Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Hamburger Sliders

White Castle Slider
What exactly is a slider? Basically, it's a mini hamburger that can usually be eating in one or two bites. Sliders became quite popular after White Castle started serving them back in 1923! And now, they are even more popular with stoners around the world after the movie, Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. I actually prefer these type of mini-burgers because I feel like I'm not overeating and I don't particularly like lettuce and tomato on my burgers. Anyhoo, happy 4th of July!

INGREDIENTS (makes 12 sliders)

  • 12 dinner rolls (Parker House shape, 2 1/2 inches)
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • About 1 1/2 cup water, divided
  • 3/4 cup diced white onions
  • 1 beef bouillon cube
  • 1/2 to 1 cup water
  • 12 round pickle slices
  • American cheese, optional
DIRECTIONS

Place ground beef, salt and 1/2 cup of the water in a food process, and process for a few seconds to ensure that water and salt are blended through the beef.

Place plastic wrap on the counter. Place hamburger in the middle, then place another pieces of plastic wrap on top of the meat. Roll the hamburger out to 1/4-inch thick. Remove plastic wrap; cut meat into 3-inch squares. Perforate each piece five times with a plastic straw (this forms the steam holes). Cover hamburger squares with plastic wrap. Freeze until partially frozen, but no frozen solid.

Meanwhile, place onions, beef bouillon and 1/2 cup water in a frying pan. Sauté over medium-low heat, stirring until the onions are translucent, adding more water as needed. Remove from heat until ready to cook hamburger patties.

To prepare patties, heat frying pan with the onions over medium-low heat; add water to onions just until the bottom of the frying pan is covered. Place patties in pan; cover with lid. It will only take a short time for the patties to cook on one side. Flip, place a bun bottom on top of the patty and cook on the other side for a very short time. The patties should be juicy and your buns steamy!

Add a pickle, a few of the sautéed onions then cover hamburgers and serve immediately. YUMMERS!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm originally from Chicago, and if these don't taste like White Castle, you haven't been there! I, of course, made some changes in the cooking...I used rehydrated onions in the meat mixture, and cooked the patties on a griddle. The onion/water/bouillon mix was omitted. I used my own hamburger bun recipe as well. Really good!!