Friday, 5 June 2009
I Survived my own Hamburger Chubby Melt
Always one to try new foods, I came upon one that was just to good to pass up. The Hamburger Fatty Melt! A sinister plot to keep us Americans fat, happy and complacent for sure. What is this nefarious culinary creation you might ask? Its a hamburger that uses two Grilled Cheese Sandwiches as buns! I kid you not, this one is not for those with heart problems. This burger (if we can still call it that) originally came from the Mossy Creek Cafe in Fisherville, Virginia where its called the "Chubby Melt" (a burger between two grilled cheese sandwiches, smothered with sautéed onions and mushrooms and topped with Thousand Island dressing).
When I first read the article I was taken a-back, how could anyone make up a sandwich that was so wrong and yet looked so right. I knew then and there I had to try this Grilled Cheese Cheeseburger, and I had to try it today. No waiting for the lazy got nothing else to do day, this one was just to good to pass up. So I did a google to see if there was more info about this burger surrounded in cheesy fat goodness and sure enough other brave souls had tried it. Come to find out folks were trying all kinds of things with the core components, like adding bacon or ham both in the grilled cheese and/or on the burger, along with all the normal condiments. So I could pretty much do what I wanted.
So in my normal happy go lucky I'm about to eat mood, I swing on downstairs and start rummaging around the fridge and pantry looking for all the items for what will surely be the onset of personal Coronary Artery disease. Now the online instructions said they used Pepperidge Farm Very Thin white bread, but since normal Americans don't have this just laying around their kitchen and I'm certain Yahoo! got paid to endorse it. I went forward with my quest for the chubby melt burger using my old standby wheat bread of normal thickness. I also used velvetta like brick cheese which melts great and you can cut it as thick or thin as you want. I also decided I was gonna throw on some condiments like ketchup, mustard, sliced onion and kosher dill pickle slices. I didn't have tomatoes or mushrooms, but I can try this again for sure. I also didn't want to cook the onions because I like 'em raw.
I also didn't have loose hamburger laying around, but I did have frozen preformed round 100% pure beef patties. I threw a patty on my The George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine to give the meat a few minutes head start on the grilled cheese sandwiches. I put a non-stick skillet on medium and tossed in some butter, while I prepared the bread and cheese slices. Once the butter started to bubble a little bit I put the sandwiches in one at a time cuz its a smaller pan. As I was cooking the grilled cheeses I realized they were gonna make for a very tall burger, so after I flipped them once I pressed down on them with my spatula until they were just the right thickness.
Oh, this was starting to smell unhealthily good. I had to lean over the sink every 20 seconds or so because I was drooling in anticipation of this artery clogging consumption. The grilled cheese sandwiches finished up about 1 minute before the beef patty, just enough time to throw on the ketchup, mustard, sliced onion and kosher dill pickle slices. I plopped the patty down on the first sandwich and folded the other on top. I was ready for hamburger heaven.
There it sat, the mount olympus of hamburgers in all its grilled cheese bunned goodness. It looked daunting, but I was certain that after having practiced eating for 44 years I would prevail. So I grabbed a beverage and proceeded to dig in. Uhhh, the first bite was a shock of gooey ooey cheese and beef... some foods were born of greatness. I'm pretty sure I didn't breath until after I consumed it because after it was all gone I found myself panting... it was that good.
As I was sitting here writing about this adventure in hamburger madness I realized this could be fun to experiment with. Perhaps some shaved truffle added to the grilled cheese for those with a penchant for the expensive. Or maybe bacon, onions and bbq sauce for the rustic cowboy types. I'm sure we will see more of the Hamburger Chubby Melt in all kinds of configurations.
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