Redneck Bacon Turtle Burgers

This is for you Dennis.......

I saw this somewhere (probably Pinterest) and thought of you.  So here is supper:

Start by making a hamburger patty.  (Mine of course has chopped onion, Alpine Touch, and sea salt mixed into the hamburger)   Top with a slice of cheese (this will hold the shell on)

Cut 2 hot dogs in half.  Shove into the 4 corners of the patty.  (Yeah yeah, I know the patty is round.... there are no corners.... Punt.)   Cut another hotdog into 3rds.  This will make 2 heads and 2 tails.  Shove head into place, Cut center section of this hotdog on a 45 degree angle to make the tail and shove it... yeah.  there.

Make a shell of woven bacon... wrap tightly around the turtle with the ends under his belly.  OK.  Now here I must say that I laid the bacon out basketweave style on my cutting board and put the turtle cheese side down onto it, then wrapped the bacon tightly around.  When I turned him over, I had to shape him a little because his back was flat, but that is not hard.  It was easier than trying to do it right side up.

Cut slits in his feet.  You can get all artistic and carve him a face with eyes and a mouth slit, but I think the end of the hotdog looks good enough for me....

 The instructions say to now place them gently onto the grill and cover with an aluminum foil dome.  Only turn them once while grilling.  However, if it is winter out like it is here today, and you are not interested in cooking outside, you can place them on a pan, covered loosely with a foil dome  (The instructions say to put them directly on the oven rack, but I DON'T THINK SO!  Not in my oven.  Bake them for 20-30 minutes at 400 degrees.


OK here they are all cooked up. (sorry about the graphic gutted turtle picture)  Their feet split really cute.  A carved face might have turned out cool.   I  do think if you like crispy bacon, you should take the foil off the last 10 minutes.  I hate bacon, so I took the BACON off mine.   It was really too much for me to eat a whole one even without the bacon, but you men might be fine with it.

Well, it was an experiment......  I think hamburger patties and (ick) hot dogs on the barbecue would be fine without all the work to make it look like a turtle, but this would be fun if you have kids. (or adults who act like kids like we have)