My first job involved cooking for large corporate picnics. Nothing fancy, just burgers, chicken, and grilled corn. It’s where I learned how to cook. The food was nothing special, but there was plenty of it, and one of the biggest benefits was being able to cook your own meal for break. The same pre-made patty with ketchup, mustard, onion, and relish got old fairly quickly, so we used to try and add some variety to our personal burgers. We’d chop a load of onions, wrap them up in foil packets with some seasoning and liquid, and thrust them right down into the coals of these huge (50 lb of coal on each side) cast iron grills. After awhile we’d take them out, carefully open the packet, and throw the onions on top of a toasted bun along with the burger and the oniony-sweet Sysco barbecue sauce. For a bunch of high school kids earning money on the weekend, this was high cuisine.

As for the name, if I remember correctly it originally came from whatever promotional Whopper Burger King was hawking at the time. It had onion rings, cheese, and a sauce that was likely from the same vat. Memory fails me, but if it’s not the Rodeo Burger, then it was called the Western Burger, or the Wyoming Whopper, or something focus group-y like that.

Years later, I still enjoy a tangy-sweet sauce with a juicy burger and onions. This is my 2010 version of the burger that first sparked my interest in cooking. It uses the onion ring recipe from earlier in the week, as well as delicious caramelized onions cooked down in Guinness. Sometimes I’ll go upscale use a homemade barbecue sauce. But most of the time, I’ll use a thick, sweet bottled factory sauce for old time’s sake.

The Setup

Burgers
- 1 lb ground beef (home-ground blend or store-ground chuck)
- 4 buns
- Shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
- Butter, at room temp.
- Olive oil
- Barbecue sauce

Onion Rings
- Get the recipe here

Extra-Special Secret Guinness Onion Jam
- 2 white onions, chopped
- Olive oil
- Guinness

Cooking

1. Put the chopped onions in a pan with about a tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. Let cook until the onions sharply sizzle and are about to begin to burn. When that happens, pour 2 tbsp Guinness (or water, if you don’t have extra stout on hand) and stir the onions, removing any fond from the bottom of the pan. Continue until onions are soft and sweet, and have a pliable texture to your liking. Set them aside. You can do this up to day in advance, or right before use – doesn’t make a ton of difference.

2. Form the ground beef gently into patties on a plastic cutting board, with each patty weighing about 4oz.

3. Place the cutting board with the patties in the fridge to firm up for at least 30 min while you get the rest of the meal ready – onion ring duties, homemade condiments, Norwegian death metal blood rites, whatever you want to add to your burger.

4. Heat a skillet to medium-high and coat with a thin layer of oil. Lift burger patties from board to skillet with a spatula and cook 2 minutes. While patties are cooking, season with salt and pepper. Flip burgers and top with cooked-down onions and cheese. Top with a lid (to help melt the cheese) and cook an additional minute and a half. Remove to a plate and tent with foil to rest for 3-4 minutes.

5. While the burgers rest, butter both halves of the burger buns and toast in a skillet over medium for 1 minute her side, until golden brown. Set aside.

6. Place a burger on each toasted bun. Top with two of the smaller onion rings and barbecue sauce. Serve with extra onion rings on the side.