Excerpts from theDailyHerald.com:

Waukegan Firefighter Ted Casper has perfected making an unforgettable burger. Named the Lumberjack, the burger comes packed with pulled pork, bacon, pepper jack cheese and topped with a fried egg.

One day, word spread through the firehouse about a national burger competition, the first Bud & Burgers Championship, organized by Budweiser. His fellow firefighters urged [him to] enter his burger. Thanks to the urging of his friends, Ted will bring his Lumberjack to the competition finale July 11 in St. Louis where the Bud & Burgers Champion will be crowned.

To make it to the finale, Ted recently competed head-to-head against another burger maker at the Beale Street Music Festival in Nashville, one of 10 semifinal competitions across the country to find the best amateur burger chef.

The winner of the Bud & Burgers Championship will win $100,000 to follow their culinary pursuits. In addition, the winner will be invited to compete in a new cooking competition series, working title “United States of Burgers,” which will premiere on the Esquire Network.

Ted said he has made various bacon cheeseburgers, mixing beef with pork sausage and various spices while feeding fellow  firefighters. But when the firehouse had leftover pulled pork in the kitchen, it inspired him to add the pork to a burger he was planning to prepare one night. The rest of the ingredients added on just evolved, he said, as he experimented with what would work. And while Ted never planned to name the colossal burger, a conversation with a friend changed that.

“I described the sandwich, and he said ‘you eat like lumberjacks,'” Ted said. “I told him, ‘thanks Ryan, you just named the sandwich.'”

While he will not let himself get too confident about winning, he has thought about what he would do with the winnings, including paying bills and putting more money toward his kids’ future. It also may let him follow his dream after the firehouse to open his own corner diner.

thanks Dan