French Hamburgers

By kimvess

Thick and juicy, these burgers will have your mouth watering!

Ingredients

• BEEF PATTIES
• 3/4 cup onion, minced
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 1 1/2 pound lean ground beef
• 2 tablespoon butter, softened
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon thyme
• 1 whole egg
• DREDGING MIXTURE
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoons vegetable oil
• SAUCE
• 1/2 cup red wine, sherry, port or broth
• 2 tablespoons butter

Preparation

Step 1

Cook minced onion slowly for 10 minutes in butter, until tender, but not brown. Pour into a mixing bowl. Add the ground beef, additional butter, and seasonings to the onions and beat just until combined. Form into 4 patties, 3/4 inch thick. Cover with wax paper and chill several hours.

Just before cooking the patties, gently roll them in the flour. In a large, heavy frying pan, melt butter and oil, bring to a moderately high temperature and add patties. Sear them until they’re brown on both sides, then reduce heat until they’re done to your liking. This usually takes longer than I think, about 15 minutes.

Remove patties to a heated oven. Pour fat out of the pan and add sherry (or other wine), scraping up the pan juices, until it’s reduced to a thick syrup. Take off the heat and add the butter (allow butter to melt) and serve in a small pitcher to pour over the patties. I often poke holes in the top of each patty (with a fork) so the sauce will ooze down into the meat.

Note: the original recipe calls for red wine, white wine, vermouth or beef stock for the sauce. You can use either red wine, sherry or light port or even Madeira.