Smashburgers pressed into rye

Name: Smashburgers pressed into rye
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 lb ground beef, 80 percent lean; 1 small onion, very thinly sliced; ½ tsp garlic powder; 4 tbsp butter, at room temperature; Worcestershire sauce, a few dashes per patty; 4 slices rye bread; 4 slices American cheese; salt, pepper

Half smashburger, half grilled cheese and better than either for refusing to pick one.

At a Glance

Time

30 min

Adjust servings

Story

American cheese is not a compromise here. It is the ingredient the dish is built around. It melts into a sauce rather than into strings because of the emulsifying salts in it, and every fancier cheese you substitute will break into oil and curds under the same heat. If it still refuses, add a teaspoon of water to the far side of the skillet and cover the pan; the steam finishes it.

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef80 percent lean
1 small onionvery thinly sliced
½ tsp garlic powder
4 tbsp butterat room temperature
Worcestershire saucea few dashes per patty
4 slices rye bread
4 slices American cheese
saltpepper

Method

This one sits deliberately between two things, and the refusal to pick is the point: patty melt flavors, smashburger crust, grilled cheese construction.

The bread is toasted in the fat the beef left behind. There is no version of this where you butter a clean pan.

Divide the beef into 4 equal balls, then smoosh each into a rough patty about three inches across. Season both sides hard with salt, pepper and the garlic powder.
Working two patties at a time, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter per batch in a cast-iron skillet over medium-high. Add the patties, pile half the sliced onion on top of them, then lay a square of parchment over and lean on it with something flat, as hard as you can. Peel the parchment away. Season the onions.
Cook until the underside is dark brown and lacy, 2 to 3 minutes, then flip. If the onions come loose, scooch them back under the meat. Shake a few dashes of Worcestershire onto each patty and give it another 45 to 60 seconds. Onto a plate, and wipe the skillet.
Butter one side of each slice of bread. Two slices go butter side down, a slice of cheese on each, then two patties, then another slice of cheese, then the remaining bread butter side up.
Back into the skillet over medium. 1 to 2 minutes a side, until the bread is golden and the cheese has gone. Eat immediately, standing.