Onionburgers

I'm starting this thread because I'm a new resident of Oklahoma and am fascinated by the proliferation of onionburgers in the central part of the state, particularly around El Reno. I've done some research on this and couldn't find much, so I am going to tap the considerable culinary knowledge of this group.

Why did onionburgers take hold in the Sooner State?
Why in El Reno?
Why nowhere else, seemingly?
Any other data or factoids about onionburgers that I should know?
Which restaurant has the best one?

.....do you mean onions grilled with the hamburger? Town topic in KC always grills them when you ask for one "with". Cozy Inn in Salina does them that way also. http://www.plainsfolk.com/oases/oasis27.htm
Maybe it's a plains states thing, as White Castle started in Wichita also. I don't think anyone has calculated the grilled onion belt before.

Here's an excerpt from a story we wrote about Onionburgers in Gourmet magazine a few years ago. We never did get a definitive answer to exactly why, how, and where they came to be. This takes place at Johnnie's Grill, which served one of the best we had:
The next morning, while at Johnnie’s counter eating Arkansas sandwiches (that’s a pair of pancakes layered with a pair of eggs), we finally did find what seems like an authoritative description of the onion-fried burger’s beginnings. Proprietor Steve Galloway and former proprietor (now grill man) Otis Bruce, whom we had met the day before, introduced us to nearly every person who walked in the door, each of whom had something interesting to say about their personal experience with El Reno hamburgers. After meeting Everett Adams, the pie man, as he wedged his way into the 30-seat restaurant toting a battered tray above his head on which were set the still-warm coconut meringue pies and Boston cream pie he had made that morning for Johnnie’s lunch crowd, Otis Bruce told us to talk to Bob Johnson, who, as usual, had come for breakfast.

Mr. Johnson said with certainty that it was his father along with a man named Ross Davis who opened El Reno’s first onion-fried burger restaurant, The Hamburger Inn, some time in the 1920s. About ten years later, Mr. Johnson’s uncle, Darrell Hurst, bought it; then in World War II it was taken over by a guy remembered only as Hindy. In the early 1950s, Ross Davis bought it back from Hindy. “That’s when I lost track,” Mr. Johnson confessed. “I moved to Alaska in 1957, and when I returned in ’75, Ross had opened Ross’s Drive-In (although The Hamburger Inn was still operating, under other management).”

The convolutions of burger genealogy sent our heads reeling, but we perfectly understood Mr. Johnson’s expression of what it was like to spend eighteen years in Alaska, where onion-fried burgers do not exist. “I tried to make them out of moose and caribou as well as beef, but it was never right because I only had a skillet, not a thick, seasoned grill. To make a good onion-fried burger, the grill has to be well-seasoned … and there are a lot of well-seasoned grills in El Reno.”

One other piece of history we learned pretty much for certain over breakfast that day: Morgan Stafford, who owned a town burger shop about five decades ago, was the man who developed El Reno slaw. Yes, that is right: El Reno slaw! Amazingly, this Southern Plains town of some 15,000 citizens has yet another food specialty all its own -- the slaw that is used on local versions of the Coney Island frankfurter. A pickly-sweet, mustard-colored hash of finely minced cabbage, the slaw is vaguely like piccalilli or relish, but it has a taste and drippy texture like no other. Its usual place is atop the chili that adorns a weenie on a standard-issue El Reno “Coney,” transforming a tidy bunned hot dog into seriously messy fork-food.

Nearly as popular as onion-fried burgers, slaw-and-chili-topped hot dogs are available at all the hamburger restaurants, each of which has its own variation of the slaw recipe, the formulas for which have been passed down by generations of grill cooks. There are several local eaters who consider slaw El Reno’s gastronomic pride every bit as much as the onion-fried burger. “We have some so crazy for it that they get it on their hamburgers!” Steve Galloway said with sincere wonder at the aberration. (To our callow onion-burger palates, the combo is a great idea.) “And some come in and order nothing but a bowl of slaw and a spoon to eat it with!” This is a town of deep culinary passion!

