by Karen Frazier

I love foods that have a lot of flavor. Jim loves burgers. Therefore, I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to marry the two concepts – burgers with tons of flavor.

Since we went paleo, we no longer have buns of any kind on our hamburgers. Fortunately, we’ve discovered that butter lettuce makes a wonderful wrap for a burger – as long as you have enough layers of it. So that’s what these protein style burgers are – bunless but wrapped in tender and tasty butter lettuce.

They are also super flavorful, because as I’ve discovered, caramelized onions and sriracha can make almost anything better. And if those two ingredients don’t, then bacon will. Sriracha isn’t a strictly paleo ingredient, but Nom Nom Paleo has a great recipe for homemade paleo sriracha. It does the trick.

If you are unable to find ground duck locally, there are lots of places to order it online. It’s totally worth the effort.

Paleo Duck Burgers with Caramelized Onions and Orange Sriracha Mayonnaise

• 4 slices bacon
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 pound ground duck
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon sriracha
• Juice of 1/2 orange
• Zest of one orange
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 8 large leaves of butter lettuce

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Put a baking rack over a baking sheet.
2. In a large saute pan, cook the four slices of bacon over medium-high heat until they are crisp. Blot the bacon on a paper towel and set aside.
3. Leave the bacon fat in the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low.
4. Add the onions to the bacon grease along with 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are caramelized, about 30 minutes.
5. While the onions cook, pat the ground duck into four patties. Put them on the prepared baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
6. While the burgers and onions cook, put the egg yolks, orange zest, orange juice, red wine vinegar, sriracha, and 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt in the bowl of a food processor. Turn on the food processor and let it run.
7. Through the chute of the food processor, add the oil a drop at a time for about 20 drops. Then, add the oil in a thin stream until the mayonnaise emulsifies.
8. To assemble the burgers, put the duck patties on the butter lettuce. Top them with bacon, onions, and the mayonnaise.