The Mellow Mallow: Maid-Rites at Home

My dad grew up in the little town of Quincy Illinois where he first discovered the Maid-Rite. Everytime we would go visit my grandparents, he would make sure that we stopped at all of his favorite places to eat, one of those is the Maid-Rite Diner. The best way for me to describe Maid-Rites is they are like sloppy joes without the sauce. Maid-Rites are known for their seasoned loose-meat sandwiches. You can check out their website here. They have been in business for over 87 years. The locations are very limited and its hard to find Maid-Rite here in San Antonio. Luckily enough for me, my dad used to make these at home all the time when I was a kid, and he just so happened to share his secret recipe with me.

So today I am going to share this recipe with you. It is so simple, quick and delicious that I am sure it will become an instant favorite for a quick dinner and/or lunch.

For the seasoned beef you will need:

1 lb. ground beef
1/3 cup dill pickle juice
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Begin by browning the ground beef in a skillet or pan. As soon as the beef starts turning brown, add the onion powder, garlic powder, pickle juice and salt and pepper to taste. The secret to this ground beef is that you let the beef cook in the pickle juice!! I always use Best Maid pickles and pickle juice for this recipe, but you can use any dill pickle juice. This infuses the meat with the pickle flavor and keeps the meat super moist. Make sure you crumble the beef as much as possible. Once the meat is fully cooked, strain all of the pickle juice, grease, etc.. into a bowl. NOT DOWN THE SINK!! Make sure you always dispose of your grease in the trash can or proper recepticle. No grease monsters here!!!

Once the meat is strained, place the ground meat on a standard hamburger bun, or if you really want an authentic maid-rite, you can steam your hamburger buns before putting the meat on there. Typically the maid-rites are then topped with chopped onions and pickles and then your choice of mustard or ketchup. I love mine with just mustard, onions and pickles, but you can add any topping you prefer. You made it remember!!!!