Many cooks of Wisconsin and Minnesota consider it patriotic to add extra butter to a dish whenever possible. At drive-ins in these two states, butter is not considered merely a hamburger condiment but an integral component. After studying a slew of burger flippers at work in Milwaukee, we devised the following recipe:

　　

Ingredients

Makes 6 burgers

　　1 pound ground chuck

　　6 hamburger buns, split

　　3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus 3 tablespoons additional if using onion

　　2/3 cup chopped onion (optional)

　　

Accompaniments:

tomato slices

　　shredded lettuce

　　condiments such as ketchup and mustard

　　

Step 1

Fashion beef into 6 patties no more than 1/4 inch thick and season each patty with salt.

　　

Step 2

Spread bottom half of each bun with 1/2 tablespoon softened butter.

　　

Step 3

On a griddle or in a large heavy skillet fry onions in additional 3 tablespoons butter over moderately high heat, stirring, until barely softened, and push to side of griddle or skillet. Fry burgers, flipping once, about 2 minutes on each side for well-done.

　　

Step 4

Transfer burgers to buttered bun bottoms while still hot (to melt butter) and top with onion, tomato, and lettuce. Spread condiments on bun tops.

　　

Step 5

Serve burgers with plenty of napkins.