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Pimento Cheese Smash Burger with Comeback Sauce
Andre Lewis

Pimento Cheese Smash Burger with Comeback Sauce

Hot beef loosens pimento cheese into the craggy edges of this smash burger. The Mississippi-style comeback sauce is made from mayonnaise, chile sauce, mustard and lemon, not poured from one bottle. Keep the sauce underneath and the cheese on top so the bun holds.
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Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Total Time 37 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tbsp bottled chile sauce
  • 1 tbsp yellow mustard
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 4 oz sharp cheddar finely shredded
  • 2 oz cream cheese softened
  • 1/4 cup drained diced pimentos
  • 1 1/2 lbs 80/20 ground beef divided into 8 loose balls
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp coarse black pepper
  • 4 potato hamburger buns
  • 1 cup shredded iceberg lettuce

Method
 

  1. Stir the mayonnaise, chile sauce, mustard, lemon juice and smoked paprika together for the comeback sauce.
  2. Mix the cheddar, cream cheese and pimentos in a separate bowl until spreadable but still textured.
  3. Heat a steel griddle or cast-iron skillet over high heat until faintly smoking and toast the split buns for 1 minute.
  4. Place 4 cold beef balls on the hot surface, season them and immediately press firmly through parchment to 1/4 inch thick.
  5. Cook untouched for 90 seconds until crisp at the edges; do not re-smash, then scrape, flip and cook for 60 to 90 seconds until 160°F.
  6. Repeat with the remaining beef and spread 2 tablespoons pimento cheese over each of the final 4 patties for the last 30 seconds.
  7. Spread comeback sauce over each bun, add lettuce and stack one plain patty beneath one pimento-cheese patty.