A Taxonomy of the Different Species ofHamburger | Meathead

"A Hamburger is warm and fragrant and juicy. A hamburger is soft and non-threatening. Itpersonifies the Great Mother herself, who has nourished us from the beginning. A hamburger is anicon of layered circles, the circle being at once the most spiritual and the most sensual of shapes. Ahamburger is companionable and faintly erotic: the nipple of the Goddess, the bountiful belly-ball ofEve." -- Tom Robbins from "The Genius Waitress" in Esquire, 1983

Once upon a time, hamburgers were the All-American inexpensive meal that Dad was allowed toimmolate in the back yard until they looked, and tasted like, black hockey pucks. Then cameMcDonald's and burgers became tan and tasted like a tanned hide.

To the observant burger anthropologist, there are at least a dozen distinctive species and subspeciesof burger. Like sports teams, everyone has a favorite. Most hamburgers are distinguished mainly bythe condiments. But condiments don't make the burger. The meat does. And how you cook it.

But first, let's play culinary anthropologist and study the menu of the major species of burger.

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Steakhouse Burgers

This is the burgerthat wakes me up in the middle of the night. It is floating above my bed, just out of reach, drippingon my forehead and whispering provocatively, "eeeeat me, eeeeat me."E-coli 0157:H7 in burgers:The risk is serious, the solution is not as simple as they say

In 1993 four children died from hamburgers contaminated by the virulent pathogen Escherichia coliO157:H7 from undercooked ground beef purchased at Jack in the Box restaurants. Undercookedground meat and sausage can kill. It is no joke. If someone shows symptoms of illness, do nothesitate, get to the emergency room in a hurry.

E-coli O157:H7 is primarily a problem in ground meats, not steaks. USDA recommends all groundmeats be cooked to 160F to be safe. In fact, there may be ways to serve safe meat cooked to lowertemps. In future articles, when I publish some recipes, I will discuss the issue in detail. Until then, if

you wish to read more on the subject, please read my article on Food Safety, Knife Safety, and GrillSafety.

A note to vegans and omnivores

I respect your food decisions and I hope you will respect those of others. Vegans: You will probablynot like this article and may be grossed out by the pictures. You should probably click away now.This article is NOT about the merits about eating meat. If you would like to debate that, here isanother article where you can debate meat eating. Please refrain from posting warnings on thattopic in this article as you have in the past. Omnivores: Please refrain from slandering and baitingvegans. If either side starts a squabble, I will flag you as abusive and delete the comments asviolations of the terms of Huffington Post comment policy, specifically:

o They are off-topic.

o They are clearly posted with the explicit intention of provoking other commenters or the staff atHuffington Post.

Made from ground steak, not scraps of lips and tail, it's adipose at 8 ounces and 3/4" thick and goesbumper to bumper on a 4" bun, with a chocolate brown crunchy crust whose savor is accented witha soupcon of charred beef fat amplified by more than a kiss of salinity, and, when broached, it burstslike a grape in my mouth coating it with earthy beefy flavor that says "I am not a lowly peasant meal,I am not an assembly line product, I am a rare treat that is American cuisine at its epitome becauseto make me properly you've gotta have your stuff together."

In the steakhouse, its dominion, this steakburger is usually broiled under scorching hot gas flamesuntil the proteins metamorphose and the lipids in the fats char. It sits on a pillowy soft bun capableof absorbing its ample juices, buttered and toasted enough to add richness and crackly texture,simply adorned with lettuce, tomato, perhaps salty/smoky/crunchy bacon, perhaps a viscous layer ofmelted cheddar, and your choice of ketchup, mustard, mayo, or a blend of all three. In such a state,it transmogrifies from simple sandwich to feast. Forget everything you think you know about cookingburgers. Click here for my recipe for the perfect Steakhouse Burger.

Diner Burgers

The Diner Burger and its variations on thetheme have a vocal following with good reason. It is a 3 to 4 ounce thin disk of ground beef slappedon a blistering hot griddle, cooked quickly until it is mahogany and crisp on one side, then flippedand seared until the second side matches the first. If the griddle is blazing hot this can happenbefore the center dries out. The griddle makes contact with maximum surface and that is what theDiner Burger is really all about. Beefy flavor and two surfaces turned brown by that miracle of

chemistry, the Maillard reaction that makes proteins soar beyond their natural state when heatedwell above 300F. Click here for my recipe for the perfect Diner Burger.

