The Smoky Stuffed Buffalo Burger with Blue Cheese Creamy Slaw

Ingredients:

Blue Cheese Creamy Slaw
1 small head of red cabbage
2 stalks of celery
1 whole carrot
4.5 oz. blue cheese
¾ cup real mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. celery salt
3-4 turns of fresh cracked black pepper

Buffalo Sauce
¼ c. butter
1 c. Frank’s Original Red Hot Sauce
1 c. Sutter Homes White wine
2 full tsp. minced garlic
3 green onions chopped

Smoky Stuffed Burger
2 lbs. lean ground beef
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. smoked paprika
¼ tsp. liquid smoke
1 tsp. dried cilantro
½ tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried onion
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
¼ c. real mayonnaise
8 oz. block smoked cheddar cheese cut into ½ inch thick slices

Vegetable oil, for brushing on the grill rack

6 sour dough buns split

Instructions:

Directions
Prepare a medium-hot fire in a charcoal grill with a cover, or preheat a gas grill to medium-high heat.

To make the blue cheese creamy slaw, peel and halve one small head of read cabbage. Remove the cores at the base of the cabbage by cutting diagonally. Cut halves into quarters and shred with a large box grater or by knife and set aside in bowl. Cut celery into ¼ inch thin slices and julian one carrot. Toss cabbage, celery and carrots together. Crumble blue cheese into the bowl, add mayonnaise, red wine vinegar, sugar, celery salt, cracked black pepper and mix all ingredients until combined. Cover and chill.

To make the buffalo sauce place butter, hot sauce, white wine, garlic and green onion in a medium size fire-proof sauce pan and place pan on grill to heat. Cook until sauce has reduced by half.

To make smoky stuffed patties place ground beef, worcestershire, smoked paprika, liquid smoke, dried cilantro, garlic powder, dried onions, dijon mustard and real mayonnaise in a large bowl. Combine well, handling the meat as little as possible to avoid compacting it. Form into 12 equal sized balls. Flatten balls into patties, place one patty on the bottom and top with 2-3 slices of smoked cheddar, top with a second patty. Seal the two patties together by pinching sides down around the cheese and shape into patty. Refrigerate until ready to grill.

Remove buffalo sauce from grill, place half in a bowl for basting the burgers and place the remainder on the back of the grill to stay warm until burgers are cooked.

Brush the grill rack with oil. Place patties on the rack, cover and cook for 4 to 5 minutes per side, basting with the buffalo sauce until desired doneness is reached. During the last few minutes of cooking, place the buns cut side down on the outer edges of the rack to toast lightly.

To assemble the burgers, place patties on each of the bottoms of the bun, place a large spoon full of blue cheese creamy slaw on top of each patty, place buffalo sauce into a squeeze bottle and squeeze on additional buffalo sauce on top of the slaw then add the bun tops and enjoy.

Makes 6 burgers.