When Good Recipes Go Bad

First, let me apologize for lack of posting.  My life has gotten significantly more complicated - in a good way.  In two months time, I have gotten a new job and a promotion.  Excellent, no?  Unfortunately, that severely cuts down on my blogging (and cooking) time.  Sunday is my "leave me alone" day where my husband and I have decided I will blog/cook as much as I want, so hopefully I'll get on a regular schedule.

So today, I'm staring at my laptop and stack of magazines that I need to read.  I decide to go for the magazines first since I was feeling neither humorous nor bright.

Okay, okay, I'm never either of those things, but one can dream.

Anyway, I'm feeling like a little Every Day with Rachael Ray this afternoon morning, so that's where I go first.  Nine pages in, I find a recipe for a Big Beef Burger with Crunchy Sour Cream Onions.  This also happens to be the cover of the magazine.  (Please ignore "awfulness" of this picture - I couldn't find her COVER RECIPE anywhere on her site)

How the hell do you eat this thing?

If you read this blog, you know that I'm constantly trying to make my meals more healthy.  Do not mistake this for me being on a diet.  I indulge on yummy stuff all the time... I just try to not make it a habit.  When I cook, I try to make the recipes as healthy as possible and use low-fat, reduced-sodium ingredients everywhere I can.  That way, when I want a burger that looks as disgustingly fattening as this, I don't feel guilty.

This brings me to the point of my post.  When I choose to indulge, I tend to let other people do the cooking for me.  It kind of adds to the whole experience.  

My husband looked over my shoulder at the picture and said, "looks good, but also like a lot of work."  I decided to read over the recipe to see just how correct he is.  Here's the breakdown:

• The recipe makes 4 burgers at a 1/2 pound each

• Each burger:
• has 1/4 cup sauce made out of buttermilk, full-fat sour cream & ketchup
• is on a Brioche roll & drizzled with olive oil
• is topped with a 1" fried onion ring with a buttermilk & full-fat sour cream batter

THAT is one gut busting burger!  And you are going to make this on a weekday?  Also, they don't give a timing of this recipe, but the onion rings alone, I'd estimate at 30 minutes.  And we shouldn't forget how horribly messy this is going to be.  Dipping and dredging the onion rings pales in comparison to the popping hot oil, which you will have to dispose of at some point.  Finally, the cost of making these burgers would probably equal that of eating in a restaurant.

Here's the question: assuming you would eat this, would any of you make this at home or would you enjoy letting someone else cook this for you and deal with the mess of it all?  For me, the answer is let someone else make it and deal with the aftermath.  What good is a treat if you have to cook it and clean up?