The Smashed Burger. A popular variant of the Diner Burger is The Smashed Burger which starts asa golf ball sized meatball and gets smashed into the plancha to achieve maximum surface contactand jagged crunchy edges. This method is popular in diners across the nation, but the epitome is theShake Shack with three locations in NYC and a cult following that forms long lines.

The Onion Burger. An excellent variant of the style is The Onion Burger, where raw onions arepressed into the raw top of the patty while the first side is on the griddle, and when it is flipped, theycaramelize and get sweet in the burger grease and practically fuse to the surface.

Cheeseburgers

It's really a stretch to call the cheeseburger adistinctive style of burger because, to make a cheeseburger, all you need to do is add cheese to anyof the other burger species. Technically, the cheese is a condiment or a topping, even thoughsometimes the cheese is placed between two thin patties to make the ever popular sub species calledthe Double Cheeseburger or The Big Baby on Chicago's Southside. Click here for my article on TheZen of Cheeseburgers.Patty Melt

The patty melt is a cross between the cheeseburger and the grilled cheese sandwich. It istraditionally a pan fried hamburger patty topped with pan fried onions topped with Swiss Cheesebetween slices of rye bread. It is then cooked on both sides in the meat fat or more often in butteruntil the bread is toasted on the outside and the cheese has melted. Variations include white bread,sourdough, ciabatta, and cooking on a sandwich press.Store Burgers

In my private lexicon, Store Burgers aredispensed by the national fast food chain "stores" as their owners prefer to call them, rather thanrestaurants. The skimpy patties are made in a warehouse far far away from trimmings of inferiorcuts of meat and slabs of fat, pressed in a mold so they are perfectly flat and round, frozen andshipped across state lines in giant reefer (refrigerator) semi-trailer trucks. Sadly, burgers are notcovered by the Mann Act. Some places griddle them, some flame broil them, but, if you peel off thesmushed bun, wilted lettuce, pink tomato, corrugated pickle slices, and not-so-special sauce, youfind uniformly gray flaps of mystery meat ground so fine that no bone could survive. They are allcooked well past well done until they are dry and closer to a chamois than a happy meal, wrapped intoilet paper, held under heat lamps until the buns are limp and soggy, and served in a cardboardcasket. RIP.Homestyle Burgers

These are the burgers Grandma made. Big and fat and loaded on the inside with so many veggiesthat they are almost a well rounded meal. Grandma loved to chop up onions, garlic, green peppers,and splash in some steak sauce or Worcestershire. Maybe she'd even mix in some breadcrumbs andan egg as binders. More like meatloaf on a bun, she'd cook them in a frying pan on the stovetop oreven in the oven. Because of all the moisture they were juicy and crumbly. When you were 10,nothing tasted better after a snowball fight. Now they taste like nothing less than home.Jucy Lucyand other Stuffed Burgers

Before the cooking begins, take a thin patty, top it with a wad of yellow or blue cheese, and thenanother patty. Pinch the edges together thoroughly and tightly so they don't leak to seal in thegoodness. Matt's in in Minneapolis, MN, is the home of the original Jucy Lucy, and that's right,there's no "i" in Jucy. The molten core of the Jucy Lucy is cheese, but some folks use butter,especially herbed butter, and others insert sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions, you name it.But those are Stuffed Burgers, not Jucy Lucys.Smoked Burgers

Put your patties in a smoker and then take them out and brown them in a frying pan or on a griddle.Barbecue joints around the nation do it. The now deceased Original Texas Barbecue King in LAsmoked their humongous one pound King burgers on their smoker beneath their ribs so they cancatch the drippings. With a recipe like that, how could they go out of business? Oh. LA.SteamedBurgers

There are three subspecies of Steamed Burgers.

Slyders. These burgers are cooked with steam rather than dry heat. White Castle "Slyders" (a.k.a.Sliders) are the most famous steamed burgers, so named because they slide right down. And yes,they were originally trademarked with a "y". That's one at right.