Talk about a reason for stopping!!
When we make a "rapid run" to SoCal from Louisville, the two nightly stops on the way are El Reno the foirst night, and Gallup the second.
We now have a reason to linger a bit in OK to check out the Onions and their heritage. Thanks for the tip.

quote:

Originally posted by bill voss

.....do you mean onions grilled with the hamburger? Town topic in KC always grills them when you ask for one "with". Cozy Inn in Salina does them that way also. http://www.plainsfolk.com/oases/oasis27.htm
Maybe it's a plains states thing, as White Castle started in Wichita also. I don't think anyone has calculated the grilled onion belt before.

Onions mixed into the hamburger meat. Good stuff.

Good Lord, My mother's been making burgers like that for decades. And she never set foot in OK.

I'm with you, Ed. My family always had a similar recipe my mom called "Burgers Brennan" that had an egg, onions, and green peppers mixed in,
+Shallots, nutmeg,worcestershire sauce, parsley, and bread crumbs. I tried to find out if this really is a recipe from Brennan's, but got tired after 3 pages of Bananas Foster, their deservedly more famous
recipe.

Sounds almost like a meatloaf at that point

Please, just exactly what is an onionburger?

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Hoffman

Please, just exactly what is an onionburger?

Go to the Roadfood home page and check out Michael's 2002 review of Johnnie's in El Reno, Oklahoma for the perfect picture and description of an Oklahoma onion burger.

quote:

Originally posted by bill voss

I'm with you, Ed. My family always had a similar recipe my mom called "Bretton Burgers" that had an egg, onions, and green peppers mixed in.

Exactly! The egg sort of acted like a binder to keep the patty from breaking apart. On the grill it comes out even better. My mom used to make 'em about 1.5" thick.
One of these days I'll have to try to recreate that recipie, but add some hot peppers.

quote:

Originally posted by Hillbilly

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Hoffman

Please, just exactly what is an onionburger?

Go to the Roadfood home page and check out Michael's 2002 review of Johnnie's in El Reno, Oklahoma for the perfect picture and description of an Oklahoma onion burger.

Yummm! That looks delicious. Thanks for steering me to the review.

Looks like several Oklahoma joints do this style of burger....

I edited my first post because I had always thought the recipe was from a local KC place called Bretton's, that was on Baltimore Street in downtown. I asked my mom and it's called Hamburgers Brennan.
We always grilled ours too, Ed.--
2lb. ground beef

1/4 C. minced shallots_

1/4 C. minced white onion_

1/4 C. toasted Holland Rusk Crumbs_

Dash Nutmeg__

1 1/2 Tsp. Salt_

1/2 Tsp. Pepper_

2 Tbsp. worcestershire sauce_

1 Tbsp. chopped Parsley_


1 or 2 eggs_


__1/2 C. green peppers(optional)



Form and grill

But of course that really, really, REALLY sounds like a meatloaf recipe.

Then again...hmm....make the meatloaf into patties and grill them like hamburgers.....hmmm

Sounds kinda good, actually :-)

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Stern

Here's an excerpt from a story we wrote about Onionburgers in Gourmet magazine a few years ago. We never did get a definitive answer to exactly why, how, and where they came to be. This takes place at Johnnie's Grill, which served one of the best we had:

The next morning, while at Johnnie’s counter eating Arkansas sandwiches (that’s a pair of pancakes layered with a pair of eggs), we finally did find what seems like an authoritative description of the onion-fried burger’s beginnings. Proprietor Steve Galloway and former proprietor (now grill man) Otis Bruce, whom we had met the day before, introduced us to nearly every person who walked in the door, each of whom had something interesting to say about their personal experience with El Reno hamburgers. After meeting Everett Adams, the pie man, as he wedged his way into the 30-seat restaurant toting a battered tray above his head on which were set the still-warm coconut meringue pies and Boston cream pie he had made that morning for Johnnie’s lunch crowd, Otis Bruce told us to talk to Bob Johnson, who, as usual, had come for breakfast.

