Time: 45 minutes
Feeds: 2 people
Ingredients:
- 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced into half rounds
- 2 tbsp butter, plus more for the griddle
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Black pepper, to taste
- Garlic powder, to taste
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 4 slices rye bread
- 8 slices white American cheese
Directions: In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and olive oil together and add your onions to start caramelizing. Season with salt, pepper, and a touch of garlic powder, and continue cooking until they’re softened and starting to get some good color. When they’re just about cooked to your liking, add the beef broth to deglaze the pan and add a bit of beef flavor to your onions. Continue cooking until the liquid has reduced and remove the onions from the heat. Set aside until you’re ready to assemble the sandwiches.
Separate your ground beef until four equal sized portions and form into balls. I like to cook these smash burger style because it’s quick and makes for good ratios on the sandwiches. Typically I use my electric griddle for smash burgers when the weather isn’t nice and we can’t use our flat top outside but you’re welcome to use a pan as an alternative. Preheat your griddle to 350 degrees and add each of the balls to the surface. Use a grill press to flatten out the patties and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Let cook on the first side until there’s a nice crust and then flip them, cooking them through. Remove from the griddle and set aside.
Use a paper towel to wipe up most of the grease from the burgers and melt some butter on the surface to griddle the bread. Reduce the heat slightly to 250 so the bread doesn’t brown too quickly. Add the slices of rye bread to the griddle so that we can build these sandwiches open faced. Add two slices of white American to each slice of bread. This might seem like a lot but the American slices we get for this are really thin and the rye bread pieces are usually longer. Next add the onions followed by two patties on each sandwich. Sandwich the pieces of bread together and continue toasting on the griddled until they’re browned and crisped to your liking, allowing the cheese to melt completely in the process. Remove from the heat and enjoy!