Ina's Smashed Hamburgers with Caramelized Onions
I was anxious to try this recipe, since I have my own version of smashburgers and I wanted to compare them. I have to say, these were delicious. A little extra effort than what mine need, but the flavoring with the mustard powder added such a great kick.
Let's break it down.
PREP
Slicing an onion, mixing the meat, and grating cheese. Besides that, you're good to go. It might take about 10 minutes, total.
COOK
If you aren't used to caramelizing onions, this might be more difficult. There really isn't much to it, except that you want to allow enough time for them to cook slowly so they really caramelize and don't burn. Ina adds sugar to hers to help the process along, but that isn't necessary if you do it at a low enough heat for a long enough time. I very much appreciated the bit of red wine vinegar at the end of the caramelization process to deglaze the pan, and it also brightened up the red onion.
A trick that Ina used was placing the beef patties in the freezer for EXACTLY 15 minutes. This ensures that the inside of the burger doesn't cook too quickly before the outside of the burger gets a nice crust, since they are thinner than your usual hamburgers. This is a trick I will certainly employ for my smashburgers, going forward. After flipping them, you add the cooked onions and cheese and cover the skillet so the cheese melts in the same amount of time it takes to cook through the burger. Place them on a potato bun and you've got your meal.
REVIEW
We thought these were great. I really liked the bite of the dry mustard powder that was incorporated into the beef mixture, and they cooked very evenly in the exact time Ina stated. She does suggest using Martin's Potato Buns, but I used Vermont Bread Company Potato Buns. MISTAKE. The VBC buns aren't nearly as pillowy as the Martin's, so we will definitely be using Martin's in the future. This is such a great burger option when it's too cold to grill outside, but I'm looking forward to trying these out on the grill once the weather heats up!
