In restaurants and other dining establishments across North America, the hamburger has been a staple dish for ages. People of all generations love eating them and that’s not going to change anytime soon.
That’s pretty impressive, considering the hamburger’s humble beginnings around 1900, as a simple cooked beef patty sandwiched between two slices of bread and nothing else. Where the dish was first served is a matter of debate, with restaurants and cooks in cities like New Haven, Connecticut, Hamburg, New York, and Athens, Texas all claiming to be the first to serve it.
Two innovations to this original hamburger seem to have sealed its success and made it a forever popular dish, not only in North America, but now in other parts of the world.
One of the innovations was to remove the hamburger patty from the sliced ​​bread and place it in a bun that was easy to grip with your hands. Lore suggests that in 1916, a cook named Walter Anderson invented the first hamburger bun. Five years later, he co-founded what became the White Castle restaurant chain, best known for its mini hamburgers.
The second innovation came when someone decided to enhance the flavor of the hamburger by topping it with cheese. Claims differ as to who invented the first cheeseburger, but one story suggests it was Lionel Sternberger in 1924. Sternberger, then 16, was working as a cook at his father’s restaurant, The Rite Spot, in Pasadena, California. One day, according to legend, he put cheese on a hamburger he was frying and voila, the cheeseburger was born. It eventually became very popular, and still is.
Most cheeseburgers are still made by covering a burger patty with cheese. But in the 1950s, someone invented a different way to make them: Cheese was placed between two burger patties. The meat was then pressed together, sealing the two patties around the cheese, creating a single cheese-filled patty. Once this patty was cooked, the cheese melted and the burger had a melted cheese center.
It was in Minneapolis, Minnesota that this cheese-filled burger was supposedly invented. And, again, according to legend, it became known as the Juicy Lucy after the burger’s inventor bit into his creation and happily declared, “Oooh, it’s a Juicy Lucy!”
Much like the invention of the hamburger and cheeseburger, there are conflicting claims as to which establishment first served the Juicy Lucy, also spelled Jucy Lucy. Some say it was Matt’s Bar, others say it was a tavern called the 5-8 Club, both located on the same street in south Minneapolis.
These days, of course, cooks of all stripes are also making cheese-stuffed burgers, myself included. In my recipe, I opted for processed cheese, which is the traditional type. But if you don’t want to go that route, in the Eric’s Options section of the recipe, I suggest other types of cheese you can use. Make a summer meal by serving the Juicy Lucy with potato chips, coleslaw, pickles, and/or a cold beer or lemonade.
Lucy’s Juicy Burger
These burgers are made with beef patties stuffed with cheese and grilled. As the patties cook, the cheese melts, creating a delicious, melty center.
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: eight minutes
Makes: four servings
600 to 650 grams of lean ground beef
1 teaspoon seasoning salt (see note 1)
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• touches of Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce
4 slices of processed cheese (see Eric’s options)
• vegetable oil spray
4 hamburger buns, halved and warmed (see note 2)
• mayonnaise or ranch dressing, to taste
• mustard and/or ketchup, to taste
• young mixed salad leaves, to taste
4 to 8 slices of ripe tomatoes
4 to 8 thin slices of onion
• sliced ​​dill or bread and butter pickles, to taste
In a bowl, combine beef, seasoning salt, pepper, Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce. Divide beef into eight roughly equal-sized pieces.
Press and shape four of these pieces into thin patties, about 4 1/2 inches in diameter. Press and shape the other four pieces into four slightly smaller patties, each about 4 inches in diameter.
Cut each slice of processed cheese into four squares. Place four of these squares, overlapping, in the center of each of the larger 4 1/2-inch-diameter patties. Now top each of these cheese-filled patties with one of the 4-inch-wide patties. Firmly pinch and press the edges of the patties together, sealing the cheese inside, creating four cheese-stuffed hamburger patties.
To cook the patties, preheat your barbecue or indoor grill to medium-high heat. When hot, lightly oil the grill bars. Grill the patties for about four minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Transfer the cooked patties to a clean plate and let rest for a minute or two. This will prevent the cheese from oozing out of the patties, which would happen if you were eating them straight off the grill.
While the patties are resting, spread the bottom buns with mayonnaise (or ranch dressing), mustard, and/or ketchup, to taste. Arrange a few lettuce leaves on each bottom bun. Top these leaves with sliced ​​tomatoes, onions, and pickles. Place a patty on each bottom bun, stack it on top of the top buns, and serve.
Note 1: Brands such as Hy’s or Lawry’s seasoning salt, sold in many grocery stores, work well for this recipe. You can also use your favorite seasoning blend to flavor the burger patties.
Note 2: The buns I used to test this recipe were potato buns made by Portofino Bakery, a Saanichton bakery that sells its products at grocery stores across the island. If you can’t find them, any other soft hamburger bun will work in this recipe as well. You can reheat the buns by placing them, cut side down, on the grill for about a minute while the burger patties cook.
Eric’s options: Other types of cheese in similarly sized slices, such as cheddar, provolone, Swiss or Havarti, can be substituted for the processed cheese. You can also stuff the burger patties with crumbled blue cheese.
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Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His columns appear in Life on Wednesdays and Sundays.
