Old Burgers are New Again.

“Don't throw the past away.

You might need it some rainy day.

Dreams can come true again.

When everything old is new again.”

Everything Old Is New Again

Song by Peter Allen ‧ 1974

Another “new” trend seems to have hit the culinary world, smashed burgers.  Sorry to burst the bubbles of those who love to follow trends, but smashed burgers are nothing new.  Growing up during the 60s and 70s, of the 1900s, a large thin burger on a toasted bun was the norm at any diner, restaurant or hole in the wall, quick bite to eat place.  Condiments and other toppings could be added on which created a double fisted filling meal; no forks and knives around as that was too hoity toity.

While many a restaurant, in various states, claim to have created the smashed burger, it is the Dairy Cheer, a diner in Ashland, Kentucky, located in the Appalachian Mountains, which gets the full recognition.  The story, traced back to the 1950s, is that a cook, for some unknown reason, decided to use a can of beans to smash out a burger patty while cooking on a grill.  Basically, the smashing process creates more surface area for the Maillard reaction, which results in a caramelized, crispy exterior and intense flavor. It was a huge success, and became a new standard for cooking burgers.

Around the 1980s, when life seemed to have become easier and financially sound, people wanted more than the usual standards.  Bigger was better, and that included simple items like the hamburger.  Instead of thin burgers, restaurants began to create thick burgers, sometimes putting ingredients, like cheese, into the burger’s middle.  Now here’s where the joke was on everyone, those thick burgers were actually smaller than the smashed burgers.

Alright, for the math impaired, 1/3 is larger than ¼, but1/3 is smaller than ½; now stay with me here.  Smashed burgers are larger in diameter, but smaller in thickness; perfect example is the Whopper at Burger King.  Typically, a smashed burger is 1/3 of a pound of meat, however, those thick burgers that cost more were typically only ¼ of a pound.  So, folks were eating less for more money; wow, what a bargain…not!

In the 2000s, a new chain restaurant began in Denver, Colorado, Smashburger.  The old way of cooking burgers was being reintroduced to diners, and folks were loving it.  This has become a popular trend, and even fast-food places, like Sonic Drive-In are riding this train.  However, how the smashed burger is created, and cooked, makes a huge difference in texture and taste.

 

To make a delicious, full of juice and flavor, burger, make sure to use 80/20 ground beef.  It will have enough fat to help cook the burger, but not make the burger overly greasy.  For a 1/3 lb. burger, measure out 2/3s cup of meat, packed loosely.  Place either on a sheet of plastic wrap, or, when I make them, a plastic plate, with another sheet of plastic, or plastic plate on top.  Using the heel of one hand, start in the center of the meat and begin pushing it outward in a circular motion.  When it feels even, slowly lift off the top plastic; use fingertips to pat the edges of the patty into a circle; the diameter should be about five inches.

Using a long thin spatula (5”x2”, known as an omelet spatula) carefully lift the smashed patty to place on a sheet of wax paper.  Continue until all the ground beef has been used up; 2 lbs. of 80/20 will give six burgers.  Place the burgers in a plastic freezer bag, place in freezer for 30 minutes to one hour to firm them up before cooking.

Why smash the ground beef patties before cooking?  Excellent question.  Now that the meat is thin, it will not only cook more quickly, but the Maillard reaction, mentioned before, will immediately begin to take effect.  If the patty is thick, cooked on one side, flipped and then smashed, all the flavorful juices will ooze out, and you will end up with a dry burger.

 

Can you add spices to the ground beef before-hand?  Of course, but we do not as we want the full flavor of the beef to be tasted after adding condiments, or fixings like cheese, lettuce, pickles, sliced tomatoes, or oven fried onion rings. Also, make sure to use a good flavored bun, and I highly recommend Sara Lee’s Artesano brand.

 

 

 

 

Lunch is Served!

