When i lived for a while in Sligo, in the west of Ireland, my landlady, Mrs. McNamara, once made hamburgers for me and the boys of the place (largely from CIE, the government transporation monopoly--it was right across from the railway station, and around the corner from the CIE motorpool). She had been fifteen years in New York, and knew what she was about. She mixed in freshly chopped onions, cooked them through, but not dry, and served them on freshly baked bread rolls. We begged and pleaded, and she finally relented, and put them on the menu. She wanted to charge one punt-fifty for them (about $2.50 in 1978 dollars, and that was with chips--what we call fries--and a small salad, all in the basket; the burgers were about 8-10 ounces), but i prevailed upon her to charge two punt-fifty, about four and a quarter U.S., assuring her that American tourists would buy them up as though they were goin' out of style.
Well, i woulda been right, except the tourists rarely got to eat one. The boys (myself included) would eat up all her produce. She started orderin' 10 pounds of ground beef (freshly ground, and delivered by the butcher; just as the bread rolls were freshly baked, and deliverd by the baker), but quickly went to 15 pounds--at 20 pounds, she refused to expand the operation further. Each time you ordered a burger, the chopped onions were mixed in and the burger fried, solo, in a clean skillet. Man, i don't think you get that kinda quality with homecookin' ! ! !
While I apprenticed at JK ROM, we did a birthday gala for Sam the Record Man, and one of the items required were burgers. As apprentice boy, the grinding and mixing of the meat, onions, parsley and seasonings was up to me. 200 burgers, ground and mixed from scratch, some coarse, some lean, according to chef's instructions. The garnish platters also fell to me. The buns were house-made sourdough. The patties were grilled over a wood-fire. There were leftovers, and those friggin' burgers were awesome, if I say so myself. <takes bow>
Mmmmm, yeah . . . with ketchup! You're making me hungry.
