The patty melt is believed to have been invented sometime in the 1940s in Los Angeles, CA by Tiny Naylor. Traditionally, a patty melt is a cooked burger patty on toasted rye bread with caramelized onions and Swiss cheese.
In working on this recipe, I asked myself (many times) if a patty melt is a sandwich or if it is a burger. To be honest, I am not a huge burger person (shocking, I know). I am, however, a big fan of sandwiches, so for selfish reasons, I think I am going to call this a sandwich.
Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, CT claims to have made the first version of the hamburger in 1900 when a hurried man ran in and asked for something that he could eat on the go. Louis Lassen, the proprietor, sandwiched (read: SANDWICHed) some ground steak trimmings between a couple of slices of toast for the guy and called it a day. It’s been on their menu ever since (cheese, tomato, and onion are the only additions they’ll allow) and I gotta say…was it the precursor to the patty melt? I mean, it’s a burger patty on toast, which is essentially what a patty melt is, plus the cheese and onions (although no tomatoes on the patty melt, tyvm).
My version is essentially traditional, but I also added in shredded gruyere because the more the merrier when it comes to cheese, and then I smeared on some dressing for extra flavor. I’m calling this dressing because it’s kind of a combination of Russian dressing and thousand island and special sauce…and ended up being very reminiscent of cocktail sauce.
So dressing it is.
Russian dressing typically has horseradish in it, as does cocktail sauce, as does this. Thousand island and special sauce both usually have relish in them. They all have mayo and ketchup as the base, and also sour cream. Cocktail sauce, meanwhile, is made of ketchup, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and lemon juice…which is essentially what I did here, but add mayo, mustard, and onion and garlic powder and skip the lemon juice.
Honestly, all this sauce talk is making my head spin. You could use any version of any of these or none of the above on your patty melt and it will be amazing.
BUT LET’S TALK ABOUT THE REAL MEAT (pun intended) OF THE SANDWICH.
(was what I just said even a pun?)
I love to add yellow mustard to my burger. It helps to caramelize the meat and also I love mustard, so SUCK IT, ketchup.
I also toast my bread in ghee and if you’re not toasting your bread in ghee, I don’t know what to tell you.
Recipe below. Video above. This video is free for everyone bc I am hoping maybe that some of you non-paying supporters might consider becoming a paid subscriber after watching (although it might be more likely that many of you will unsubscribe completely after watching, which is a chance I am willing to take).
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Patty Melt Recipe
Serves 4
Prep time: 25 minutes
Total time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS
for the caramelized onions:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound|450 grams onions (about 2 medium)
kosher salt, to taste
for the dressing:
½ cup|115 grams mayonnaise
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
2 teaspoons ketchup
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce, to taste
for the patty:
1 pound|450 grams ground beef
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¾ teaspoon garlic powder
for the sandwich:
olive oil, as needed
ghee, as needed
8 pieces rye bread
8 slices Swiss cheese
8 ounces|225 grams grated gruyere cheese
DIRECTIONS
Make the caramelized onions: Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the onions and cook until beginning to get color, about 5 minutes. Lower the heat to medium and continue cooking and stirring until the onions are dark golden, about 45 minutes. You may need to add a few tablespoons of water here and there to help loosen some of that good color from the bottom of the skillet and allow the onions to really soften. Once they’re dark golden brown, remove them from the heat and set aside. Caramelized onions will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to one week or frozen for up to 3 months.
Make the dressing: Mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
Make the patty: Mix all of the ingredients together in a medium bowl. Form the patties onto individual pieces of parchment paper, long, thin, and flat, but a tad bigger than the pieces of rye bread. Set aside.
Make the melts: Heat a couple of oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high. Working in batches, add a patty and cook until charred, about 2 minutes. Flip and top with two slices of Swiss cheese and cook 1 to 2 minutes more, then transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining patties and Swiss cheese.
Wipe the skillet clean and add a couple tablespoons of ghee. Working in batches, add a couple slices of bread and cook, flipping once, until golden on each side, 2 to 3 minutes. Lower the heat to medium-low and spread some of the dressing on the tops of the bread. Sprinkle one of the pieces of bread with some of the gruyere and top with a patty. Top the patty with some onions and more gruyere, then top it with the other piece of toasted bread, dressing-side facing down. Cook, flipping once, until suuuuuper crisp and the cheese has melted, about 5 minutes. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make four sandwiches in total and have fun.
Cheeesus! That cheese pull is legendary.
Any piece of bread, toasted, with a meat patty in between and dressing IS a burger.
Me, I would like some veggies in this too... some pickles or maybe the crunch of radishes.... or BOTH?
Glad I found your substack.
Cheers!
pickles in this would slap!!! also radishes. DO IT ALL! thanks for being here :-)
Aside from the cooking - ace - EXCELLENT tile work.
lolololololol