On the subject of cheeseburgers, James Beard wrote in American Cookery, "this means a piece of processed cheese atop a cooked hamburger patty and broiled just long enough to melt. It is not very good."
Instead he offered his own recipe for cheeseburgers in which one cup of cheddar, gruyere, or blue cheese was mixed with two pounds of ground meat along with Worchestershire, Tabasco, minced garlic and salt. The result was far superior to a conventional cheeseburger, in Beard's view. I started out with Beard's cheeseburger recipe, but to gild the lily, I ground my own meat.
I had three pounds of fatty USDA Prime tenderloin trimmings in my freezer left over from making churrasco. I ground the beef up with six ounces of thick bacon just to make sure I had enough fat. Then I mixed in a cup and a half of shredded cheddar and a Tex-Mex grill seasoning blend plus minced garlic and minced serranos. I formed the meat into half pound burgers. Then I halfway butterflied each patty and inserted a tablespoon of grated cheddar in the center and sealed it back up again.
The result was spectacular, if I do say so myself.
-Robb Walsh