 

Perfectly Cooked All the Way Through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which is better, stove top nonstick griddle or outdoor barbecue grill?  Both methods work just as well. For the griddle, set the stove temperature to medium-high, 350F.  Place burgers on griddle and let cook for three minutes; let them sit, no poking!  After three minutes, flip them over and let cook for another three minutes.  If you want melted cheese on them before serving, flip the burgers once again, place two slices of cheese on top, and let it melt for one minute before removing to serving platter.  The shrinkage of the burgers will be about 3/4s of an inch around, so a 5-inch diameter will go down to a 4 and ¼-inch diameter.  Sounds like a lot, but that means that all the juicy flavor has been trapped inside the meat itself.

 

 

Smashed Burgers Made on Stove Top Grill

 

 

For the barbecue grill, oil the cooking surface with non-stick spray as you do not want your burgers to stick.  Fire it up and get the temperature to 400F, place burgers down and cook one side for two minutes; do not bring the top down on the barbecue, leave it open to the air.  Flip the burgers, cook another two minutes.  Melted cheese before-hand, follow the same direction as for the stove top griddle.  Remove to serving platter.

Smashed Burgers Made on Barbecue Grill

 

Smashed Burgers Made Two Ways

Now you have perfectly cooked smashed burgers that can be made at home, and you know exactly what is in them, and the cooking method used.  Just in case my directions were not clear, photos of each step will be on the food blog.  Smash’em up and enjoy good eating!

Mary Cokenour 

Dove Creek Welcomes Back “The Lunch Box”.

The Lunch Box

330 US – 491

Dove Creek, CO., 81324

Phone: 970-512-0300

Hours of Operation: Mon – Sat, 8am to 8pm; Sun, 11am to 4pm

 

 

Patio Dining Area

1987, a year dedicated to Michael Jackson being “Bad”, Whitney Houston wanting to dance with somebody, “The Lost Boys” being found and staked, and most historically, Ronald Reagan’s visit to West Berlin, and his famous speech, imploring The USSR’s leader, Mikhail Gorbachev to open the Berlin Wall.  Sorry, cannot resist this side note, but I was a university exchange student in 1979, and we had a guided tour of East Berlin, inside the wall area, and a guard in a turret actually turned his machine gun in our direction.  It was a horrible place just to visit, so imagine trying to live in its confines.

Anyway, while the world was experiencing what I have mentioned, and so much more, Paul Davis, of Dove Creek, Colorado, opened up his small diner, called simply “The Lunch Box”.  Little did he know that it would become an iconic part of Dove Creek’s history.  In 1995, Shelly King purchased the diner, and decided expansion was surely needed. At that time, Highway 491 was known as Highway 666, aka The Haunted Highway, so interest in this brought many a visitor inside the, now, full-service restaurant.  Unfortunately, due to illness, Shelly needed to sell his beloved Lunch Box in 2007, which became The Dinner Bell, and eventually DC Rack Haus.

Grandpa Shelly King

 

In 2023, the restaurant was up for sale once again and fate had a hand in this.  Joshua Robinson, Shelly King’s grandson, had moved from California (born and raised, but his family does have deep New York metropolitan roots) to Monticello.  Fate was knocking at his door and Joshua answered quickly, purchasing in October and wanting a grand opening as soon as possible.  He did not anticipate how much work needed to be done, but November 20^th was the grand day.  This was not just taking on, and continuing, the legacy of grandpa Shelly, this was an act of love for family history.  At six years old, Shelly began teaching Joshua the food business by allowing him to flip burgers in Shelly’s food truck.  For 18 years, Joshua worked in the food industry, but wanted a restaurant of his own due to his grandpa’s influence.

