Bacon Turtles!

I can now join those experienced baconneers who blog beautifully~Thankfully, there are so many bloggers out there who cover this amazing culinary science of mixing bacon and nature, I had a bit of trouble starting out, but with help was able to dominate! I got most of the information on Bacon Weave Turtles from http://followmyrecipe.blogspot.com/2010/02/super-carolines-bacon-turtle-burger-fun.html

It was by far the most informative and helpful blog I found on the subject and rather than repeat Caroline's entire blog, I will add my own personal thoughts.

First: the burger. Our burger was elk mixed with an herb mix. I used way too much and have enough left over for an entire dinner when we are hungry again. Second: The bacon. Our bacon, as you can tell, is too thick for this project. Although, it is the VERY best bacon ever (raised by a friend and a neighbor), I recommend a less sturdy brand to weave.

After patting out two burgers I placed onion on one and a layer of cheese, then firmed them together. I wish I had a different veggie besides onions for a veggie in this delight. Grated carrots would have been really nice!

As our bacon was too thick to remain woven (I would not have had enough for one turtle, much less 3), I had to wrap our burgers. It was interesting and I used a great many toothpicks!
When I was done with the wrapping, I added the appendages. The eyes are cloves and I had to substitute hot dogs for the legs and tail and head instead of those lovely sturdy miniature sausage links.But, it worked. Well, except for when Jon took out the cloves and ate the head of the turtle. He didn't realise how strongly flavored cloves were!

Here are the three little guys pinned and ready for the oven. I covered them with foil since I detest the mess grease can leave in an oven.

Unfortunately, they needed longer to cook. So, I took off the foil for a few whiles and let them smoke away. I also should have turned them over, but I didn't realise that was necessary til they had already been served. The bottoms and inside bacon were cooked, just not as crisp as I would like.

Jon's turtle turned out so CUTE!!!!! I love how his mouth is open. Jon suggested they kinda looked like Muppets.

Here they are! An aerial view of our turtle dinner with the side of tater salad. I really wanted to make coleslaw, but I already had the taters, to this is what we got. Next time, I will do slaw. Veggies go much better with turtle.


The insides of the turtles. Mine just had cheese and Jon's (the poor thing was sliced and left gaping!!!!) had the onions as well. The bacon does not look very done, but Jon and Steve said it was fine...

All in all, it was a great deal of fun work and I'd do it again with less sturdy bacon. Later. Much much much later!!!!!!!!! I think putting them on a bun would have been overkill, since I didn't even finish mine! Jon and Steve felt a bun would have been a good idea, but we'll wait til next time.