Dad’s Busy Burgers (Blonde Sloppy Joes)
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes | Serves: 4
Here’s an unassuming recipe for my website. Consider it more of a childhood memory. My dad could grill steaks and make scrambled eggs. That was the extent of his cooking abilities. But, I do remember, quite vividly, when he did cook. Maybe because it was a funny occasion. He taught me how to make a scrambled egg sandwich, which I discovered I still enjoy with ketchup. (Yeah, I was an oddball growing up.) He taught me to love oysters. I still order fried oysters every trip to the coast.
In the fall and winter months, when it’s too cold to grill outside, these burgers make a great stand-in.
The recipe that follows is an adaptation of what he called “Busy Burgers.” My memories are a greasy version; I really doubt he drained the rendered beef fat. I have played around with his beyond simplistic recipe, keeping true to the base flavors, and have made what I would describe as a beefy, non-tomato, blonde sloppy joe. Interest piqued?
What’s cool, is that you can expound on this recipe and create other flavors. Place a layer of caramelized onions on top of the beef mixture, and add a slice of Havarti or baby Swiss cheese to melt. Add curry or cajun spices to give a totally different taste. The recipe also doubles very easily for a crowd.
His recipe used a can of French Onion Soup, but I didn’t want to put that in my recipe. I wanted something that tasted rich and hearty, not something from a can. Caramelizing the onions myself became more like a mini-version of true French Onion Soup for the base of this recipe. I’ll admit, I did purchase a can of the red and white label, French Onion Soup in order to get the flavors as close as I could remember. I needed a taste. I just wasn’t going to dump the contents into my homemade version.
Go heavy on the freshly-cracked black pepper. It really makes a difference.
Growing up, we ate these on regular hamburger buns. Cute, little slider buns were not invented yet for sale to the public (yes, I’m that old), so I definitely had to serve my newer version on them. It’s just a fun aspect to this recipe.
Dad's Busy Burgers (Blonde Sloppy Joes)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 medium yellow onion, small-dice
- 1 teaspoon garlic, finely minced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup flavorful, low sodium beef stock, more stock if you like it "saucy"
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- Kosher salt, to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper, see Notes
Instructions
- In a large skillet, crumble and brown the ground beef, rendering all the fat, until no more pink is seen. Drain well. Set aside.
- Wipe the skillet. Over medium heat, add the butter and allow it to melt. Add the onions. Sauté until the onions are somewhat caramelized. (You can fully caramelize the onions if you prefer.) This can take anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes, all depending on your heat source and how much caramelization you put into the onions.
- Add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds.
- Add the drained beef back into the skillet and stir. Sprinkle the flour, a pinch of salt (or more to taste), and pepper over the entire beef mixture. Stir for about 2 minutes, or until the flour is blended throughout and no lumps of flour are seen. This will also cook out the raw flour taste.
- Add the stock and Worcestershire, stir. Bring to a gentle simmer and stir until the beef mixture thickens.
- Carefully taste (the mixture is hot) for salt and pepper and add as needed. Keep warm over low heat.
- This next step is optional…Separate the buns, laying them cut-side up on a baking sheet. Evenly divide the butter between the buns, smearing a thin layer on each cut side. Put the oven on broil and place the buns under the broiler just long enough to lightly toast the buns. Alternatively, you can butter the cut sides and place them face down in a skillet over medium-high heat until lightly browned and toasty.
- Serve the warm beef mixture immediately on buns. Add cheese slices if you prefer.
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