Recipe: Onion Entangled Griddle Burgers

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Every Thursday on the Good Food Blog we share a recipe from our archives.

John T. Edge, Director of the at the University of Mississippi, whetted our appetite for hamburgers and French fries. His book, Hamburgers and Fries: An American Story, has a chapter “Black Book of Burgers” which includes the regional burgers he loves best.   He first shared this recipe for Onion Entangled Griddle Burgers on July 2, 2005.

Keep reading further for the full recipe…

Onion Entangled Griddle Burgers

Serves 6

  • 1 pound ground beef chuck (beef shoulder)
  • 2 onions, shaved (use a mandolin or a very sharp knife to make the thinnest possible slices)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 6 slices American cheese
  • 6 buns
  • Mustard
  1. Heat a heavy, well-oiled skillet over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Loosely gather a handful of meat and slip it into the pan. Repeat a total of 6 times, working in batches as needed. The burgers should be free-form lumps.
  2. With the side of a spatula, push the burgers into a semblance of a round. After about a minute, pile on the onions, add half the salt, and then, with as much force as you can manage, smash the onions into the meat. Again, work the sides of the patties into a round. Cook another minute and then flip. Smash the burgers again, hard.
  3. Drain some of the grease that collects. Sprinkle on the remaining salt. Arrange the cheese on top and cook until the cheese melts and you smell the onions starting to burn.
  4. Serve on mustard-garnished buns.