Pattie Melt on Rye Bread

I love hamburgers but I don't like home made burgers.  I don't know why, maybe it is because the buns are steamed or maybe it's because I've never been able to achieve that nice browning on the outside without the burning my burgers.

So instead of burgers, we have pattie melts.  I really don't have a "recipe" but instead have taken a little bit of knowledge from Martha and a little bit from America's Test Kitchen.

This recipe (in the loose sense of the word) makes two half pound pattie melts.

1 lb of good ground beef

1/2 sweet onion sliced very thin

Minced garlic (optional)

Seasonings such as salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder

Butter

Baby Swiss cheese slices cut in half and brought to room temperature.  Using room temperature cheese helps the cheese to melt.

Rye bread 4 slices (we like a deli style onion rye)

In a frying pan on medium/high heat, melt 1T of butter, add the sliced onions and minced garlic 1t (optional).  Cook until limp and remove from heat and set aside.

Form 2 hamburger patties in the shape of your bread.  We prefer bread that is wide so I make my patties in a rectangular shape. Season to taste.  Place patties in the frying and lower the heat to medium. Cover.  I remove the cover when I start to see juices coming out of the top of the pattie.  I use a spoon to remove excess fat from the pan.

I then flip the patties and add the onions back into the pan and cover. I cook until the onions are fully browned and the patties are cook all the way through.  If you like your patties a little rarer then remove from the heat sooner.

While the patties are cooking, I butter one side of the slices of bread and place 1/4 of the Swiss cheese on two slice.

Once the patties are cooked, place them on the slice of bread that has the Swiss cheese, top with 1/2 of the cooked onions, add 1/4 of the Swiss cheese to each pattie, and top with a slice of bread with the buttered side facing up.

Wipe the frying pan with a paper towel leaving just a little fat in the pan.  Place the assembled patties in the frying pan (covered) for 2 mins or until just golden brown.  Flip and repeat the process.

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