Mr. Johnson said with certainty that it was his father along with a man named Ross Davis who opened El Reno’s first onion-fried burger restaurant, The Hamburger Inn, some time in the 1920s. About ten years later, Mr. Johnson’s uncle, Darrell Hurst, bought it; then in World War II it was taken over by a guy remembered only as Hindy. In the early 1950s, Ross Davis bought it back from Hindy. “That’s when I lost track,” Mr. Johnson confessed. “I moved to Alaska in 1957, and when I returned in ’75, Ross had opened Ross’s Drive-In (although The Hamburger Inn was still operating, under other management).”

The convolutions of burger genealogy sent our heads reeling, but we perfectly understood Mr. Johnson’s expression of what it was like to spend eighteen years in Alaska, where onion-fried burgers do not exist. “I tried to make them out of moose and caribou as well as beef, but it was never right because I only had a skillet, not a thick, seasoned grill. To make a good onion-fried burger, the grill has to be well-seasoned … and there are a lot of well-seasoned grills in El Reno.”

One other piece of history we learned pretty much for certain over breakfast that day: Morgan Stafford, who owned a town burger shop about five decades ago, was the man who developed El Reno slaw. Yes, that is right: El Reno slaw! Amazingly, this Southern Plains town of some 15,000 citizens has yet another food specialty all its own -- the slaw that is used on local versions of the Coney Island frankfurter. A pickly-sweet, mustard-colored hash of finely minced cabbage, the slaw is vaguely like piccalilli or relish, but it has a taste and drippy texture like no other. Its usual place is atop the chili that adorns a weenie on a standard-issue El Reno “Coney,” transforming a tidy bunned hot dog into seriously messy fork-food.

Nearly as popular as onion-fried burgers, slaw-and-chili-topped hot dogs are available at all the hamburger restaurants, each of which has its own variation of the slaw recipe, the formulas for which have been passed down by generations of grill cooks. There are several local eaters who consider slaw El Reno’s gastronomic pride every bit as much as the onion-fried burger. “We have some so crazy for it that they get it on their hamburgers!” Steve Galloway said with sincere wonder at the aberration. (To our callow onion-burger palates, the combo is a great idea.) “And some come in and order nothing but a bowl of slaw and a spoon to eat it with!” This is a town of deep culinary passion!

Thanks for the history, Michael. I stopped at Johnnie's Grill on my way thru El Reno and it was great. I'm glad I read about it on this site. I got the burger plain; next time, I think I'll get some lettuce, tomato, etc. Some of the onions were charred, not just caramelized and I don't care for the taste of burnt onion.

The coney island was something different.



I think I got about twice that much slaw . I was thinking when I bit into it the slaw does the same thing as pickle relish, but they sure put a lot on and it's very, very, very sweet. I liked the wiener and chili, but the sweet slaw was a bit much for my tastes.

A burger place here started offering grilled onion burgers, Okie-style, here (don't flame me, that's what it's called on the menu) a couple of years ago but they dont' mash the onions into the meat, they're just grilled and piled on the bun, under the meat.

That's interesting, Hermit. Now I'm wondering if the mashed-in onions are restricted to El Reno alone, and grilled onions are the more widely held plains take on things. Hmmmm......

Beats me, Bill. That's beyond my meagre knowledge of the subject. But my interest in 'onion burgers' goes back a couple of decades (onions are one of the major food groups around here) and my favorite is from the Collinses' New Orleans Cookbook.

To 1 lb. ground chuck add 1 C chopped onions, 1.5 t salt, 1/2 t black pepper, 1/8 t cayenne, 1/8 t chili powder and 1/4 t paprika. Mix well, form into patties and grill over lower heat and for longer than normal until the onions have cooked. Takes about twice as long as regularly cooking a hamburger patty. Serve on french bread with mayo, shredded lettuce, pickles and tomatoes. I don't know if 'caramelization' is the proper term for what happens to the onions in this instance but their sweet cooked flavor infuses the whole patty.

I usually make only 3 rather thick patties out of a lb. of meat and shape them to fit a sub roll. One of my favorite ways to fix a burger at home.