Make your subsequent cookout a smashing success. Smashburgers pre-date cheeseburgers and have been classically topped with grilled onions. This recipe mixes the most effective of each worlds.
Cooking spray
1 medium white onion, halved after which thinly sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 forged iron flat-top griddle (see Notes)
1 stick unsalted butter
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon coarse floor black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
6 slices American cheese (see Notes)
6 brioche buns
Particular gear
Parchment paper, lower to a dimension to cowl your burger-cooking floor
Meat press, a clear brick or a heavy flat ceramic plate (see Notes)
Directions: Enable floor chuck to take a seat at room temperature for 1 hour. Spray a 1/3 cup measuring cup with cooking spray, fill it with floor beef (don’t pack it too tightly) after which form the meat right into a ball. It is best to have sufficient meat to make 12 balls. Set them on a plate at room temperature when you make the onions.
On the stovetop, warmth a medium-size skillet set over medium-low warmth and add the olive oil. Add the onions and permit them to slowly caramelize, stirring often. (The warmth must be pretty low, and it’s simpler to regulate on the range than on the grill.) If the onions begin to burn, add a tablespoon or 2 of water. It would take about 45 minutes to get them caramelized. When they’re achieved, take the pan off the warmth and place the onions in a small bowl.
Whereas the onions prepare dinner, arrange your grill with an oblique setup with all the coals occupying one half of the grill and nothing on the opposite. For fuel grills, mild the burners simply on one facet. As soon as coals are ignited and the grill is burning at excessive warmth, place the griddle over the center of the dividing line between the cold and hot zones of the grill, shut the lid and permit the pan to warmth for 10-Quarter-hour.
In a small bowl, mix salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Take away the lid from the grill and butter the griddle liberally. It ought to instantly start to sizzle.
Place 6 meatballs at a time on the griddle (or no matter you’ve got room for relying on what you’re utilizing), permitting them loads of house to develop throughout the smashing course of. Cook dinner the meatballs, not stirring not flipping, for 1 minute with the lid open.
Then cowl the cooking floor and the meatballs with parchment paper. Firmly and rapidly press down every meatball with the meat press till you are feeling like you’ll be able to’t press down anymore. Take away the press and paper and season every patty with the salt, pepper and garlic combine. Cook dinner for 3 minutes with lid open, flip and season the opposite facet of the meat Cook dinner for 3 extra minutes, then prime every patty with a slice of cheese. Cook dinner till cheese is absolutely melted, about one other minute. Switch the patties from the griddle onto a plate or pan and canopy them.
Butter the griddle once more and repeat the cooking course of for the remaining 6 meatballs. Switch them to the plat when achieved.
Place the brioche buns cut-side down and toast on the griddle for 30 seconds to 1 minute, relying on how toasted you need the buns.
Assemble your smashburgers by stacking two tacky patties per bun and topping with the caramelized onions or no matter different condiments you favor.
Notes: You too can use a thick, heavy-gauge, all-aluminum sheet pan (not your common nonstick baking sheet) or a cast-iron skillet.
Nothing says traditional Americana greater than gooey, evenly melting American cheese, however you need to use any sliced cheese.
You need to use something heavy that may smash the patty flat can work similar to a brick, a flat steel lid or perhaps a can of greens.
Makes 6 burgers
Chuck Blount, Categorical-Information Style author
