Try Topping This

Building hamburgers with local ingredients

BY ERICA SAGON PHOTOS BY GRANT HEGER

It’s the last hurrah for summer cookouts and what better way to say farewell than with hamburgers on the grill. Patties are a blank slate, ready to take on any combination of toppings. Here are ideas for hamburgers festooned with local fixings. Each one calls for your favorite buns and beef patties, unless otherwise noted.

THE USUAL Upgrade a classic burger starting with onions buns from Scholars Inn Bakehouse in Bloomington (scholarsinn.com). The Bakehouse serves its own burgers on these buns, which are now for sale as a bakery item. Up next is ketchup from LocalFolks Foods, a homemade-tasting, textured variety without high-fructose corn syrup ($5.50, localfolksfoods.com). Deck out the burger with lettuce, onion and tomato from the farmers’ market, then finish with an Indiana classic: hamburger dills from Sechler’s Pickles, made in St. Joe in the northeast part of the state ($4.15, gourmetpickles.com).