First a layer of chopped onion bits that have been defanged by soaking in water go on a medium hotgriddle, then the 2.5" square patties go on top of them, never touching the griddle, each with fiveholes punched in them to speed cooking and to distribute the onion flavor, then some salt issprinkled on the squares, then one lonesome crinkle cut dill pickle slice goes over the center hole,then the bun bottoms, face down, then the bun tops. They sit there and steam in the mist from theonions and the meat, without a lid, just the buns on top. No flipping necessary. Take home a sack.

Connecticut Cheeseburgs. Serious devotees of steamers are partial to the hefty, gooey versionsserved in Connecticut, especially Ted's Steamed Cheeseburg in Meriden, described below underregional burger styles. Yes, it is "Cheeseburg" without the "er".

Dome Burgers. A variant of the Steamed Burger can be found in scores of diners across the nation.The patty is cooked on a griddle under a metal dome, combining dry heat from below, and steamfrom above. Some short order cooks even sprinkle water or shaved ice under the dome to createmore steam.

Deep Fried Burgers

Load up a frying pan with oil, preferably tallowmade by rendering beef fat, make a thin patty, and when the oil is burbling, in goes the meat. It willsink, and when the crispy disk floats to the top, it is done. Shake off the surface oil, and onto the bunit goes. Since 1912, Dyer's Burgers on Beale St. in Memphis has been the mecca for deep friedburger lovers. Dyer's even makes a cheeseburger by putting the slice of cheese on the burger in thegrease. Playboy ranks it as one of the nation's top 10, and Esquire puts it on their list of "60 ThingsWorth Shortening Your Life For." The owner says his secret is "Pride, tradition, and grease."

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In Jefferson City, MO, Paddy Malone's Yogi Burger is a half pound patty that is dipped in batter andthen deep fried, topped with Thousand Island Dressing and all the fixins' and served on Texas Toast.Is that Irish?

Butterburgers

Popular in the dairy state of Wisconsin, the Butter Burger patty is schwabbed with a schmear ofbutter on one side which is then placed butter side down on the griddle. Another schmear goes onthe top just before it is flipped. It is then served on a bun with schmears on the cut sides of the bunsand on top of the patty beneath the condiments. Solly's Grille in Milwaukee claims to have inventedthe thing and it is served in a pool of the yellow stuff that has dripped off the sandwich. Ironically,Culver's ButterBurger is not a true butter burger. It gets its name from butter on the toasted bun,something any good burger should have. I go to Culver's for the custards, not the burgers.TheNovelty Burger

Finally, we have the Novelty Burger. One might be charitable and call them creative burgers madeby innovative chefs, but most don't deserve the elevation.

Silly Burgers. Every pub looking to differentiate itself from the beer hall across the street feels theneed to tweak the formula beyond rational. They come with all manner of mix-ins, ranging from theinsanely hot Bhut jolokia (a.k.a. the "Indian ghost chile") to hard boiled eggs. Another Silly Burger,perhaps the silliest of them all, is the Luther Burger, named after an early fan, singer/songwriterLuther Vandross. It is a patty between two donuts or donut halves. It was relatively unknown until itstarred in a TV cartoon, and grew in fame when the Gateway Grizzlies, a minor league baseball teamin St. Louis, started serving it. They split a deep-fried Krispy Kreme Donut, lay a patty on it, and topit with bacon and melted cheese. Is there a doctor in the stadium?

We can also include in this category the 50 pound burgers (betcha can't eat one), and the quadruplestack (held together by skewers, not toothpicks), and the burgers topped with everything frompineapple rings to salmon. Any attempt to list all the Silly Burgers is as futile as trying to list allpolitical lies.

Mini-Burgers. Among the subspecies is the recent trend to mini burgers. Some are thin disks, someare fat, they are meant to be less filling and higher markup, and often served with chocolate martinisand other abominations in shee-shee bars. Some audacious and uneducated chefs call them sliders.Not, not, not!

