Big Boy Platter

How we make it.

Makes 4 burgers.

Big Boy Burgers:

2 pounds ground beef
Kosher salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
Iceberg lettuce, shredded
4 slices, cheddar cheese
8 pickle chips
Tartar sauce
6 hamburger buns

Tartar Sauce:

1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 dill pickle, minced
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Put it in a bowl and mix it up.

Cut each pound of beef into four squares. Roll them into balls. Salt and pepper the outsides. Smash as flat as you can. Cook on a flat top griddle or in a cast iron skillet 2 minutes a side until crusty and medium done. Take each bottom bun of your hamburger buns and with a serrated knife, slice of a layer about a half inch thick. This will be your middle bun on your burger. 

Compose your Big Boys from bottom to top: Bottom bun, 2 pickle chips, burger, cheese, middle bun, tartar sauce, shredded lettuce, burger, top bun. Serve hot with onion rings.

Onion Rings:

2 Vidalia onions, sliced
4 cups light olive oil
1 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups flour
1 cup yellow corn meal
1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Turn oven on warm. In a large pot heat oil until over high. Slice onions in 1/4 to 1/2 inch rings. In a medium bowl stir together beaten eggs and milk. In another medium bowl stir together flour, corn meal, salt and pepper. Once oil is hot and sputtering if you flick some water into it, dip your separated onion rings into the wet mixture, then the dry mixture and then carefully into the oil. Fry them in batches of about 10-12 rings at a time. Flip em around and fry them until golden brown, probably 4-5 minutes each batch. Remove from oil and place on a baking sheet lined with paper towels. While still hot add extra salt. Keep them in the oven on warm as you cook your batches and until you are ready to serve. They can stay warm in the oven for about an hour before serving. Repeat until all of your onions have been ringed.

Why we make it.

My dad is (in)famous for his love of Frisch's. Since my children were small he's taken them there for dinner as much as I'll let him. He's not a terribly sentimental person but Frisch's has a direct line. A few months ago the Frisch's he has been going to since it was a Howard Johnson's closed suddenly. He drove by one day and it was gone. The loss was bigger than burgers. We talked about it for days. As he would say, he was verklempt. I can only say very simply that this is why I made him a Big Boy platter: he turns 70 this year and he's on my mind. In regard to this recipe he was very clear. He'd have rather had the jarred tartar sauce they sell at Kroger. The pickle chips I forgot were noticed. But he sat at my counter on a Thursday at 4:30 and plowed through his platter like the 10-year-old he still looks like sometimes. That's the him I love best. And that's why I made it.