Chef John'S Beef Sliders - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
16 paper muffin liners
salt and ground black pepper to taste
Secret sauce ingredients:
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
8 slider-size burger buns, cut almost through horizontally
8 slices roma (plum) tomato

Preparation

Place ground beef onto a work surface; divide into 8 equal-size pieces using a knife or pastry cutter. Line 8 muffin cups with paper liners.
Sprinkle bottoms of paper liners with salt and black pepper. Form each piece of burger into a rough ball and place into a muffin cup. Season tops with salt and pepper.
Place a second paper liner on top of each piece of meat and gently press it down to shape the mini burger into a round, flat shape. Pull off the paper tops and remove burgers from the muffin cups; remove bottom paper liners from burgers.
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook burgers in the hot skillet until they have a browned crust and are slightly pink in the middle, about 3 minutes per side. Flip burgers and cook 3 minutes on other side. Remove burgers to a plate to rest for 2 minutes.
Mix mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, and pickle relish in a bowl; spoon a dollop onto each bun. Place burgers onto buns, season with more black pepper, and top with a tomato slice. Close buns and serve.