The good ole classic All-American Burger to me means a good ground chuck beef burger, pickles, tomato, grilled onion, mayo, mustard and ketchup on a toasted bun & topped with bacon and cheese, if you like.
Grilled All-American Burger
Saturday was a gardening day so supper had to be simple. Grilled burgers and southern style potato salad. Grilled corn on the cob would be good too, but we just had that the night before {and yeah, I know, that's a lot of starches} so I settled on the burger and tater salad and it was plenty.Oh, well, there might have been a bit of leftover banana pudding involved there too.
Since I've previously put up posts for a classic onion burger (love, love) and my pepper jack stuffed burger, I thought I'd do a post for what I consider to be a basic, all American burger.
Nothing fancy or outrageous here, just a simple, classic, ground beef patty, with a light brushing of butter, a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and dressed with mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, pickles, tomato and lettuce all on a toasted bun. Throw a little cheese on there, and you've got your classic cheeseburger. Add some bacon, and you got yourself a nice bacon cheeseburger. Ain't nothin' wrong with that!
I didn't get a photo of the buns but use the melted butter to brush the insides on all of the buns first, reserving the leftover butter. Stick them back together and back into the bag or just wrap them up in something; set aside.
Cut the onion into about 1/2-inch-thick rings, keeping the rings together.
Shape the burger patties - but take care not to over handle them. You really want to just gently press them down and shape around the edges without handling them too much. Handling ground beef will rob your burger of its tender juiciness and toughen it, so just sort of push the ground beef gently into a patty shape, about 4 inches across. Make a slight indentation in the center of each patty.
Brush the burgers and the onion slices very lightly with some of the remaining melted butter, but only on the top side. Sprinkle the burgers and the onions with salt and pepper on that same side. Reserve the rest of the butter for when you turn the burgers.
Oil the grill grates and put the burgers on the grill, indented and buttered side up, and grill for about 4 minutes. Do the onions off on the side, checking and turning those as they brown.
Brush the remaining butter and add salt and pepper to the top side of the burgers and turn them to finish cooking. Toast the buns on the top rack of the grill if you have one, if not, grill them on the grates themselves, but it'll only take seconds so keep an eye on them.
Don't press on the burgers as they cook - just resist the urge! That'll compact them and press out all those nice juices that help to keep your burger moist.
Once they're ready, to build an all-American burger, first brush both sides of the bun with a light layer of mayonnaise. Did you know that the fat contained in the mayo when spread on the bottom bun, forms a barrier that helps to keep the bun from absorbing juices from the burger and going soggy on ya?
Add a grilled burger, then ketchup and mustard.
Couple slices of pickles - I am totally digging these Wickles pickles I recently discovered - sort of a sweet and spicy, garlicy pickle - just perfect for burgers - though I have admittedly snacked on most of them right out of the jar. As a matter of fact, they would have been pretty darned good in that potato salad I'll bet... that is, had there been enough of them left for me to use.
A product of Alabama, I found them at my local Rouses market. Mmmmm.... so good, and yes. I am now hooked on them. But back to the burger... top that with a thick slice of tomato. Use dill or use sweet. Use what YOU like!
Add a chunk of lettuce - romaine is usually what we have in the house - but use iceberg, or whatever you like or have. Add the top of the bun and a side of baked beans, grilled corn and southern style potato salad, and devour. Ooops! I forgot the grilled onion!
Oh no I di'nt!!
Now that ladies and gents, is what I'm talkin' about! Heellllooooo beautiful.
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