Gourmet Burgers. A subspecies of the sillyburger is the Gourmet Burger. The concept goes back to the original Hamburg steak and itsdescendant, the Salisbury Steak (see below), an attempt to make ground beef a competitor with realsteaks. The concept of upscale hamburger died as buns swallowed ground meat like Pacmen andthen it resurfaced in 1975 when Manhattan's fabled 21 Club served a $21 burger. Now GourmetBurgers are everywhere. Scores of restaurants serve burgers made from expensive Kobe or Wagyubeef with exotic mix-ins and toppings. The New York Times credits (blames?) Daniel Boulud withstarting the trend in 2001 at his Times Square DB Bistro Moderne when he stuffed ground sirloinwith braised short ribs, foie gras, and truffles when they are in season. It's more than $30. It's a finesandwich, done perfectly, with a lump of foie gras about the size of a marble embedded in thecenter. That's it at right.

In 2008 TV chef and restaurateur Bobby Flay opened Bobby's Burger Palace in a New York Citysuburb, and other celebrity chefs have jumped on the bandwagon. Emeril Lagasse has opened BAM(Burgers And More) in the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, PA. Hubert Keller has the Burger Barin Las Vegas, St. Louis, and San Francisco. And, mon dieu, according to the New York Times,burgers are Chic in Paris now!

Unlike hot dogs, which have numerous regional styles (see my article Hot Dog Road Trip), there areonly a handful of hamburger styles that are truly regional. Many variations are served nationwide orlimited to one restaurant. But there are a few styles that seem to have taken hold in a region wherethe locals call it their own. If you know of other regional styles, please let me know in the commentsbelow.

The New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger

The Green Chile Cheeseburger is the bomb in the Southwest, especially New Mexico. It is acheeseburger crowned with mild green Hatch chiles, the local name for Anaheim chiles. But Hatch isa town in NM, and no way they would name their signature chiles after a town in CA. In some

restaurants the the chiles are smoke roasted, some fry them on the griddle, and some puree them ina blender with other goodies. Some are topped with bacon, and a spoon of sour cream. The Owl Bar& Cafe and the Buckhorn Tavern in San Antonio, NM, are on everyone's top five list.The SouthCarolina Pimento Cheese Burger

The Pimento Cheese Burger (it is two words down there) is another regional specialty especiallypopular in Columbia, SC and in other pockets of the South. Pimento cheese spread replaces themelted cheese as well as the ketchup, mustard, and secret sauces. You can add lettuce, tomato, andonion, but that's it. And yes, I know the correct spelling is pimiento, but not many places spell it thatway. The Varsity, in Atlanta, GA, probably sells more of them than anyone, but the owner was once astudent at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. So there.The Connecticut SteamedCheeseburg

There is a section of Connecticut that seems to have a thing for Steamed Burgers, and there are anumber of restaurants making them in the Burg'r Tend'r, a box designed just for the purpose. Justcram a big patty into a rectangular pan about 3" wide, top with a slice of cheese, and put in thesteam oven. No need to flip it. Wet, juicy, gooey.The Cincinnati Chili Cheeseburger

This town has made its fast food reputation with hot dogs (called Coneys) and spaghetti topped witha ground beef sauce called Cincinnati Chili, and then topped with oyster crackers, a mound ofshredded cheddar cheese, and onions. Although the Chili Cheeseburger is not widespread, it can befound at such landmarks as Gold Star Chili. Click here for my recipe for Cincinnati Chili which youcan add to your burgers with cheese and onions to approximate the real thing.The San AntonioBeanburger

The San Antonio, TX, beanburger is believed to have originated at the late and lamented Sill's SnackShack (a.k.a. The Triple S) in 1953. The patty is topped with refried pinto beans, cheese (usuallyCheez Wiz or cheddar), onions, and crushed Fritos corn chips. Picante and guacamole occasionallybarge in but they are interlopers. Several restaurants in and around San Antonio serve a version ofthe dish. One popular version is at Cheesy Jane's.The West Virginia Slaw Burger

The West Virginia Burger is made like their Hot Dogs, topped with a ground beef chili, hashedcoleslaw, chopped onions, and mustard. Click here for my recipe for the slaw.The Little HavanaFrita

An import from Cuba, the frita is popular inMiami's Little Havana along Calle Ocho (8th Street). The beef patty is thin, about 4 ounces,occasionally mixed with chorizo (a spicy red coarsely ground pork sausage), slathered with a picantesauce while it cooks, and topped with a mound of potato shards made by shredding potato on a box

grater, then deep frying and salting.

