A Fun Dinner

We aren't fans of White Castle or Krystal. Well, most of us aren't and especially the ones who pay for food. We are tried and true Texans and our loyalty is and will be to Whataburger. I'm pretty sure The Second Son is about 3/4 Whataburger Junior with extra mustard and no cheese. I ate them almost every morning of my pregnancy with him. Mostly it's the magical Fancy Ketchup that is highly addictive. I hate ketchup. Have I said that before? I won't use it in most recipes, subbing tomato sauce, but I adore Whataburger Ketchup. It's one of the first things we have when we go to Texas to visit. Other people love it, too!
We do like some burger joints here in good ol' Tennessee, but the ones we like aren't national chains. We like Fat Mo's to be specific. So, The Second Son and I were watching a show on Food Network called Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Usually the host just creeps me out with his over-the-top idiocy, but I really like seeing where he visits, so I watch. He was visiting diners in New Jersey. Little did I know that New Jersey was the diner mecca. One of the places he visited makes 800 to 1000 little slider cheeseburgers every day. They showed how they are made and it seemed like just the thing to do for our Sunday evening meal.
I didn't take photos of the process and I'm sure it would have helped you all to understand, but we just got so involved, we forgot! It was actually a very easy process.

Homemade Sliders

1 lb. ground beef (use chuck or so, but not too lean)
1/2 medium onion, sliced very thin
Seasoning of choice (I used Penzey's Chicago Steak Seasoning)
6 slices of cheese (we used American and Swiss)
12 small burger buns or 1 package Hawaiian Rolls (we used the latter), split in half
Condiments of choice (we didn't use anything, we just ate them HOT)

Separate the ground beef into 12 egg-sized balls, but don't roll them. Preheat a cast-iron skillet to medium-high heat. Spray with cooking spray. Place 4 balls of meat in hot skillet and press down lightly. Season the top of each meat patty. After a few minutes, lift each patty, one at a time, place a small heap of onion under it and turn the patty uncooked-side down on the onions. Press again to flatten into the onions. Now, working quickly, top each patty with one-half a slice of cheese, then top with the top of the bun and put the bottom of the bun on top of it all. Cover your skillet for a few minutes to steam the buns. Remove the bottom of the bun, pick up the oniony-patty with a spatula. Then place the bottom of the bun on the bottom of the spatula and slide the patty off the spatula onto the bottom bun. Press lightly to make it stick.
Add condiments if desired and eat hot!