I remember being six years old and my big brother Jesse putting me in his car and driving me to the original Tommy’s. I remember sliding the refrigerator door open and pulling out a glass bottle of yahoo, while I waited for my chili cheese burger. Just thinking about it makes me nostalgic and makes me miss my big brother that is still lives in California. Fast forward to today, living in Puerto Rico there is no Tommy’s around this neck of the beach… So what’s a girl to do? Make my own version of course. A little history about Tommy’s: It was founded in 1946 by Tom Koulax. The son of Greek immigrants, Tom engaged in various business ventures before founding the original stand at Beverly and Rampart Blvds. in Los Angeles. It took some time before the public discovered his small stand. However, the many long hours of work, and dedication toward quality and fast service finally paid off. By the mid 1950’s, the little stand gained a reputation like none other for the appetites of Los Angeles burger lovers. In the 1960’s Tom had to expand his operation to accommodate the growth of his customer base. Soon he had acquired the entire northeast corner, along with the second serving station. By this time, it was apparent the public was hooked and safe to say…many years later. I too was hooked!
Chili Cheese Burger
Ingredients
Fries:
- 4 cups of Potato wedges
- Olive Oil (as needed)
- Cracked pepper (as needed)
Chili Cheeseburgers:
- 1 ½ Lbs. Ground Sirloin
- 1/3 cup onions (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons McCormick Montreal steak seasoning
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 slices of sharp cheddar cheese
- 4 Brioche burger buns
- 4 teaspoons mustard
- 1 15 oz can of Hormel Chili (NO BEANS!!)
- 4 tomato slices (think cut)
- 16 slices of pickles
Instructions
- Gather you Ingredients
- Preheat oven to 425° F
- Line a baking sheet pan with parchment paper
- Put 4 cups of frozen wedges in a large bowl and drizzle olive oil.
- Mix well until fries are sufficiently covered with Olive oil.
- Place wedges on the baking pan. Make sure they are even spaced and not on top of each other. Salt and pepper until each fry is seasoned.
- Place wedges in oven and bake until golden brown (roughly 25 minutes) Now time for the burgers!!
- Prepare a small baking sheet pan by placing parchment on it.
- Now get a large bowl.
- Add in your ground sirloin, chopped onions & McCormick pepper into the bowl.
- Mix ingredients together until fully combined
- Flatten out your meat mixture in bowl and divide into 4 sections.
- Take each section and using your hands, form a patty and place on top of baking sheet. Once you have all your patties formed and on the baking sheet. Set to the side.
- In a large skillet, add in your olive oil and set on med high heat.
- Add your patties to the hot skillet. (cook about 5 minutes per side)
- Now open your can of chili and place in microwave safe bowl. (covered)
- Microwave chili for 3 minutes. Remove from microwave and set aside.
- If you haven’t done so already. Flip your patty and continue cooking.
- Once the patty is done, add your cheese to the patty.
- When the cheese is melted, remove patty from pan and place on parchment.
- Take your Brioche buns and place them in the oven on a baking sheet. (Only to warm. About 2 minutes)
- Once warmed, remove buns from the oven and let’s build the burger.
- Prep all of your ingredients that you will need to build your burger.
- Focusing on your bottom buns, add mustard.
- Now add a cheese slice on top of the mustard.
- Next is the MEAT!! Place your meat patties with melted cheese on the buns.
- It is time for the chili. Add about a tablespoon worth of chili on the burgers.
- Place your tomatoes
- Then your pickles
- Now add mustard to the top buns and place the top buns on the pickles to complete your burgers.
- At this point, your fries should be done! Remove them from the oven
- Add your desired amount to the plate or plater of your choice and ENJOY!
- Wait Wait Wait..OR…hear me out. You can add chili, cheese w/onions to the fries!!!! I KNOW RIGHT!! You can thank me in the comments 🙂
