We at Man B Que often focus on the giant, grill-scorched burger, often covered in cheese, peppers, or heaps of raw onion. And for good reason – a perfect two-fisted burger on the grill is very nearly a religious experience for us. But it’s our job as food writers to focus on the underrated as well as the obvious favorites. And I’m feeling that we need to focus today on the diner/lunch counter style – fresh-ground griddled burgers, covered with gooey American cheese and sweet caramelized onions on a soft, squishy bun.

This is the kind of juicy, tasty burger that comes wrapped in wax paper at a neighborhood hole in the wall. In addition to a coke and a sack of fries, you’re also going to need a dozen napkins. It’ll be worth it. The burger ecosystem is bigger and better than we ever dreamed. I love eating meat.

The Setup

This recipe calls for grinding your own meat. It’s just so unbelievably good that way. There’s an attachment for your kitchen mixer that’s really easy to use, and failing that, you can grind meat in a food processor pretty easily. Failing even that, just use fresh ground from the supermarket. If you ask nicely, and refrain from throwing things, the butcher will even feed a nice chuck steak through the grinder for you. The ultimate point is to make the patties so loosely formed that they keep a nice, juicy texture – and the loosest patty you can make is with fresh ground meat. Don’t cram it into some novelty hamburger mode. Don’t slap it around in your hands for fifteen minutes. Don’t agonize trying to make a perfectly round shape. Just loosely form them together on a cutting board, and take them straight from board to skillet with a nice, thin metal spatula. Your treatment of the meat and patty ends up being a surprisingly large part of how good these are.

For Burgers

1 lb chuck steak, cut into 1″ cubes
1/2 lb shortribs, cut into 1/2″ cubes
Salt and Pepper
Dijon Mustard
American Cheese
Buns

This burger sauce makes me want to drink it out of a juicebox, but that’s just because it’s to my taste. Adjust it to your preferences while you go, and use the extra for your fries. Just make sure to drain the liquid from the relish, so you don’t water down the sauce. Also, even if you’re not a mayo person (which I’m not), don’t omit it. It really ties everything together, and even a mayo hater can enjoy the taste and texture of this sauce – the overall effect is much different than mayo’s.

For Burger Sauce
2 tbsp ketchup
4 tbsp mayo (plus 4 tsp)
4 tsp sweet pickle relish
1 tsp vingear
1 tsp sugar

Ever go to In N Out Burger and notice that the onions have the effect of onion jelly? This is how they do it. It’s really easy.

For carmelized onions
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Water

Cooking

Make the burger sauce

1. Whisk together the ketchup, mayo, relish, vinegar, and sugar. If you plan to use a squeeze bottle, throw it in the blender so the relish doesn’t clog your bottle. Set it aside.

Make the onions

1. Heat a wide skillet over medium-hi heat and add the oil. Cook the onions until they’re soft and translucent, and begin to sizzle.

2. When you hear the sizzling, add a couple of tablespoons of water. When it reduces, and the onions begin to sizzle again, add a couple more tablespoons of water. Repeat this until they’re well browned and ridiculously soft – it takes me about 4-5 times, but theoretically you can keep doing this until you’ve got a sweet, onion-y spread. Put it to the side while you make your burgers.

Form and cook the patties

1. Give your pieces of meat a good 15-20 minutes in the freezer to firm up (but not freeze solid), along with your meat grinder or food processor blade.

2. Grind your meat into a bowl. Take a four ounce portion (1/4 lb) and put it onto a cutting board, then form it lightly into a patty shape. Repeat until you’ve got a cutting board full of good-looking burger patties. Throw them in the fridge to firm up for 15 minutes or so while you preheat your oven to 400.

3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high. Throw the patties in the pan, and while they cook for 2 minutes on the first side, season the patties with salt and pepper and cover them with a good coating of Dijon. That’s the secret ingredient.

4. Throw the buns in the preheated oven on a baking sheet for 2 minutes to toast.

5. Flip the burgers and cook an additional 1 minute.

6. Add the American cheese and let it melt for 30 seconds while taking the burger buns from the oven.

7. Put the burgers on to the buns, top with the onions and sauce, and enjoy with chips and a beer.