Wisconsin-Style Butter Burgers
Burgers are the English language of food—Americans all speak it, but with different accents. You’ll get chili-cheese burgers in the Carolinas, teriyaki burgers in Hawaii, and in Wisconsin it’s—what else?—butter burgers.
Ingredients
2 ½ pounds ground chuck
Salt and pepper to taste
8 crusty hamburger buns, sliced in half
Catsup
6 tbsp. lightly chilled butter, cut into 8 pats
finely diced sweet onion (Vidalia, Walla-Walla, etc.)
"Hamburger dill slice"-style pickle rounds
Directions
Remove ground beef from refrigerator 30-45 minutes before you plan to grill.
Heat charcoal in an outdoor grill until coals are mostly gray (or heat a gas grill to medium hot).
Season meat generously with salt and pepper.
Use a light touch to hand-form 8 patties. To prevent that “puffy burger” effect, make a thumb-sized indentation in each patty—this way you won’t need to flatten the meat while it’s cooking and you’ll get a level burger with every wicked drip of flavor intact.
Grill burgers to desired doneness, 3 to 5 minutes per side.
Briefly grill the buns, then build your burgers in this order: bun bottoms, burgers, butter pats, catsup, onions, pickles, bun tops. Press down lightly and devour.
Suggestions
This recipe accompanied "The Gifts of Gathering: Food and Meaning at Family Gatherings," by Terese Allen, in our Summer 2012 issue.
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