Cheeseburgers. The best cheeseburgers.

Yield: 2 generous cheese burgers.

Time Estimate: 30 minutes, including 6 minutes cooking time.

Storage Notes: Serve, and devour, immediately.

Difficulty: Easy.

Cheese burgers. That we've experienced many in our time doesn't mean that we always strive for something even better. This is our latest homage - nothing revolutionary here, rather, a level up, an improvement to something already great. Fat to meat ratio is crucial here, as is cheese (single slice American, thank you), and the zing from our Spicy Smoked Sea Salt - everything comes together in just the right amounts to make this perfect. 

Ingredients:

- 2 Hamburger buns

- 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter

- 1 LB lean ground beef 

- 1 Head butter lettuce

- 8 slices American cheese

- 1/3rd tin Spicy Smoked Sea Salt

- 2 Roma tomatoes

- 1 dash generic high temperature cooking oil (we recommend coconut)

- Mustard, sour cream, ketchup to taste

- Bonus points: Pepperoncini peppers. This burger dresses up or down beverage-wise: a big California cab or ice-cold domestic beer are perfect accompaniments. 

Instructions:

- We prefer cooking this on a flattop, or skillet. If you're doing an outside BBQ, just place a large cast iron pan on top of a burner on high.

- In a large bowl, combine lean ground beef, Spicy Smoked Salt, and room-temperature butter, mixing well.

-  Form burgers into 4 evenly sized balls, then smash down into patties. Once relatively flat, use your thumb to indent the center of each - this will help with more even cooking, and give you a more uniform cook.

- Once your pan is up to temperature, add dash of generic cooking oil (coconut is perfect for it's high smoke point), and using paper towel, spread evenly across.

- Add 4 patties to the pan. Don't worry if they make a small amount of contact - they'll shrink down in the cooking process. Give them 2-3 minutes, then flip, covering each patty with 2 slices of cheese to each, allowing a further 2-3 to finish.

- While your burgers are cooking, rinse lettuce, and peel off the 4 largest leaves. Pat dry.

- Slice tomatoes, and ready your condiments of choice. We prefer a trifecta of ketchup, mustard, and sour cream.

- Remove your burgers from the grill, and rest them, under tinfoil, for another 2-3 minutes. Giving them this rest after the high heat will keep all the juices in your burger after that first bite.

- Layer burger patties on bottom lettuce bun, add condiments, and crown with another leaf.

- Serve with Pepperoncini peppers and your beverage of choice, and devour.