Smashed hamburger, onion and cheese, homemade buns


American cooks tend to be opinionated about hamburgers with arch views covering every aspect of burgerology. All agree to pack the meat loosely, avoid overworking, do not smash the meat on the grill because doing so releases moisture onto the grill where it burns off and makes the meat dry and tough. This hamburger violates that primary rule.

Americans are also hung up on lean ground beef. This violates that rule too. 

This fast apparently careless technique follows some hamburger shack slider-type hamburgers that start out as seasoned meatballs and are smashed flat as can be with a spatula right there on the grill in front of you. Doing this grills the meat quickly all the way through and tends to crisp the edges that thin out to crisped meat-lace.

Although seaside shacks, White Castle and such, their meat is often carefully chosen, re-ground with proprietary mix of seasoning. It is very fast, sometimes uses lard and fatter trimmings of meat, but it is not careless. Once flattened on the grill it is not messed with, not touched, just flipped and removed. Cast-iron grills at these places impart their own flavor built over decades.







Our model today is petite Patty Buttonflat. She agreed to do a few turns.



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