"The Garbage Plate – A Rochester, NY Tradition"

By RoketJSquerl

Makes 4 full plates, and serves 4 hungry people

This recipe is for cheeseburger plates; if you want to try any of Nick’s other protein options swap out the meat accordingly and skip the cheese.

Ingredients

• Special Sauce Ingredients:
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 1/2 cup water, plus more as needed
• 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
• 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
• Plate Ingredients:
• 8 – hand-formed beef patties, from 2 lbs ground beef
• 8 – slices of white american cheese
• 2 bags of frozen, good quality french fries, baked nice and crisp to bag directions
• 1/2 macaroni salad recipe (or 1 lbs. of purchased mac salad)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• yellow mustard
• ketchup (not traditional, optional)
• hot sauce (not traditional, optional)
• 1 loaf of fresh Italian bread, 2 slices per person

Details

Adapted from heatherhomemade.com

Preparation

Step 1

For the sauce, in large skillet, sweat chopped onion and garlic in oil until soft, but not brown. Add meat, stirring and smashing/breaking up meat constantly with fork to keep its texture fine. Once the meat browns, add water and tomato paste. Simmer covered, 10 minutes. Add sugar and spices. Simmer 30 minutes, adding water as necessary, to keep the sauce moist but not soupy. This can be made a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator if desired.

For the plates, you will want to start baking the fries first, as those take longer than the burgers. While the fires are baking, form 1/4 pound portions of beef into patties, 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch thick and 5-6 inches in diameter. Refrigerate until ready to cook. When fries are close to being done, take beef patties straight out of the fridge and sear on a hot greased skillet or seasoned griddle. Flip, and when almost cooked through, melt one slice of cheese on each burger (you will probably need to cook these in two batches).

To build the plate, fill half of plate with a nice handful of fries and about 1 cup of macaroni salad. Place 2 beef patties on top of plate, down the fry/mac salad divide. Squeeze mustard over plate to desired amount and sprinkle with diced onions. Ladle special sauce over burgers to cover. Sever bread on the side if using.

Enjoy sparingly!