BUFFALO-BACON BURGERS

Feeds 4

• 6 ounces bacon
• 22 ounces ground buffalo meat
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons beef suet

Prepare the bacon. Chop the bacon into 1-inch pieces. Put them in the freezer. After 30 minutes, take the bacon out of the freezer and put it in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the frozen bacon looks like ground meat.

Make the burgers. Combine the ground bacon and buffalo meat gently. Season with salt and pepper. Gently, divide the dough into 4 parts. Loosely, barely touching the meat, form each part into a round patty. Set the patties on a plate.

Cook the burgers. Set a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the suet to the pan. When the suet is hot, gently place the patties in the pan. (You might need two skillets, if yours are small.) Cook for 3 minutes. Flip the burgers and cook until medium-rare, another 3 or 4 minutes. (If you are adding cheese, add it as soon as you flip the burgers.) If you want the burgers more well done, cook them for another 3 to 5 minutes. Take the burgers off the heat and eat them.

Note: For an entertaining and exhaustive look at burgers across America, pick up a copy of John T. Edge’s Hamburgers and Fries.

Feel like playing?

Once you have the basic template, add any spices or flavorings that work for you or the region of the country in which you live. In New Mexico, we ate a tremendous green chile burger, with Hatch green chiles and white Cheddar cheese, at a legendary place called Bobcat Bite. In southern California, I’ve been served juicy burgers with a mound of guacamole. Toppings? Sliced red onions, pickles, any kind of cheese you want, bacon, aioli, arugula instead of lettuce—there are endless variations. Also, there are burgers fast-food style, with special sauce. We’re going to let you figure those out on your own. These are our favorite burgers.