I will be adding tidbits of history in the rest of this article, but I must get to the food; the absolutely most delicious menu items we tried out.  There are three menus: breakfast, lunch/dinner and children’s.  There is so much variety, but here are the favorites: Breakfast – Breakfast Burrito, Country Fried Steak with green chili, Hatch Breakfast Sandwich; Lunch/Dinner – Country Fried Steak (choice of creamy country gravy or green chili), Fried Chicken Sandwich, Patty Melt, Cheeseburger, Hatch Cheeseburger, Chef or Greek Salad.  Now this list is only of local favorites, but there is so much more!  Oh, make sure you are very hungry, and want to take home leftovers; the portions are huge and at very reasonable prices.  Shelly always taught, “Good food + Huge portions + Great prices = Customers continue to come back.”

 

Children's Menu

 

Breakfast Menu

 

 

Lunch-Dinner Menu, Page 2

Lunch-Dinner Menu, Page 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visiting The Lunch Box gave me a day off from cooking, so we purchased four dishes to feed us throughout lunch and dinner.  First is Roy’s favorite sandwich, the patty melt, but this was no ordinary patty melt, it was a double (yes, you can order a single).  Two all-beef patties, smothered in a rich and tangy Swiss and white American cheese blend, grilled onions between toasted marble rye bread.  A comfort food addict’s dream sandwich.

 

 

 

The country fried steak was so amazing, I actually woke up during the night craving another platter of it.  This is Angus beef, fresh not frozen, trimmed and cut down on premises.  The coating is so crunchy good, any bits that fall off are quickly picked up and devoured.  Several times it was, slap Roy’s hand, and “this is mine, get your own!”.  It comes with a serving of crispy outside, fluffy inside shoestring fries and green beans.  Oh, but not our average, just picked out of the garden beans.  No, these are Haricots Verts, a French style green bean which contains more vitamins of the B group, vitamins C and K and minerals such as magnesium, iron and manganese.  The country gravy is creamy, smooth with a hint of cracked black pepper, so as to not overwhelm.

 

Dirty Fries are loaded nachos, but using shoestring fries instead of standard tortilla chips.  The toppings are green chili, cowboy beans, green onions, cilantro, cheddar cheese and sour cream.  The pinto beans are purchased locally in Dove Creek and cooked up fresh in-house; pork shoulder is used for the green chili as it is more tender after roasting.  Let me tell you that a bowl of that green chili with pork, plus fry bread, would make a complete meal in itself.  However, while grandpa Shelly did make his own fry bread, that is not an option nowadays.  But hey, get some fluffy housemade biscuits instead!

 

 

 

 

Pork Green Chili and Country Gravy.

 

A huge condiment selection at every table.

 

But I digress, the Greek salad came loaded with Romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, black olives, roasted chicken, red onions, pepperoncini, feta cheese and the creamiest, smoothest dressing.  Every bite was a new taste sensation due to the ingredient combinations the fork picked up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roy and I are so looking forward to going back and trying out many of the other menu items, like the burgers (1/4 lb. pounders).  One of the waitresses walked by carrying a cheeseburger plate; the burger was actually sitting out the sides of the bun and about an inch thick.  My eyes popped, and you know no one was doing a 1980’s, “Where’s the beef?”, yell.

 

Speaking of the wait staff, the second you walk in, you are greeted with a welcoming and friendly, “Come on in, and sit anywhere you like”.  Joshua opened up the building to make it roomier, airier and the sunlight allowed to brighten up every corner. We sat at the “Grandpa Shelly Memorial Table”, and felt honored, and yet also felt like he was there to make sure we were happy.  The staff are very attentive; depending on experience, they start at the bottom and are trained in every skill needed in a restaurant.  That way, there is always someone to step in when a staff member needs off.

 

So, if you want really good, I mean really good food, welcoming and comfortable atmosphere, a staff who cares about your needs, then you must go to The Lunch Box. If you want to hear more in-depth history, Joshua Robinson will not be shy about pulling up a chair and happily chat with you.

