Today I would like to introduce to you the Juicy Lucy.
The BF and I love a show on the Travel Channel called Man vs Food.
On this show, the host goes around America trying to find delicious (though always terribly unhealthy) recipes. Often, these recipes are larger than life in both size and flavour, and the host will challenge himself to eat gargantuan amounts of food from the restaurants he visits on his travels.
The Juicy Lucy was featured in an episode and the BF and I knew that we would be experimenting with the recipe very soon. There is a big controversy over which of two local restaurants founded the famous burger, and the host of Man vs Food was on a mission to discover which was best. In the end he felt both were good and that everyone needed to try a Juicy Lucy.
The Juicy Lucy.
Juicy Lucy Definition (courtesy Wikipedia)
A Jucy Lucy (sic) or Juicy Lucy is a cheeseburger having the cheese inside the meat patty rather than on top. A piece of cheese is surrounded by raw meat and cooked until it melts, resulting in a molten core of cheese within the patty. This scalding hot cheese tends to gush out at the first bite, so servers frequently warn patrons to let the burger cool for a few minutes before consumption.
Now that Barbecue Season is in full swing, it is the perfect excuse to try our own versions of the Juicy Lucy.
To start, simply combine ground beef, an egg, and a handful of crackers and form half of the mixture into a hamburger patty.
I used ground turkey meat, and the BF used regular ground beef.
Next, add your favourite kind of cheese on top of the hamburger. I used Feta cheese and the BF used a Kraft cheese slice, and Marble cheese.
We decided to take a walk on the wild side and sauteed onions and jalapenos to add to the inside of our burger pattys.
Take the other half of the hamburger mixture you should have left, and form it into a hamburger patty, then put that patty over your existing patty and cheese.
It should look something like this:
Pinch the edges together to avoid the cheese melting everywhere. That being said, cheese is bound to ooze out during the BBQ-ing process.
When my burger was formed, it was almost the size of my entire hand.
Evidently I overestimated the amount of meat I needed.
Throw some BBQ sauce on if you so desire.
Throw the burgers on the BBQ and pray it does not start hailing like it did the night we made these.
By the time I put my delicious hamburger onto a bun, my burger was literally twice the size of the BFs.
The center was ooey gooey deliciousness. The BFs was equally as good. The BFs friend was over for this process and enjoyed a Juicy Lucy, swearing that he will be making these instead of a regular burger for the duration of barbecue season. For me, it was extremely filling, but a treat none-the-less.
You owe it to yourself, to your taste buds, and to BBQ season to make yourself a Juicy Lucy this spring!
Happy BBQ-ing!
ADELLE
Those look AWESOME! Lol about the hail...BBQ weather fail! When I saw your post, I thought of this, which also involves a large quantity of meat lol: http://notwhileiameating.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/Meat-Cake.jpg It's meat loaf, mashed potatoes for the icing, and ketchup for the piping. My friend made one for her BF's birthday once!
ReplyDeleteOh my!!! I have never heard of a Juicy Lucy until now, but I WILL be trying one!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI made some juicy lucys this past weekend. Like you, inspired by one of my favourite television programs, Man V Food.
ReplyDeleteI did things in a much lazier manner. I purchased four beef burgers from a local grocery store's butcher shop. I used pizza mozzerella. I grilled 'em on a flat frying pan because: a) too lazy to turn on the barbecue for two burgers; b) pretty sure both MvF restaurants grilled the burgers on flat-tops. It is also easier to clean cheese run-off on a flat pan. Which did happen. One of the burgers, I guess I didn't pinch it completely closed all the way around. The cheese started to squirt out of the hole, kind of like the squeezing of a jelly doughnut. To aid the meat cooking all the way through, I kept a pan lid above the burgers so they could steam a bit.
This wasn't at all a planned endeavour. Just sorta decided that would be dinner while I was at the grocery store that day.
In the end, it worked out well. Me and my dining partner enjoyed them thoroughly.
I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the Jucy Lucy. (Also glad you linked to my site) After reading your post, I can't help but notice your cheese quantities. I have found that when making a Jucy Lucy you should use a nice thick piece of cheese. I usually use one that is 1/4-1/2" thick. Then you get a really juicy one (as they do at Matt's and 5-8).
ReplyDelete