Enjoy!

1 pound of ground beef, preferably 15-20% fat
2 teaspoons powdered “au jus”, available in a paper packet
1 small white onion, diced very small
3 tablespoons dried onion
1/2 cup beef broth
vegetable oil
salt & pepper
yellow mustard
dill pickle, sliced very thinly by hand
American cheese, optional
soft dinner rolls. I used Sara Lee brand.

Now to make the square burgers. In a large mixing bowl blend by hand the ground beef and the au jus powder. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or wax paper. Spread ground beef evenly out on the paper and cover with another layer of paper. Using a rolling pin flatten the meat until you get a large meat slab about 1/4 inch thick all over. With a spatula straighten out the edges until you have a large meat rectangle. Remove top paper and with a long, sharp knife score a grid to create squares of meat approximately 2 1/2 to 3 inches on each side. I ended up with 12 square patties. To create the holes I used a chopstick and wiggled it around five times in each burger. Replace the top sheet of paper and freeze the patties for a couple of hours.

When your patties are frozen solid, remove the tray from the freezer and break the meat sheet by hand along the score lines into individual patties. You can let them defrost if you’d like or cook them frozen. It’s fine either way.

When you’re ready to cook put fresh and dried onions in a bowl and soak in the beef broth.

Now set up a steamer to warm your rolls. Use a pot filled with an inch of water lined with a steamer basket with the center pole removed. Line steamer basket with aluminum foil. Bring water to a boil and then reduce to a very low simmer. Split rolls in half and put them in the foil-lined steamer. Cover pot with a lid and keep warm while you cook the patties.

Heat a flat griddle or a very large saute pan. Add a generous tablespoon of oil to the surface and spread around evenly with a spatula. Cook burgers three at a time (more or less depending on the area of your cooking surface) by first placing a small pile of wet onions for each patty into the hot oil. Each pile of onions will be about one full tablespoon of onions. Flatten the onion pile and immediately place a burger patty onto each pile. The onions will cook and steam the burger from underneath. Season the top of each patty liberally with salt and pepper. Cook for about two minutes.

Now flip the burgers over and, using your spatula, arrange cooked onions on the top-side of the patties. If you want to top with American cheese now is the time. Cook for one minute more.

Take buns out of the steamer and add mustard to the top side and bottom side of the roll. Add two thin slices of pickle to the top portion. Add your burger patties and close.

Source: Spencer Gray