Steamed Onion Sliders

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef, 80/20
• 1 cup finely minced yellow onion
• 1/2 cup water
• 12 slider buns or dinner rolls
• 6 slices American cheese, halved
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 3/4 tsp black pepper
• 24 dill pickle chips
• Yellow mustard, for serving

Before you cook

• Mince the onion as fine as you can, almost to a pulp.
• Press the beef into an even quarter-inch sheet on a parchment-lined sheet pan, then cut it into 12 squares.
• Poke five small holes through each square with the end of a chopstick so steam can rise through the meat.
• Season the squares with the salt and pepper.

Steps

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
2. Spread the minced onion across the bottom of the skillet in an even layer and cook for 3 minutes, until it smells sweet.
3. Lay the beef squares on top of the onions, holes up, keeping them in a single layer.
4. Pour the water around the edges of the pan and cover immediately.
5. Steam for 5 minutes, until the beef has turned gray-brown and cooked through from below.
6. Lay a half slice of cheese on each patty.
7. Set the bun bottoms on top of the patties and the bun tops on those, then cover again and steam for 3 minutes so the buns soften in the onion steam.
8. Turn off the heat and lift out each stack with a spatula, flipping it upright so the patty and its onions sit on the bottom bun.
9. Tuck two pickle chips into each slider and add a small squeeze of mustard.
10. Serve the sliders in a pile, three or four per person.