Potato Encrusted, Bleucheese and Bacon Stuffed Hamburger

I hope my cardiologist never see's this ! This one didn't turn out the way I envisioned, that's not to say it wasn't tasty ! I was watching a food show that was making potato encrusted sea bass and I thought "that would make a great burger, kind of hash browns and burger in one" and then I though "make it a STUFFED burger!"

 I'll discuss as we go what I'll do different next time.

Step 1: Shopping List

Ground beef (you could use turkey or chicken)
 bacon
crumbled Bleu Cheese
2 idaho potatoes
1 egg
 onion
1/4 cup oil
 steak sauce
 ketchup (catsup, catchup)
 yellow mustard
 salt and pepper

Step 2: Cook the Bacon

sorry no picture of this step, I like my bacon crispy and especially if it's going inside a burger or other dish, I used 3 slices per burger

Step 3: The Ground Meat

I took approximately 3/4 of a pound of ground beef, added in some chopped onion and the condiment one usually puts on a cooked burger. In retrospect I should have left the condiments out or added some kind of bread crumb and an egg to help bind it all together

Step 4: Get Stuffed !

I formed a patty about 4inchs across and 1/4" thick, crumbled up a piece of bacon and added the crumbled bleu cheese (about a tablespoon) then topped with another meat patty and made sure to seal the edges very well. I wrapped the burger patties in aluminium foil and popped in the freezer for 15minutes

Step 5: The Crust

wash your potatoes under running water then grate into a bowl and cover with water, I added about a teaspoon of salt to the water and let it all sit for about 10minutes before draining and adding 1/4 of cooking oil, 1 egg salt and pepper and mixing well. Next time I'll cut back on the amount of oil by about half

Step 6: The Marriage

Take the cold meat patties from the freezer and unwrap them, add the potato mixture to the top and bottom of the burger, rewrap in the foil and place back in the freezer for 15-20 minutes

Step 7: Cook It

I decided to use the bacon drippings to cook the burgers, this was a mistake on 2 counts, 1, I used to much and 2, bacon drippings smoke when it gets to hot so I didn't have the pan hot enough to get a good brown crust on the potatoes, next time I'll skip the oil and use my cast iron skillet

Step 8: Chow Time!

 I finished the burger with Bleu Cheese dressing and a couple more strips of bacon
My dining companion requested white rice even though the potatoes are already a starch, I was planning on baked beans but then I was also planning on serving the "burger" on a hard roll and it was to crumbly for that!

Step 9: Conclusion

I've said before that not all of my kitchen experiments work out, this one just needs some tweaking.
1. less moisture added to the meat or another binder added
2. less oil in the potatoes and the pan
3.Higher heat for the browning and possibly finishing in the oven
4. SMALLER portions that will fit on a roll !

This is by no means a quick meal, between cooking all the bacon and the freezer time it was almost 2 hours until it was ready to eat.