I have never had spam... Just doesn't look appetizing.

Me either.

I grew up with it, my mom being from Hawaii and all. I can understand people being wary of it, but at least it's not insects, right?

I've had it on a backpacking trip.. It's quite salty, but not gross. We fried it.

Back to the subject at hand, my wife makes some of the best beef stews ever. Yum yum yum yum yum. Different every time, too.

OK, tried a second batch (yes I will be eating vegetables for the rest of the week).

Tried grating the onions (actually grated about half until the onion fell apart then diced the rest) which resulted in more juice and more onion-y taste, but I don't think I cooked the sliders long enough this time.

The onions were not caramelized properly and there was too much raw onion taste. I probably used too many onions which didn't help, not used to these teeny-tiny burgers

Seasoning consistently reduced the difference between steaming the patty over the onions and cooking one side of the meat directly on the grill (with onions on top) but I still think the "steaming over onions" approach worked better.

I didn't put the bun on the burger until later in the cooking cycle to keep the uncooked juices out of the bun, but I think I paid a price in taste for that as well. Tom, note that covering the pan to keep the steam in is very important.

(where's Tom ? I dunno, he went out at 8am saying we needed more ground beef)

Sorry about the blurred pic and unappetizing-looking food, this was kind of mid-cook. Think I put the cheese on too soon as well, last time I added it much later.

And yes, I think I'll try an even smaller serving of meat next time, along with maybe half the onions. I ended up with a slider that was about 2" wide and 3" tall, which I don't think is the way they're supposed to turn out. Gravity was not being my friend, things were sliding off whenever I turned my back.

The bottom half of the bun is supposed to be stacked above the top half of the bun, but then the lid on my pan hit the stack and squashed everything together (and the bottom bun half stuck to the lid ;)).

Couldn't find any chuck

John, thanks for making me aware of A Hamburger Today! What a great site!

The on-topic "Burger Lab" and ultimate slider recipe are slightly different links than the one you posted, but I expect also already familiar to you. I don't see him using a pan lid at all, but crowding the pan with the patties and buns.

My wife observed that she thinks this Kenji is now part of the America's Test Kitchens/Cooks Illustrated crew.

I LOVE recipes like this (and a lot of the Alton Brown material) where the process is unexpected.

John, thank you so much for sharing your experience on this! I know what we're having for dinner

Tom, the first link you provided was one that I had seen then couldn't find again, thank you for posting it. My favorite instruction is "Consume immediately, before repeating with remaining 6 sliders."

I think you are right about the lid - a couple of recipes suggest it, most do not, and the "ultimatest" method seems to be covering the slider stacks with a towel to trap some steam but not as much as a lid.

I just noticed that Tom posted a link to the original Fatty Melt (4 ounce beef patty between two grilled cheese sandwiches) back in 2008. That may have been where I first saw the site.

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2008...as-its-bun.html

Of course two years later a burger with only two grilled cheese sandwiches, one patty and no bacon seems almost stingy by today's standards :

That was then:


This is now:


Anyways, I may not be able to cook sliders but I did just have an great pizza. The crust was really good, and the toppings were well balanced (which is unusual for me, I tend to add too much of everything). Used a commercial wing sauce instead of tomato sauce (no good for wings but great for pizza), topped with a tex-mex cheese blend, jerk pork, green pepper, onion and a few Thai bird chilis. 11 minutes at 500F then sprinkled with oregano and basil. Spicy enough that you have to pause, breathe in through your mouth (to cool the burn) and contemplate the flavors for a minute before continuing. Paired with a Chimay Triple. Yum.

Tom, hope the sliders work out well. If nothing else they're great fun to cook, like a mix between toy hamburgers and a chemistry set