I love how shocked the other Dauntless faction members are when they realize Tris has never even seen a hamburger before. I can only imagine what it must have been like for her to taste one after a lifetime of plain, flavorless food. Today, we’re recreating Tris’ first meal in her new faction with a monster-sized burger that’s nothing if not epic.

This behemoth of beef sports whiskey bbq sauce, a cheese-filled patty, a bacon weave layer, onion strings, and a fried egg all on a toasted pretzel bun. This burger couldn’t be more Dauntless if it tried. 😉

The Dauntless Burger (an AWR Original Recipe ©)

“In the center of the table is a platter of food I don’t recognize: circular pieces of meat wedged between round bread slices. I pinch one between my fingers, unsure what to make of it.
Four nudges me with his elbow.
‘It’s beef,’ he says. ‘Put this on it.’ He passes me a small bowl of red sauce.
‘You’ve never had a hamburger before?’ asks Christina, her eyes wide.
‘No,’ I say. ‘Is that what it’s called?'”
— Divergent

INGREDIENTS:

• The Burger:
  • 4 pretzel burger buns
  • about 1.5 lb ground beef
  • 8 tbsp shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • seasoning salt and pepper to taste
• The Toppings:
  • 12 strips of bacon
  • 1/3 cup bbq sauce
  • 1 1/2 tbsp whiskey
  • 4 eggs (Why is there only one in the picture? Good question. Is getting 5 hours of sleep before an early morning photo shoot a good excuse?)
  • 8 tbsp onion strings (I made my own using a recipe by Ree Drummond, but you can also just buy them premade if you want.)

Makes 4 burgers

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Stir your bbq sauce and whiskey together until well combined. It will thin out a little but not much.
2. Cut your bacon strips in half. On a baking sheet covered in tin foil, weave 6 halves together as pictured below. Repeat 3 more times with the remaining halves to make a total of 4 weaves. Place the baking sheet in the oven and set it to 400° (DON’T preheat). Bake for about 15 minutes or until the edges have browned slightly. When they’re finished, let them drain on a paper towel.
   
   

   1. Start with 3 strips of bacon lined up horizontally.

   

   2. Pull them back over on themselve until there’s about a half inch of bacon folded over on the end. In the place where the horizontal strips were, place 3 strips vertically and fold them back in the same manner.

   

   3. Fold the top right strip all the way down and the top horizontal strip over it.

   

   4. Pull the middle vertical strip over the horizontal strip and pull the top left vertical strip down, tucking it under the end of the horizontal strip.

   

   5. Repeat for the middle horizontal strip, reversing which strips are over and under.

   

   6. Repeat with the bottom horitzontal strip, using the same over-under instructions as with the top horizontal strip.

   

   7. You should have a comleted weave. Make sure the strips are as close together as possible. The bacon will shrink, and any gaps will weaken the integrity of the weave. Yay for weave integrity!

   

   8. Bake for approx. 15 minutes until the tips are lightly browned.

3. While you wait for the bacon weaves, heat up your grill and toast your burger buns.

   

4. Grab a large fistful of burger meat (about 6 oz). Work it around in your hands until it forms a mostly smooth ball, then pinch the ball into a bowl shape with high walls. Put about 2 tbsp cheese in the middle. Fold the sides closed and work the meat to seal it shut and even it out, pinching and smoothing to seal all the gaps.
   
   

   Try to make the bottoms, sides, and corners an even thickness. Mine were a little under 1/2″ thick.

   

   

   You may need to add a pinch more meat to the top to seal it.

5. Season and grill your burger to taste. I used a couple shakes each of seasoning salt and pepper and cooked the burgers to medium doneness. Rotate the burgers half way through, so the sides heat evenly. Keep in mind the cheese in the middle will significantly lengthen the cook time. I highly recommend using a George Foreman grill for these, since heating from both sides allows the burgers to cook faster. Mine took a little under 3 1/2 minutes per burger.
   
   

   

6. While the burgers cook, spread some of the leftover bacon grease from your bacon weave on a frying pan and fry your eggs.

   

7. Now you’re ready to assemble! Spread a generous slather of whiskey bbq sauce on your bottom bun. Add the remaining items in this order: meat patty, bacon weave, fried egg, onion strings. Spread bbq sauce on the second half of the bun and throw it on top.
   
   

   

   

   

   

8. Serve as part of the initiation process for your fearless faction! 🙂
   
   

   With so many different toppings, this is definitely more time-consuming that your average burger, but it’s well worth the effort. The combination of savory, sweet, and salty flavors comes together in just the right way, and the way the burger is constructed means it’s really solid and won’t fall apart all over you! 🙂

   

   I feel like a bad person for not being able to finish one of these in one sitting. Half a Dauntless Burger is pretty much a full meal for me. Then again, it means awesome leftovers!

   

   Check out that cross-section!