Coming up on Friday, May 28th it is National Hamburger Day!
This is one of my all-time favorite meals. I enjoy a good hamburger and homemade French fries. In my family we have created a tradition that at least a couple of Saturdays a month we do homemade hamburgers and French fries. In my family of origin hamburgers and homemade French fries are also one of our favorite meals. But, due to the size of my family, we rarely had homemade hamburgers and French fries.
My mom loved having hamburgers. Many, many years ago there was a fast-food restaurant in my hometown called Dee’s. (Now you’re going to know about how old I am as soon as I tell you that the price of a hamburger at Dee’s was like $0.25.) When we had the money, my mom would take us down to Dee’s and would buy us hamburgers. And it would be something like, “I will have 20 hamburgers please”. And the reason it was so many hamburgers is that I have six brothers and three sisters. We needed enough hamburgers for everybody.
As I mentioned in my blog about Road trips. We had taken a big trip back East and it was the same thing when we stopped at fast-food restaurants. “We will take 20 hamburgers, 10 orders of French fries,” etc… As soon as the food would get into the car, the next thing you would hear is “I’ll take all the leftover fries” or “I’ll take the leftover hamburgers” or “I want the extra soda”. Food was never wasted.
I remember traveling with my grandpa. He would stop at the Bear’s Den in Tremonton, Utah (a small local diner) and ask for a black hamburger. Not all of us like our burgers black/well done. Over the years my husband has introduced me into enjoying my meat a little less well done. I can handle some pink now.
In my husband’s family they’re not really into red meat. And I don’t know if they’ve ever had homemade French fries. But given my family, and that hamburgers and homemade French fries are one of our favorite meals, it didn’t take long for me to introduce this meal to my husband.
This also became one of our meals that we would serve to guests in our home. They’d come over and we’d whip up some hamburgers and homemade French fries. When we lived in New York, we invited some friends over for dinner and served them hamburgers and French fries. Shortly after that, they started calling the fries, “Nefries”, after my husband. This was a little annoying, I got to be honest. He didn’t know anything about homemade French fries until he married me and do you think they said anything about naming the fries after me, “Kimfries”, Nope!
Over the years though I have let this go as I focus on what we can do as a couple instead of as individuals. To this day he makes a better hamburger and he does a much better job with the homemade French fries. The main reason is because he is a very patient man (which could explain why he is married to me😊). (As a bonus for me, he does most of the prep and I get to enjoy—bring on the “Nefries”.)
In honor of National Hamburger Day, I’m going to share my husband’s secret seasoning recipe for hamburgers and share a tip that will kick up your homemade French fries a notch or two.
Nephi’s Best hamburgers
- 4oz of Fresh ground beef (85%) for each person.
- Use Nephi’s Secret Seasoning (below) to taste
- Hamburger bun for each person. We use the smaller size so the meat fills up the whole bun. We also toast the bun so that it will be sturdy to hold the meat and toppings (see list below).
Our favorite toppings:
- Dill Pickles
- Onions
- Pepper Jack, Smoked Gouda, or Mild Cheddar Cheese
- Lettuce
- Tomato
- Mustard
- Fry Sauce (recipe follows)
Nephi’s secret seasoning
(I swear he just has the bowl under the cupboard door with the spices and lets the spices fall in.) I’m going to give you specific measurements.
- 2 tablespoons Smoke Paprika
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
Mix all the ingredients together and sprinkle over the meat.
Fry Sauce
This is a big thing in Utah. We have trained each of our daughters on how to make it.
- 1 cup of mayonnaise
- 2 squirts of ketchup
Mix together–it will be a light pink color.
Note: we have added other seasonings or relish, but ultimately we like it plain.
We use this as a topping for the hamburgers and to dip French Fries in.
French Fries
- 1 peeled and cut French Fry style. One russet potato per person.
- Oil for frying (we use Canola Oil)
- Salt to taste.
In a deep fryer, fry 1-2 potatoes at a time. This will be the first fry. Fry just until the fries start to brown (This is about 7 minutes for us). Remove them from the fryer and drain. Repeat until all the potatoes have been fried.
Starting with the first batch, fry them again until browned to your liking. This time the frying will not take as long, 3-5 minutes.
Remove and drain, sprinkle with salt to your taste.
The Special Tip for Fantastic Fries: After the first fry, let the fries cool completely before the second fry. I learned this tip in a restaurant on another road trip in California. Thank goodness for Road trips.