- 18 ounces ground beef (Ask the butcher for 80 percent lean. Do not change this part, please!)
- 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons prepared white horseradish
- Juice of half a lemon
- 2 thick slices good quality Vermont or English cheddar cheese
- 2 hamburger buns, split in half (buy the best ones you can get; I like brioche buns)
- Crispy Onions (recipe follows)
- Fresh ground pepper
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced into very thin rings, 1/3- to 1/8-inch thick
- 2 cups canola oil
- Combine the ground beef with the olive oil, salt, and plenty of black pepper.
- Divide the meat into two 9-ounce patties and refrigerate until the grill is ready. (Don’t do this more than an hour in advance.)
- Combine mayonnaise, horseradish, and lemon juice in a mixing bowl and season with black pepper. (You can do this ahead of time and store it in the fridge.)
- Heat the grill to high.
- Take the hamburgers out of the refrigerator 5 to 7 minutes before you are ready to grill them.
- Place the burgers on the preheated grill and cook 1½ minutes (for rare).
- Give the burgers a quarter-turn to “mark” them, and cook 1½ more minutes.
- Flip the burgers over and cook 1½ minutes.
- Rotate a quarter-turn to “mark” and cook 1½ more minutes.
- Transfer the burgers to the grill’s top shelf or to a cooler section of the grill and cover each one with a slice of cheese.
- Turn the grill off and shut the lid.
- After 4 minutes, open the lid. The cheese will be melted and the burgers cooked rare to medium rare. Toast the buns, if desired, and place a burger on each.
- Spread plenty of the horseradish sauce on each burger; it should drip down the sides.
- Top with Crispy Onions and season with freshly ground black pepper.
- Slather more sauce on the other half of the bun and place it on top of the burger.
- Grab a cold beer or iced tea and get ready to make a mess. This is not a dainty meal.
- For the Crispy Onions:
- Place onion rings and oil in a small sauce pot. (Don’t worry if the rings break apart; it won’t ruin the final product.)
- Bring to a boil over high heat, and then reduce heat to a very low simmer. The heat releases the onion’s natural sugars, and in essence, causes them to melt.
- Turn the onions with a fork every thirty seconds or so, and cook until they turn golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Adjust the heat if needed to maintain a low simmer.
- Remove the onions from the oil and arrange in a single layer on paper towels. (At this point the onions won’t yet be crispy, but I promise you that after a few minutes, as the caramelized sugars cool and harden, the onions will become deliciously crisp.)