El Rey de las Fritas (The King of Fritas), is a spotless, friendly place in a strip mall on Calle Ocho,and it lives up to its moniker. No lesser luminary than Bobby Flay calls their fritas the best burgersin Florida. He likes them so much that he imitates them with "crunchified" burgers at hisrestaurants, topped with crushed potato chips.

Love of American culture has brought the hamburger to many countries where growing demand wasmet with the expansion overseas of McDonalds and Burger King. Some nations have their ownpeculiar twist on the concept.

In Australia a typical burger may have pickled beets (yuuuuuck), sunnyside up egg, sliced pineapple,and chile paste such as sambal oelek or sriracha.

In Korea, don't be surprised to find kimchi, a form of pickled cabbage, on your burger. Hey, justthink of it as a type of kraut or slaw.

In the Dominican Republic, you can get Chimichurris, a.k.a. Chimi Burgers, from pushcarts and holein the wall joints everywhere. Each stand takes liberties with the recipe, with some using a greenherb sauce similar to Argentine chimichurri sauce, while others use chopped onion, red bell pepper,garlic, oregano, and cilantro mixed in with the ground meat, and they are served with a warmcoleslaw on top, and a sauce made with ketchup, mayo, and mustard, similar to my Burger Gloprecipe. Chimi Burgers have traveled with Dominican expats to their new homes in New York andelsewhere.

In India, burgers are served on the flat traditional local Naan bread.

Salisbury Steaks

In the 1860s, during the Civil War, Dr. James Henry Salisbury, had success treating diarrhea with adiet of all lean ground beef. In the 1880s he introduced the Salisbury Steak, patties of beef scrapedfrom pounded steaks, seasoned and mixed with onion, then grilled. He prescribed them three timesa day as a treatment for all manner of digestive ailments. Within a few decades Salisbury Steaksbegan showing up on menus and in cookbooks, and they can still be found on menus, particularly inrural areas, often served on toast, smothered in gravy and mushrooms.Hawaiian Loco Moco

Not a true hamburger because it is not served on a bun, this popular local specialty begins with abed of white rice topped with a ground beef patty or two, doused with brown gravy, and crownedwith a fried egg or two.Meatball Sandwiches

An Italian American favorite. The meatballs are made with moistened bread, egg, and might evenhave pork or veal in the grind. Two or three balls, about 1.5 to 2" are served on a section of a highgluten and medium crust loaf, topped with a marinara sauce, and often sauted peppers and meltedmozzarella cheese.Meatloaf Sandwiches

These are usually made from leftover slices of meatloaf served on white bread.Spoonburgers andScoopburgers

These are a mound of loose ground meat that has not been formed into a patty. Some are griddled

and some are cooked in a pot with stock and spices. The meat is then piled on the bun, crumbly.Taylor's Maid-Rite in Marshalltown, IA, has been making them since 1928 and they seem to bepopular in many joint around the Mississippi River in Iowa and Illinois. But it's not a patty so it's notreally a burger.Sloppy Joes

A variation on the Spoonburger, this loose meat sandwich is usually ground beef cooked in a panwith onion and seasonings, drained, and mixed with a ketchup based sauce, usually doctoredheavily.Doughburgers or Slugburgers

These are a holdover from The Depression when restaurants stretched ground meat by mixing itwith flour and cooking it on a griddle. Sometimes called slugburgers because you could buy one fora nickle, which was called a "slug" at the time, and they are still available in a handful restaurants inthe deep South. There are variations made with grits, soy meal, bread, potatoes, and crackers. Thereis even an annual Slugburger Festival in July in Corinth, MS, but if you miss the party, stop in atBorroum's Drug Store & Soda Fountain in Corinth and order one. I'm told it hasn't changed muchsince it was founded in 1865.What's missing?

