Smashed Cheeseburgers
Description
You need a large stainless steel or cast iron skillet, ground chuck, salt and pepper, cheese!, and a stiff metal spatula for one of the greatest meals of all time – you think I’m kidding?? There are recipes listed absolutely everywhere, but the version from Serious Eats had us taking the chance on something that wasn’t Brock’s famous charcoal burger. Messy to make (cook them on an outdoor barbecue burner!), heaven in a bun (with all of the condiments), but maybe even tastier in a cheeseburger salad, just like we crave from Cheeseburgers In Paradise – trust! Enjoy!
Ingredients
~100 g per burger patty of ground chuck (or ground beef with at least 20% fat), we used 2 of these per ‘burger’ – roll each patty into a ball and prep burger balls for as many burgers as you’d like to make
a bowl of thinly sliced onions – optional
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper for cooking
slices of good strong cheese
large hamburger buns
dill pickle slices, burger sauce, tomatoes, ketchup, mustard, relish, onion – any and all trimmings for a perfect burger – all of which can make up a perfect cheeseburger salad (just add lettuce)
Instructions
Heat up your skillet of choice over high heat for a couple of minutes. Place balls of beef in the pan, leaving ample room between and smash each down with a stiff metal spatula – 2 spatulas work best to keep the pressure on and keep them flat. If you’re using the onions (highly recommended), place a handful on top of each ball before you smash them. Not only will the onions char to crispy perfection, but they’ll actually assist with unsticking the burger patties when you need to flip them.
Season generously with salt and pepper and leave the patties to cook for 45 seconds to a minute until the pinkness is almost gone. Use a metal scrapper to carefully scrape up each patty and flip them over, quickly add a slice of cheese and then continue to cook for another minute or 2 until each are nicely browned with very crispy edges (with very melty cheese). We put 2 slices of cheese on one flipped patty and flipped the second patty on top after it had finished cooking and crisped up.
Remove from the pan and immediately put together your burger or salad goodness!
