AU CHEVAL BURGER

By RoketJSquerl

Inspired by the single cheeseburger at Au Cheval in Chicago.

This burger is cooked to medium. Adjust your cooking times as necessary if you'd prefer a rare or well done burger.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs beef, with good marbling, at least 85/15 fat content (I used a rib eye steak, but you could go for a cheaper cut like chuck as well), cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup dijon mustard
• 4 burger buns
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tsp water
• salt and pepper to taste
• 8 slices processed cheddar cheese, either store bought (e.g. Kraft cheddar singles) or homemade
• 1 whole dill pickle, sliced thin (I used McClure's garlic dill)
• 1/4 cup very finely diced red onion

Details

Servings 4
Adapted from oandoeats.com

Preparation

Step 1

Grind your beef in a meat grinder according to manufacturer instructions. DO NOT salt at this point. Form ground beef into eight equal 4 oz patties, about 1/4 inch (or even a little less) thick. Transfer each patty onto a piece of parchment paper and place in fridge until ready to grill.

Mix mayonnaise and dijon mustard in a small bowl and set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Separate the tops and bottoms of the burger buns and place, flat side down, on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Mix egg yolk and water. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash onto each piece of bun, both tops and bottoms. Bake on the top rack of your oven for 6 to 8 minutes until the buns have formed a deep golden-brown and shiny coat.

Heat up a cast iron griddle or wide-bottomed cast iron pan on medium high. Salt one side of the beef patties and place on griddle, salt side down. Salt and pepper the other side. Cook for 2 minutes, until the edges start turning light brown. Flip the patties and cook for 1 minute. Place cheese on each patty and cook for 1 more minute for a total of 4 minutes cooking time. Immediately remove from heat.

To assemble: place two burger/cheese patties, stacked on top of each other, on the bottom hamburger bun. Top with a few slices of pickle and some red onion. Smear some dijonnaise on the underside of the top bun and gently place on burger to finish.