May 12, 2010

Bratenburgers

burgers, German, Ground Beef, main dish, stovetop

Presented by

32 ratings

Prep time: 25 minutes
cooking time 45 minutes
Servings: 4
Partner: Butter Sauce New Potatoes

At Grandma’s, just a few changes of ingredients turned ordinary hamburgers into something really special.

Ingredients

3 slices dry bread
1/2 cup hot water
1 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon butter
1 3/4 cups water
1/4 cup cider vinegar
8 gingersnap cookies, crushed
12 whole cloves
6 bay leaves

Directions

1

Tear bread into small pieces. Combine the bread and hot water in a large bowl. Stir until bread is moistened.
2

Add ground beef, onion, egg and salt to bread mixture and mix well. Shape the mixture into 4 patties.
3

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown ground beef patties in hot butter. Reduce heat to low.
4

Combine the water, vinegar, gingersnap cookies, cloves and bay leaves in a medium bowl and mix well. Pour over the patties.
5

Cook, covered, for 45 minutes. Remove and discard cloves and bay leaves before serving. Serve patties with skillet juices.

Grandma's Secret Trick

These tasty German-style meat patties keep very well in the refrigerator for a day or two, and, as Grandma often said, "It's as easy to cook eight patties as it is to cook four." So she often doubled the recipe and stored the extra cooked patties in the refrigerator for a second meal. For a change, she served them on buns the second night.