Cooking Lesson #283: California Chopped Patty Melt With Caramelized Onions

…from the California Kitchen

How you doin’? If I have my choice of a thick slab of ground beef, lettuce, tomato, some kind of “secret sauce” or an old-fashioned diner-style Patty Melt, I’ll take the Patty Melt every time. To me it is the perfect ratio of meat to bread and enough cheese and onion to keep it moist, juicy and interesting.
 
The original flavorful Patty Melt was invented in California after WWII (the big one) by Tiny Naylor, the owner of Biff's and Tiny Naylor restaurants. I want to share this recipe with you with an innovative twist or two that makes it uniquely yours.
 
It is true that a patty melt is a close cousin to an ordinary burger—it comes standard with a sweet and savory heap of caramelized onions and melty cheese over a ground beef patty. It is sandwiched between two pieces of skillet-grilled rye bread instead of in a bun.
 
I like to customize my patty melt by nearly burning the onions, adding some Thousand  Island Dressing and sometimes even topping with a little bit of coleslaw. The original is great, but any food is always a little better when you have a chance to customize it. One of the sandwich restaurants I go to even chops up the patty on the grill and then scoops it on top of the rye bread while grilling.
 
Prep time:  15 minutes
Cook time:  45 minutes (onions)
Grill time:  15 minutes
Yield:  2 patty melts
 
Ingredients
 
For the caramelized onions
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 large yellow onions, thinly sliced (they cook down)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
 
For the patty melt
1/2 pound ground chuck (3-way ground chuck 20% fat)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground mix pepper
4 slices Swiss or good old American cheese
4 slices corn rye bread
4 teaspoons butter
 
Directions
To make the caramelized onions

1. Heat the butter and oil in a Dutch oven or large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring frequently, for about 45 minutes.
   
2. After the onions are a deep dark caramel color, season with salt and pepper and deglaze the pan with a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce. Set the onions aside.

To make the patty melts

1. Shape the ground chuck into 2 loosely packed oval patties (to fit the shape of the corn rye). Season with salt and pepper.
2. Cook patties in a skillet over medium-high heat, flipping once, 3 to 4 minutes per side.
3. Chop the meat and set aside.
4. Spread 1 teaspoon butter over each slice of bread on the outside (the side that will touch the skillet or griddle).
5. Add a slice of cheese to each slice of bread, top with a chopped meat, top with caramelized onions and top with one more slice of cheese.
6. Place the sandwiches in a hot skillet or on a griddle and press it down as it sizzles. You can use another heavy pan or bacon press to flatten the sandwich a bit.
7. Cooking the sandwich in a hot skillet cooking guarantees a crunchy, toasty, melty Patty Melt.

Options:  I like to add 1 tablespoon of Thousand Island Dressing (recipe below) to one side of the sandwich. I also like to make this sandwich with coleslaw instead of onions occasionally, and it’s equally good.

To Make Thousand Island Dressing California-Style—1 cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons chili sauce, 2 tablespoons minced green bell pepper, 2 tablespoons minced pimento, 2 tablespoons minced sweet pickle—Mix together and chill until ready to serve.

ChefSecret:  Give yourself enough time to make the caramelized onions before you assemble your patty melt. Caramelizing the onion lets the natural sugars develop as the onions slowly turn a deep brown and they cook into a sweet, jam-like texture reducing the acidic sharpness found in raw onions.
 
Covid-19 Quip of the Day: “Whenever someone says to me you look so familiar, where do I know you from? I respond, Do you look at the wanted posters in the post office?”

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