Broiled Swiss Cheeseburgers

Here's a cute little story. One day, Steve was sick. He had a bad cold. I called him up and he apologized for not being able to come down to see me. So, I went up there. We liked that idea. I asked him if he needed anything like cough syrup. He was so moved when I offered that to him. He said no one's ever done something like that for him. By the time I'd arrived there his spirits were lifted. I remember it was late fall on a day very soon after the rains. So the sun was shining but the ground was wet. Anyway, his mood lifted so much that he wanted to make us some cheeseburgers. Neither of us had too much money so I thought that it was an excellent idea. Little things made us very happy. And they still do. The barbecue. Sigh. Wasn't working. We had to run to our local hardware store. Then we had to get the propane tank filled. Oh, I think we had to go to the hardware store twice because we got the wrong size the first time. It was fun doing all that running around. All that to buy these 'flavor savor' bars. They're like these metal bars you put on the bottom to equally distribute the heat. Once we got that all set up, we were in business!

Steve made me one of the best burgers I'd ever eaten. I don't recall what kind of cheese he used, but I'm quite certain it was Land O' Lakes yellow american. I was so pleased that I decided to give them a name. Then, *ding*, the word 'Pucks' comes to mind. Yes, it has an association to hockey pucks and when referred to a burger - it's way, way too dry, inedible. Anyway, I thought it'd be funny and ironic to name his delicious cheeseburgers that. He was hip to the idea and it stuck around for a while. (Note: He does, on occasion, severely overcook the burgers. I do, too.)

Last night I made broiled swiss cheeseburgers. I used the same kind of meat we almost always get - ground chuck from our local little market. I made them into thin'ish, wide'ish patties. I salt & peppered both sides. Then Steve reminded me that I should probably elevate them somehow so they were closer to the broiler. I flipped over a half-sheet pan. About an inch thick. And threw the burgers on a wire rack over a broiling pan. It fits in perfectly. (And it's great for baking whole chickens.) I didn't wait for the top of the burgers to get charred because, with our oven, bad things happen. (Ie: Things gets overcooked.) So I flipped them when only a touch of browing occurred. I waited for the other side to become similar in color before I put the swiss cheese on top and back it went to the broiler. I only had it on for like a minute more before the cheese melted. On the side, we had salad. Greens mixed with the usual grape tomatoes (these were very small and I liked that) & red onions. We had it with Ken's lite bleu cheese dressing.

The swiss cheeseburgers. They were damn good as per Steve. I was pretty pleased with them myself. I actually didn't cook the heck out of them. Let me tell you about the first bite. I took a big one and as I was doing it a whole bunch of oh-so-good brown liquid fell onto my cheap paper plate. (The white, uncoated kind.) It bursted with juices. Oh my goodness was my first thought. The juice leakage continued to happen until I was half-way through eating it. When Steve took his first bite, the same exact thing happened and he made happy noises after a slightly startled one. Oh, Steve had his burger with lettuce, red onion, mayo, ketchup, s&p. I had mine with red onion and get this, A-1 steak sauce. I crave the stuff every now and then though I only use it for steak. And I only have steak, real steak, once in a while. And I only use sauce occasionally for part of the steak - the rest I eat with just salt & pepper. The A-1 steak sauce and red onion combo was good. I was so used to having the thickness of ketchup that I wasn't prepared for all the sauce to get absorbed back into the bun. I had to add a little more. It was a nice departure from ketchup. I enjoyed it. Didn't love it though and I won't be craving one for a long while. The salad was just a salad last night. I couldn't care less about it after eating the delicious burger. I suppose I should've let the burgers sit for a few minutes so the juices would redistribute. I was too hungry to wait. And if you're hungry now, Eat Something Good!