Make Ernest Hemingway’s Favorite Burger for National Cheeseburger Day

When you hear the words "National Cheeseburger Day" you probably don't think of the infamous author Ernest Hemingway.

Maxim recently published Ernest Hemingway's favorite burger recipe.

If you have read Ernest Hemingway's literature before, you know he is one tough SOB. He's a whiskey drinker, hell raiser and one of the manliest men there is. It would be fitting for his burger to be prepared the same way.

Since today, September 18th, is National Cheeseburger Day, I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate then prepare is favorite burger. Once the burger is finished, slap it on a bun with cheese and all the fixings, and you've got one hell of a cheeseburger.

Here is an easily readable transcribed version of the recipe given by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, a writer who wrote about the burger in 2013's The Paris Review.

Ingredients --

1 lb. ground lean beef

2 cloves, minced garlic

2 little green onions, finely chopped

1 heaping teaspoon, India relish

2 tablespoons, capers

1 heaping teaspoon, Spice Islands sage

Spice Islands Beau Monde Seasoning -- ½ teaspoon

Spice Islands Mei Yen Powder -- ½ teaspoon **

1 egg, beaten in a cup with a fork

About one third cup dry red or white wine.

1 tablespoon cooking oil

 

What to do --

Break up the meat with a fork and scatter the garlic, onion and dry seasonings over it, then mix them into the meat with a fork or your fingers.

Let the bowl of meat sit out of the icebox for ten or fifteen minutes while you set the table and make the salad.

Add the relish, capers, everything else including wine and let the meat sit, quietly marinating, for another ten minutes if possible.

Now make four fat, juicy patties with your hands. The patties should be an inch thick, and soft in texture but not runny.

Have the oil in your frying-pan hot but not smoking when you drop in the patties and then turn the heat down and fry the burgers about four minutes.

Take the pan off the burner and turn the heat high again. Flip the burgers over, put the pan back on the hot fire, then after one minute, turn the heat down again and cook another three minutes.

Both sides of the burgers should be crispy brown and the middle pink and juicy.

 

** Spice Islands discontinued its production of Mei Yen Powder three years ago. If you don’t have any in your pantry, here’s how to recreate it:

9 parts salt

9 parts sugar

2 parts MSG

If a recipe calls for 1 teaspoon Mei Yen Powder, use 2/3 tsp of the dry recipe (above) mixed with 1/8 tsp of soy sauce.

 

Seems simple enough I suppose. I shared this with my husband and he says we must try making our burgers this way! I'm not sure about this fancy Mei Yen Powder, can I just swap that out for bacon?