How do you like my fancy placemat? There’s a cool idea from A FOOD OBSESSION for your next casual dinner party, using food magazines to dress up the table. I like! I chose that issue to highlight the BEST MEAL OF THE YEAR line on the cover, plus the Bon Appetit is always an invite to enjoy what you are about to eat. How French! How delicious! Delicious like the CHEESEBURGER. September 18 is considered by those who make up such things as NATIONAL CHEESEBURGER DAY. This is not National Hamburger Day, that gets celebrated at another time so stick to the cheese on the burger for now! Not going drag this post out, it’s simple. Here’s my way of making a cheeseburger…
the meat—-the fattier the tastier and the juicier, especially if you don’t like it blood rare. The most accessible grind of beef for a burger that I use is GROUND CHUCK, also defined as a mix of 80% lean and 20% fat. This not only tastes wonderful it cooks wonderfully too. The higher the lean to fat ratio you really need to cook those blends quite rare as longer cooking dries the meat out. It’s all muscle and no fat. I know, sounds gross, but that’s the dealio. The meat should be just meat. Anything else to me (meaning adding ingredients and flavors to the meat itself) turns them into seasoned meatloaf patties. I want a beefy burger so I leave the seasoning, and that includes salt and pepper out of the mix.
seasoning—Kosher Salt and fresh ground black pepper…used to finish the burger right before serving and placing on a bun or the plate.
heat source–varied…a salt seasoned hot cast iron skillet, a high broiler, a charcoal fire, a gas grill..all good. My preferences are the iron skillet and the charcoal fire. But they are all good and should be high because that crust is created when the surface of the burger hits the heat.
size—up to you, completely. I don’t like something that’s too big for my mouth so 1/4 lb of meat is my comfort zone.
type of cheese—again up to you. Mozzarella is not a favorite, I know, you must be shocked at that since I am a huge fan of that cheese but on a burger I think it’s a bad choice. American cheese, Cheddar Cheese, Colby, Brick, Muenster, Swiss, Provolone all melt nicely and complement the burger. American is my number one just because of that whole comfort level thing..most every cheeseburger of my youth was coated in melted American cheese. I love it on a burger.
roll—(bun), partial to Potato Rolls, will entertain a Brioche roll, least of all is a Kaiser Roll but this is really up to your taste because I can’t think of a reason why telling you a Potato roll is better, only that I like it better. You are on your own here.
Optimum “done” factor…Black and Blue, Rare, Medium Rare, Medium, Medium Well, Welldone, Burnt. I like Rare-Medium Rare..my wife likes burnt so again, you make the call.
ADD-ONS—your call, i’m no help to you here other than I like ketchup, look at that picture..lots of it and it must be Heinz 57. Onions I like raw, i’ll entertain grilled, there’s bacon, mayo, lettuce, tomato, avocado, relish, mustard, BBQ sauce, SteakSauce, Hot Sauce, Thousand Island, the list is endless. Eat it the way you want.
Time to wrap up here, make a cheeseburger at home using some or all of my preferences and let me know what you’ve come up with. Cheeseburgers for everyone!!!
A FOOD OBSESSION 
Love the idea….very clever Peter! Great post as usual!