Bacon Cheddar Burger with Beer Onions

Onions cooked slowly in bacon fat and finished with a splash of beer turn soft, sweet and faintly malty, the kind of topping that makes a plain cheeseburger feel like a tavern special. Everything happens in one skillet: bacon first, onions in the rendered fat, then the patties in whatever flavor is left behind. Pick a crisp lager rather than a hoppy ale, since bitterness concentrates as it reduces. The pepperoncini on top is not just decoration; a bite of it between mouthfuls resets your palate.