Juicy Lucy Cheeseburgers with Emily’s Secret Sauce

First, make the secret sauce. Just mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and set aside!

Next make the burgers!

• Gently mix together the ground beef, salt, pepper, Santa Maria seasoning and Worcestershire. To prevent the burgers from getting dense don’t over mix. Just enough until the ingredients are incorporated.

Now for filling the burger.

• There are lots of techniques but I find the starting with a ball is best! Place about a tablespoon to 2 tablespoons of meat in your hand and roll into a ball. Then, with your thumb make a small imprint in the center of the ball to create a little hole. Fill the hole with 2 teaspoons of pepper jack cheese and half a slice of American cheese. Using your hands, make a cupping motion around the meat to close up the top of the hole where the cheese is. Eventually it should come together and look like a meatball again. No cheese should be showing through the meat. Repeat until you’ve made a total of 6 patties.
• Now gently press down on the burger to make it into a disk. You will be smashing these burgers down even more once we cook them!
• I like to cook these burger in my Lodge cast iron skillet. Heat the cast iron skillet on high heat with a teaspoon of vegetable or canola oil. Once pan is hot and almost smoking (2 minutes), add in the burger patties. Work in batches of 2-3 to make sure each burger is getting a nice sear.
• Sear the burgers by pushing down with a medal spatula. You should be hearing the sizzle of the burger! After 3 minutes on medium- high, flip the burgers. Repeat on the other side for 3 minutes.
• The burgers should be cooked and looking juicy Lucy now! Take the burgers out and brown the buns in the same cast iron pan that has the juices and beef fat. Toast them for about 30-45 seconds on medium heat.

Time to assemble!

• Place 2 of the patties on the bottom half of the bun and top with a heaping tablespoon of the secret sauce. I like to add some chopped iceberg lettuce and a few slices of tomato! I cover the other side of the bun with more sauce and dive in. Seriously the best burger ever!!!