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Dairy State Buttered Burgers

Many cooks of Wisconsin and Minnesota consider it patriotic to add extra butter to a dish whenever possible. At drive-ins in these two states, butter is not considered merely a hamburger condiment but an integral component. After studying a slew of burger flippers at work in Milwaukee, we devised the following recipe:

Recipe information

  • Yield

    Makes 6 burgers

Ingredients

1

pound ground chuck

6

hamburger buns, split

3

tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus 3 tablespoons additional if using onion

2

/3 cup chopped onion (optional)

Accompaniments:

tomato slices

shredded lettuce

condiments such as ketchup and mustard

Need to make a substitution?

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Fashion beef into 6 patties no more than 1/4 inch thick and season each patty with salt.

    Step 2

    Spread bottom half of each bun with 1/2 tablespoon softened butter.

    Step 3

    On a griddle or in a large heavy skillet fry onions in additional 3 tablespoons butter over moderately high heat, stirring, until barely softened, and push to side of griddle or skillet. Fry burgers, flipping once, about 2 minutes on each side for well-done.

    Step 4

    Transfer burgers to buttered bun bottoms while still hot (to melt butter) and top with onion, tomato, and lettuce. Spread condiments on bun tops.

    Step 5

    Serve burgers with plenty of napkins.