One of the best burgers in Maine is all about the sauce

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in July 2023.

Harmon’s Lunch in Falmouth has been slinging hundreds of cheeseburgers a day for more than 60 years from its unassuming spot on Gray Road.

On a busy day, owner Jeff Wormell said the business will sell about 400 burgers to hungry customers, many of whom believe it’s the best burger in the state .

The formula for an iconic Maine burger, Wormell said, is simple and has been used for years.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Wormell said. “It has worked for over sixty years.”

Harmon’s doesn’t offer a plethora of toppings for its burgers, begrudgingly allowing a small roster of add-ons and preferring to sell “loaded” burgers, with stewed onion, mustard and sweet red pepper relish.

“There are always a few out of the crowd that wish our burger was bigger or wish for other ingredients,” Wormell said, adding that Harmon’s offers ketchup, mayo and raw onion as alternatives. “We just don’t offer it and we try to keep it as it was.”

Each burger at Harmon’s starts with one or two two-ounce locally sourced beef patties, cooked on a flat top and served on a steamed bun with or without cheese. Wormell said he can fit 22 burgers on the restaurant’s flattop at one time, and can work through about 85 burgers in an hour.

While Harmon’s has never changed, many restaurants have shifted from larger burgers to less-fussy, fast-food style smash patties with old standby toppings: iceberg lettuce, pickles, a slice of tomato and onions. It’s a far cry from steak-knife-pierced, cooked-to-medium-rare, six-to-eight ounce behemoths topped with onion rings and dropped on top of a bloody mary that was trending on social media several years ago.

The added benefit for cooks is the reduced cooking time — a smashburger can be in your hand in less than 10 minutes.

The simplicity of a smashed burger leaves very little room or need for innovation, leaving the sauce to separate a good burger from a great burger. The addition of sweet red pepper relish to the Harmon’s burger makes it unique enough to stand out from the crowd, but not so unique to alienate customers.

To recreate Harmon’s iconic burger at home, I used three ounces of ground beef for a double patty burger, mostly because I don’t have an industrial patty press at my disposal and I find that smaller burgers shrink too small after cooking for any normal sized bun.

A good trick is to use a plastic container lid to press the burgers into a uniform patty shape after portioning them out.

After shaping, press each patty firmly into a smoking hot cooking surface — a cast iron pan or griddle preferably. Sear for two minutes on each side, making sure each patty is browned well.

Add American cheese to both patties after the flip and adorn a bun with the burgers, stewed onions, mustard and your relish. I prefer a toasted bun, but you can steam the buns on top of the onions while you’re cooking them — that’s what burger chain White Castle does.

The burger may seem simple, but it has everything. The caramelized beef, the melty American cheese, sweet caramelized onions, tangy mustard and the relish that marries the tang and sweetness perfectly.

Some states have distinctive burgers, like Oklahoma’s onion burger, which is smashed into the flattop with slivered onions, or Missouri’s Guberburger, which is topped with peanut butter. Some competition may need to be held to find Maine’s official contestant, but I think Harmon’s loaded burger may be leading the race.

If you’re looking to spice up your next cookout, red pepper relish is a simple project with a food processor. The prep is no more than five minutes, and you’re left with enough relish for a crowd that can be made ahead and stored in the fridge for a month.

Red Pepper Relish

yields about 3 cups

12 oz. red peppers, roughly sliced

1/2 (about 6 oz.) white onion, roughly sliced

3/4 cup (140 grams) white sugar

1 cup white vinegar

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

salt to taste

— In a food processor, combine red peppers and white onion. The mixture should not form a paste and be slightly chunky.

— Transfer the mixture to a pot, adding the rest of the ingredients.

— Heat the pot over medium-low heat, cooking until the onions and peppers are tender and mixture has reduced slightly, about 30 minutes.

— Cool at room temperature. This can be used immediately. Store leftovers in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a month.

Harmon’s Lunch is open for takeout and outdoor seating from 10:30 a.m to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday.

(Wormell said he is “weeks away” from opening Harmon’s dining room and expanding hours soon.)

Sam Shepherd is a journalist and chef from Hallowell, Maine. He worked at the Mount Desert Islander, Bangor Daily News and Kennebec Journal.