Mary Cokenour

 

 

A Return to the Homestead

Homestead Steak House

121 East Center Street

Blanding, Utah,  84511

Phone: (435) 678-3456

Website: https://www.homesteadsteakhouseut.com/

Hours of Operation:

Dine In or Take Away

Monday - Friday: 11am - 8pm

Saturday: 4pm - 8pm

Sunday: CLOSED

The usual date night for the Cokenours is Saturday; watching anime, scarfing down pizza, and making fun of the commercials.  However, we happened to go down to Blanding on a Friday night, around dinner time, and decided to visit Homestead Steak House.  We had not been there since before the “Covid years”, and wondered how it had fared.

We were greeted by Linda, who also happened to be our waitress for the evening.  She has only been working at the restaurant for one year, but was knowledgeable enough to answer most questions.  What she did not know, she found out as soon as possible.  She is a very friendly woman, and made our dinner out enjoyable.

A steady stream of diners was going in and out, many from out of state and visiting the area on vacation.  Steak and seafood seemed to be the most requested dishes, but we were in the mood for something simpler.  Roy ordered the Mushroom Bacon Swiss Burger with fries, while I opted for the All-You-Can-Eat Soup and Salad Bar.

Roy let me have a taste of his burger and fries, and have to admit that I was jealous; yes, they were that good.  The burger definitely needed two hands to hold it, but it was the charbroiled taste that completely grabbed me.  The mushrooms are sauteed, and the bacon was crispy.  The fries were awesome; crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, no condiments needed as they were tasty as is.

 

Due to Covid, many restaurants that had salad bars did away with them.  Thankfully, Homestead kept theirs which has a large assortment of vegetables, mixed salads, dressings and crunchy toppings.  Two soups are still served with Friday’s being New England Clam Chowder and Chili.  As much as I like chili, New England Clam Chowder is still my overall favorite, especially when it is chock full of chopped clams and soft potato chunks.  It is a cream-based soup, so very comforting, like a soft blanket around the tongue.

 

The dressings, except French and 1000 Island, mixed salads and soups are housemade; the price you pay is for quality as well as quantity.  Desserts, except for the cheesecakes, are also made in house, but we had not had cheesecake, since the holidays, so ordered Turtle cheesecake.  The cheesecake is simply to die for!  So rich and creamy, with a luscious caramel sauce on top; simply orgasmic!

 

Being a dry town, Blanding still does not allow liquor sales of any kind, and Utah state law prohibits bringing in your own.  While a few customers get angry about this, and leave less than stellar reviews, the majority understand the situation better once it is explained to them.  One funny story that Linda related to us was about a motorcycle touring group, of about 40 people, from Germany.  It is well known that Germans love their beer, and beer is what this group demanded.  How did the Homestead staff handle this?  A non-alcoholic beer, O’Doul’s was served to all, and it was a huge hit.  Even though the staff explained that it was non-alcoholic, the diners did not care; they got their beer, and the Homestead was given huge thanks for the liquid accommodation.

By the way, pizza, which we often went down to Homestead for, has been off the menu for a while; however, it is back.  So, a great excuse to visit once again, and this time to try it out, and see if it is as good as it was before, or maybe better?  Taste testing will tell.

Now here is a hint of what is in store for owners Gary and Sharon Guymon.  No, not an expansion of the Homestead itself, but how about second restaurant?  There are plans, in the works, for opening up a Chinese restaurant, and having a Chinese cooking staff is a definite must.  Two other Chinese restaurants had tried to make a go of it, in Blanding, but failed miserably, and the Guymons have no desire to do the same mistakes.  Speaking with Gary, we were able to give him a few pointers on where to find the cooking staff they needed.  Also, a push towards bringing in Chinese baked goods as appetizers and desserts, as they are always huge sellers.

So, there you have it if looking for a lunch, dinner or pizza, visit Homestead Steak House in Blanding.  The tourist season is in full swing, so do not be surprised if you have to wait a bit as the do get busy, busy, busy.

Mary Cokenour