Date I made this recipe:
September 18, 2017 – National Cheeseburger Day
Hamburgers Plain and
Fancy by Ceil Dyer
Published by Grosset & Dunlap
© 1968
Purchased at Bonnie
Slotnick Cookbooks, NYC
Recipe: Hamburger (p. 56) stuffed with Onion Cheese
Filling (p. 58)
People, I was all giddy with excitement for National
Cheeseburger Day, not only because I love cheeseburgers, but I had just
purchased this cookbook – Hamburgers
Plain and Fancy – from Bonnie
Slotnick Cookbooks in NY and thought myself all set and ready to go for The.Big.Day.
Turns out I was not all set and ready to go for the Big
Day. Why?
Apparently, cheeseburgers are the red-haired stepchild of
the burger world and therefore were not included in this 86-page book. Not one single recipe. I checked several times under
"cheese" and under "cheeseburger" and nothing. I was gobsmacked.
There were though, a few recipes for cheese-filled burgers
and some for burgers topped with several ingredients including cheese slices.
Would these do? I needed to do some
research and so to the internet I went.
It took me two seconds to find a "cheeseburger"
definition. Per Wiki, "A
cheeseburger is a hamburger topped with cheese.
Traditionally, the slice of cheese is placed on top of the meat patty,
but the burger can include many variations in structure, ingredients,
and composition."
In the world of cooking, this explanation was sufficient for
me to go ahead and explore other cheeseburger options. That said, my choices
were still limited. Let's chat about that
by looking first at the Table of Contents where our choices were:
- Finger Burgers
- Fork Burgers
- Filled Burgers
Those were the burger
options. There's a section called Go Withs i.e. side dishes, and then a
final chapter of Menus and Meals.
That concludes our look at the table of contents.
The author offers no explanation for "Finger Burgers," but I'm going to
go out on a limb and suggest to you that he meant hamburgers you can pick up
and eat although technically and physically, that would make it a handburger
hamburger instead of a "Finger Burger." Sorry, I could not resist saying that.
Options in the "Fork Burger" category ranged from
a "Borscht Burger" – p. 15, to a "Suzy Wong Burger" – p. 19
(There is just something "wrong" about the "Wong" burger!),
to a "Gandhi Burger" (cabbage and chutney) – p. 36 to a "Healthy
Ham-Burgers" – p. 25
This last one amuses.
Ingredients are mushrooms and spinach leaves which are good and healthy,
mixed pickles which are interesting and then ground beef plus a small jar of Smithfield ham spread
which are not necessarily healthy. This
recipe's a head-scratcher for sure.
In the "Fork Burgers" category, we have
[Hamburger] "Au Poivre" (peppercorns, wine, cognac) – p. 46, a
"Sicilian Joe," – p. 52, which is basically a Sloppy Joe recipe with
anchovies, and "Cook at the Table Party Skillet Burgers" – p. 54-55
Jumping ahead, the "Go Withs" are all side dishes,
many of which sounded great (potatoes, beans, etc.) but we are celebrating
National Cheeseburger Day, not National "Go With" Day so there it is.
This brings us back to the "Filled Burger"
category from which I selected my recipe.
There were a grand total of 15 recipes for filled burgers
and what the author called "look under" burgers which are burgers
with various toppings instead of filling. Let's examine them:
- Mushroom Filling – mushrooms, butter and cream but no cheese
- Creole Filling – onion, celery, green pepper but no cheese
- Roquefort Filling – Roquefort cheese and heavy cream
- Tomato Olive Filling – green olives and tomatoes but no cheese
- Bacon Filling - bacon, sweet pickles, mustard and mayo but no cheese
- Almond Filling – almonds, cream cheese and cream. Almonds? I can't even imagine that. Also, cream cheese is not "cheese" cheese as contemplated by the National Cheeseburger people.
- Onion
Cheese Filling – sharp cheese, chopped onion, mayo and
- Walnut Filling – walnuts, horseradish, mayo but no cheese. Again – walnuts?
- Feta Cheese Filling – feta cheese, black olives, chives, cream. This one was tempting but we passed on it.
- Burgers "Look Under" – 1 – cream, avocado, pimento, topped with Cheddar cheese
- Burgers "Look Under" – 2 – liverwurst, corn relish, chili sauce and mild American cheese
- Burgers "Look Under" – 3 – tomatoes, garlic, thyme, other seasonings, Mozzarella cheese
- Burgers "Look Under" – 4 – raisins, whiskey, other stuff, Gruyere cheese. Raisins? In a burger? Hahahahaha. (By the way, this is more like a patty melt than a burger.)
- Burgers "Look Under" – 5 – chopped peanuts, Monterey Jack cheese
Hmm, those are some kind of burger ingredients, am I right? Shudder.
Now given our theme – cheeseburgers –you would think that I
would go with either "Look Under Burgers 1 or 3, as both called for cheese
on top, but I just wasn't feeling them so I went with a cheese-stuffed burger
instead. Well, what can I say except
it's fun to go rogue!
Although this was one of the easiest recipes I've ever
assembled, I had to deduct points from my own efforts for appearance as I did
not properly seal the burgers and some of the filling oozed out. In fact, I commented to Andy that this would
likely have gotten me chopped on Chopped! The taste was great though, and that's what
counts.
A slight change I made to the recipe was to comply with
Andy's request to sauté the onions first.
He didn't want to taste a bunch of raw onion and neither did I.
This then, concludes my report "What I made on National
Cheeseburger Day." Technically, it
wasn't a cheeseburger as we know it, but it was a burger and cheese was
involved so there you go. Enjoy!
Hamburger stuffed with
Onion Cheese Filling – serves 8
For the hamburger
2 pounds ground beef
1 ½ teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons heavy cream
For the filling
2 tablespoons crumbled sharp cheese
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
2-3 drops Tabasco
sauce
To make the hamburger patties, mix meat with salt and
cream. Shape into sixteen patties half
as thick as usual. Combine the filling
ingredients until well-blended. Put two patties together with filling between,
making eight burgers. Press edges
together. (Ann's Note: I guess I did not
press mine hard enough before the cheese oozed out. Not that I'm complaining, but I wish I would
have nailed it. Also, make sure your
cheese crumbles are pretty tiny as this will help keep the cheese inside the
burger.) Broil or pan fry as usual.
Split rolls and heat in the oven. Place a patty on roll bottom and cover with
top half of the roll.
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