Garbage Plates

I went to college and met some of my greatest friends in Rochester, NY. It was there that I was introduced to the Garbage Plate. Originated at Nick Tahou Hots, a garbage plate is usually half macaroni salad, half homefries topped with two cheeseburgers, onions, mustard and a house-made "hot sauce." There are other options like french fries or beans, red hots, white hots, or eggs. I was a vegetarian when I was first introduced to Tahou's and it was a bit overwhelming. I always got grilled cheese on mine and part of me still prefers that. Now, about that "hot sauce." It's a meat sauce of sorts that, truth be told, really grossed me out. I figured it was just the meat bits and grease off the grill. And you want to ladle that over my food?? No way. Remember, vegetarian. So I when I decided to make these at home I knew I had to make it, but didn't really want to.  Thankfully I had a good Rochester friend with me to show me the error of my ways and I think I may be a convert. There I said it. I think I like the "hot sauce." It has so much more flavor than I ever knew. It still looks like dog food, but it is pretty delicious.

You'll need:

2 lbs ground beef

2 large onions

sliced cheese of your choice

1/2 lb elbow noodles

2 medium carrots

1 cup mayo

1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard, plus more for topping

1 bag frozen homefry potatoes

salt and pepper

Here's the recipe for the hot sauce. The meat and onions are included in the measurements above if you plan to halve the recipe, which is what I did. I got 4 generous plates out of this. If you're serving a crowd, make the whole recipe.

I made the mac salad the night the before so that it had time for the flavors to meld. Dice 1/4 of an onion and the carrots. Boil the noodles until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water. Combine noodles, onion, carrots, mayo and tablespoon mustard. Stir together until noodles are well coated. Salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate overnight until ready to serve.

For the hot sauce, fry up remaining 3/4 onion and garlic until soft. Add meat, stirring constantly and breaking up the meat with a fork or spatula. When the meat is browned, add water, tomato paste and spices. The recipe calls for using an immersion blender to get a finer consistency. I ran mine through the food processor and it worked great. Return to pan and simmer 1 hour.

For cheeseburgers, dice 1/2 onion and mix with remaining pound of ground beef. Form into patties. Traditional Tahou's hamburgers are thin and about the size of the palm of your hand. Cook hamburgers on a griddle, fry pan or grill, to your liking. Top with cheese.

Prepare homefries according to package directions. You could, of course, make these on your own if you wanted. Doesn't seem worth it to me in this regard.

Chop remaining onion for on top of your plates.

Now for the assembly. Fill half a plate with homefries and half with mac salad. Place cheeseburgers on top, then add onions and a drizzle of mustard. Ladle hot sauce over the whole thing. Ta da! If you want to get real, you'll put some ketchup and Frank's Red Hot on and then cut it all up.

This is by no means and all the time food. It's been years since I had one and I was a little surprised how good it tasted to me. It's not good for your heart or thighs but it will be yummy. The people I had over when I made this were all from or had lived in Rochester at some point. It was really fun to see happy faces and full bellies. We reminisced about college and all living together. Why do cholesterol and nostalgia go so well together?