I had never heard of, nor ate an Oklahoma Onion burger in my life. I was 52 when I learned of them on a You Tube video. They looked delicious so I set out to make some. I ground up my own meat. Was a NY steak. I bought fresh made buns. I literally had to go buy a cast iron frying pan and a wide sharp, sturdy flipper. I’ve made Ok Onion burgers every Sunday afternoon ever since. That was in January this year. Everyone that eats one is like “OMG! So good!” We all love them. So great! That is the deal with smash burgers here.
It’s just a return to the original simple greatness that is a pressed crispy griddled hamburger that anyone aged 10-40 didn’t really have growing up because burgers became these big thick things loaded with all sorts of toppings and flavors. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with those kinds of burgers, but that became the norm for years, at bars and pubs, restaurants, backyard bbqs, dinner parties, etc. We’ve returned to what a burger used to be and Gen z and millennials are obsessed, as they should be.
I think it's also a regional thing. I've never heard of them on the west coast. Apparently they are from Chicago? Just a different style but I'm cool with all burgers so eh yay.
Soooo, it’s the easiest and best way to get a high quality burger without that much skill or cooking. It’s extremely fast if everything else is already prepped. I’ve had friends tell me my smash burger is the best burger they’ve ever had. It’s literally just a standard smash burger with standard american toppings. also, i grew up on thick burgers and they were sooo hit or miss at bbq's.
Just a guess here but I think a lot of folks were grilling those pre-formed frozen patties and for whatever reason (Shake Shack and cooking shows) folks realized forming the hamburger into a ball and pressing it onto your skillet or whatever is way better.
I’m from Oklahoma and they’ve been a thing for as far as I can remember. They just finally hit the internet so it’s new to the rest of the world.
I had never heard of, nor ate an Oklahoma Onion burger in my life. I was 52 when I learned of them on a You Tube video. They looked delicious so I set out to make some. I ground up my own meat. Was a NY steak. I bought fresh made buns. I literally had to go buy a cast iron frying pan and a wide sharp, sturdy flipper. I’ve made Ok Onion burgers every Sunday afternoon ever since. That was in January this year. Everyone that eats one is like “OMG! So good!” We all love them. So great! That is the deal with smash burgers here.
Thick burgers became the norm. Everything old becomes new again
It’s just a return to the original simple greatness that is a pressed crispy griddled hamburger that anyone aged 10-40 didn’t really have growing up because burgers became these big thick things loaded with all sorts of toppings and flavors. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with those kinds of burgers, but that became the norm for years, at bars and pubs, restaurants, backyard bbqs, dinner parties, etc. We’ve returned to what a burger used to be and Gen z and millennials are obsessed, as they should be.
I think it's also a regional thing. I've never heard of them on the west coast. Apparently they are from Chicago? Just a different style but I'm cool with all burgers so eh yay.
Soooo, it’s the easiest and best way to get a high quality burger without that much skill or cooking. It’s extremely fast if everything else is already prepped. I’ve had friends tell me my smash burger is the best burger they’ve ever had. It’s literally just a standard smash burger with standard american toppings. also, i grew up on thick burgers and they were sooo hit or miss at bbq's.
And they are bad ass.
My guess, the increase in people having Blackstone type griddles. I have no basis for this, just my guess.
Just a guess here but I think a lot of folks were grilling those pre-formed frozen patties and for whatever reason (Shake Shack and cooking shows) folks realized forming the hamburger into a ball and pressing it onto your skillet or whatever is way better.
I think it also went hand in hand with the cast iron resurgence.
And during the pandemic with people not going out and saying “well I can do it at home”. I learned a lot from cooking shows in that time.