CARL’S JR. THE SIX DOLLAR BURGER

In 2001 this West Coast chain came up with a great idea: Clone the type of burger you’d get at a casual restaurant chain such as Chili’s or T.G.I. Friday’s for around six bucks, but sell it for just $3.95. It’s ⅓ pound of ground beef stacked on top of plenty of fixings, including red onion and those sweet-tasting bread-and-butter pickle slices. And the cost of a Six Dollar Burger gets even lower when you make your own version at home: How does less than two bucks grab ya?

1. Preheat a barbecue or indoor grill to medium heat.
2. Form the ground beef into a patty with a slightly larger diameter than the sesame seed bun.
3. Grill the burger for 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until done. Be sure to lightly salt and pepper each side of the patty.
4. While the patty grills, brown the faces of the bun in a hot skillet over medium heat.
5. After the buns have browned, spread about 1½ teaspoons of mayonnaise on the face of the top bun half, as well as on the bottom bun half.

6. Spread 1 teaspoon of mustard on the face of the top bun half, followed by 2 teaspoons of ketchup.

7. Arrange 3 or 4 bread-and-butter pickle slices on the bottom bun half.

8. Arrange the lettuce leaf on the pickles, followed by the tomato slices and red onion.

9. When the beef is cooked, arrange 2 slices of American cheese on the patty, let it melt a bit, then place the top bun half on the cheese and scoop up the whole thing with a spatula and place it on the bottom half of the burger.

• MAKES 1 HAMBURGER.