“My therapist says I need to try regression cooking therapy…”
My therapist says I need to try regression cooking therapy & cook recipes from my childhood to “get in touch” with my inner child & “silence the voices” in my head drawing me to the void so I decided to make my favorite burger from my teens growing up in Flint, MI which was Halo Burger’s Olive Burger which apparently is a Flint specific kind of thing that I didn’t know at the time but do now & there was a Halo Burger in downtown Grand Blanc where I lived & I would drive my Rally Sport Camaro through the drive thru during lunch in high school & get an olive burger & crinkle fries & so that’s what I recreated for my regression cooking therapy.
Halo’s Olive Burger
Two smashed beef burgers, American cheese, green olives, lettuce, tomato, onion, bread & butter pickles, yellow mustard, and mayo on a potato roll
Makes 1 burger
8 ounces 80/20 ground beef chuck
1 teaspoon Worcestershire
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 slices white American cheese
1/4 cup of green olives, sliced
Bread & Butter Pickles
Lettuce
Sliced tomato
Sliced onion
Yellow Mustard
Mayo
1 burger bun
Butter for toating the bun
Gently mix the Worcestershire, salt, and pepper into the ground chuck. Do not overwork the mix. Divide the meat into 2 4-ounce balls and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes.
Lightly toast the burger bun in a bit of butter and set it aside.
Heat a cast-iron skillet over high heat. When hot, add the olive oil and using tongs and a paper towel, coat the skillet with the oil. Put the chuck balls into the skillet and immediately smash them down with a grill weight or non-slotted metal spatula pressing for 10 seconds. Cook for 2 minutes. Flip patties, making sure to get your spatula between the pan and crust and place a slice of cheese on each patty. Conk for another 1 to 1½ minutes until cheese gets melty.
To assemble, spread mayo and mustard on the bottom bun. Top with two patties, all the olives, lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles. Spread mayo and mustard on the top bun to finish. Grab some napkins and let your inner child get very very messy!