add the beer-onion broth into the pan with flour and oil, and stir over a medium heat.
13. Kill the heat, add Wisconsin cheddar to the broth mixture.  Stir and keep it warm.
14. Slice each brat lengthwise into three thin strips. 
15. Plate a bun and add brat strips to it.
16. Add the burger patty and pour cheese sauce over it.  
17. Top the sauce with onions.
18. Place the top half of the Kaiser roll, and cut the sandwich in half.  

Damn, that’s a good burger, and thanks Green Bay for the inspiration.