OKLAHOMA FRIED ONION BURGERS

OKLAHOMA FRIED ONION BURGERS
1 large onion, sliced 1/8-inch thick *
1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon oil
Salt and pepper

Put the sliced onion in a bowl and toss with a teaspoon of salt. Let them drain in a colander for 30 minutes then squeeze out as much of the moisture as you can by putting them in a towel. Sprinkle them with pepper, to taste. Make four piles of onion slices on a baking sheet.

Season the ground beef well with salt and pepper. Shape in four large balls but don't compact them too much. Place each meat ball on top of a pile of onion and mash down with your hand to form a thin patty and embed the onions in the meat. Meanwhile, heat the butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

Carefully pick up each patty, and the onions under it, with a large spatula and set them in the skillet. Cook 7-8 minutes. Flip the patties over very carefully and cook on medium-high for two more minutes on the other side. Serve with American cheese, if desired (not included in the counts).

Makes 4 servings

* I used about 1 1/2 ounces of onion slices per burger and the counts are based on that amount.

Per Serving: 237 Calories; 16g Fat; 19g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; .5g Dietary Fiber; 2.5g Net Carbs

I saw them make these on the Cook's Country TV show on PBS and thought they looked wonderful. I don't know how long it will be available to watch but they've got the video from that episode of the show HERE They are very good, and my husband raved about them (he had his on a bun), but I had a horrible mess on the stove to clean up afterward. The frying pan was a mess too with a thick black crust on the bottom. I'm not sure if I'll bother to make them again because of that.

The recipe called for only 12 ounces of ground beef for four burgers which I thought was pretty silly. At least a quarter pound burger is enough to make a decent meal. Anything less than that isn't worth the bother unless you're serving something else along with it. Because my burgers were bigger, I could only fit two of them in my skillet at a time. I had hoped that the onions would get more evenly browned than they did. I had a hard time keeping some of them from getting black before the rest of them were even slightly browned. However, the overall flavor was very nice.

I just watched the video online and I see that they used a nonstick skillet. I'd forgotten that they said to do that. I just assumed that a nonstick pan would keep them from browning well enough but I would have had a lot less of a mess doing it that way. I might also have been able to cook all four at once in my 12-inch nonstick skillet. My only un-nonstick skillet is only 10 inches in diameter. Click the photo to see a close-up.

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