No, it's not a Hamburger.

One evening last week when picking up my daughter, my mom and I were discussing what we were making for dinner, a very typical conversation for us. I said I was going to make patty melts. She asked how I make them. I said you make hamburger patties and put it on toast. She said, "So it's a hamburger." Um, no. It's a patty melt!

Okay, so yes, you make a hamburger patty. But then (cue the fanfare), you put it on toast. Slather on lots of mayonnaise, caramalized onions, and melted cheddar (that's the melt part) and you have my almost famous patty melts!

For some reason in the early days of our marriage I never had hamburger buns in the house. I think probably because we ate a lot of hamburgers. So, in an effort to add even more hamburgers to our diets and a solution for the no-buns-in-the-house problem, I started making patty melts.

I won't post my recipe for hamburger patties because I usually just throw stuff into the ground beef and shape patties. I always put in an egg, some bread crumbs, salt and pepper and a little worcestershire. Sometimes I add mustard, salsa, garlic, powdered onion soup mix, milk or seasoned salt. Adding milk makes the texture much smoother, less coarse, which I prefer for patty melts. I don't add milk when making regular burgers. Another key to a very smooth texture is to hand mix the meat very well. The rest of the ingredients are just for flavor and can be added/omitted as you like.

For the onions, I cooked on medium in olive oil. About halfway through the cooking I added salt, pepper, and a light sprinkling of white sugar. They cooked for about 30 minutes on med/low. Make sure that you stir just often enough to avoid burning.

These onions are so yummy on the sandwiches, or eaten with a fork!

I pan fried the patties in a sprinkling of worcestershire to get a nice char on the outside.

Sandwich construction: LOTS of Mayo on both sides of warm toast. Stack cheddar, patties, onions.

If I wasnt't so hungry at the time of making these, I would have put the toast with the mayo and cheese under the

broiler to get it nice and melty. But, I couldn't wait that long.

Oh, and I would have put cheese on both sides, but this was the last of my cheddar.

Classic Patty Melt

I'd like to add that upon further explaining how I make them to my mom she turned her nose up at the mention of onions. If you don't eat onions, perhaps don't bother with the patty melt. If you also don't eat mayo, then definately don't bother. Then yes, you really would just have a hamburger on toast.