Please let me know if I've missed any legitimate regional or national styles of burgers. I'm talkingabout a style that is popular in more than one pub or restaurant, not just a local concoction thateveryone loves.

Close

fishbrake:These are still popular in areas of the country where German immigrants settled, mostly inthe Midwest. Basically it's hamburger, seasoning and cabbage wrapped in dough and baked in anoven, so the burger and bun all cook together. Often found in older diners, they're also sold by theRunza fast food chain.

cajunk:New Orleans offers a hamburger poboy that is basically the equivalent of eating about 4burgers at once on french bread. I think you should have a doctor on hand if you want to try and putone of these down.

Millers Boy:Another common wrinkle on burgers down under is the presence of beetroot. Normallyyou buy this stuff in a can at the supermarket, already pickled and sliced.

For some reason, when burger joints started opening down under (especially NZ) adding beetrootbecame 'de rigeur'. Perhaps it's our colonial deprived background, we have to include probably theleast appetising vegetable in an imported foodstuff.

Surprisingly, anyone who has grown up with this stuf in their burgers usually likes it. I can taste itinstantly and it triggers waves of palpable nostalgia with every bite.

It's actually the bane of mothers everywhere because beetroot juice is incredibly good at stainingclothes and teeth and is a nightmare to get out of clean white shirts. It will even stain the interior ofthe bun deep purple if it's assembled without care.

In the photo, the beetroot is the red slices of stuff between the cheese and the red onion.

JMike:Without a doubt, the beanburger at Mama's Cafe in San Antonio -- fairly well described in thearticle, but you GOTTA have guacamole!

Millers Boy:In just about every burger joint or diner in the Antipodies (Australia & New Zealand) youwill find a 'Hawaiian' burger on the menu. This is usually whatever they call a hamburger, with theaddition of a slice of pineapple that has been grilled for a few seconds.

It's odd that it's called a 'Hawaiian' because Fijia & Tonga are both more likely to have pineapplesand are much close to home that Hawaii but I guess it sounds more exotic. Definitely my favourite -Pineapple really adds something to a burger flavour!

Joshua D Wolter:The "Big Boy" burger and it's variations are served nationwide. Known to manyAmericans as the "Big Mac," it's origin is with the Big Boy chains that were once very popular.

A Big Boy sandwich consists of two thin beef patties placed on a three layer sesame seed bun withlettuce, a single slice of cheese, and Thousand Island dressing, or (in some locations) tartar sauce oneach slice of bun. Unlike the similar McDonald's Big Mac, onions were not automatically put on thesandwich. Kil@Wat in Milwaukee InterContinental Hotel has even taken it's traditional vision to thesandwich, saying that it is the most traditional to the origional.

thendr:With several locations in southern Japan (Kyushu), the Karatsu Burger bus is a great place tostop and grab a burger. My favorite is the "Specialty Burger". It contains a thin hamburger patty,fried egg, slice of ham, cheese, and topped with lettuce, tomato, pepper, and bbq sauce between 2toasted buns.

herbkornfeld:Similar to the White Castle burger, and possibly predating it, is Salina, Kansas' ownCozy Inn burger.

Sold six to a sack since 1922 and covered in freshly chopped onions, ketchup, mustard and with asingle pickle chip, it's come to be known as the "best stinkin' little restaurant in the USA" as theonion aroma you will acquire by standing in the establishment long enough to order your sackful willhave everyone around you hungry for the rest of the day. It's a must-try burger for the classic slideraficionado. They have shipped them worldwide through the years to Cozy-lovers desperate for theirfix.

The Cozy Inn's site with pics, history and such: cozyburger.com/

tanqueray77:What many west of the Rockies call my favorite burger a "California Burger" (or beinga native Californian, just call a burger). Most places simply consider it a burger with lettuce, onion,tomatoes and condiments, but most of the best California style have a great thousand island sauce(like the famous In-n-Out Burger, the Double-Double - pictured), a toasted bun and fresh local meat.

Steven Kippel:The Southern California chain Farmer Boys has burger called the Farmer's Burger. Ithas two 1/4lb flame broiled patties, two pieces of cheese, hickory smoked bacon, and fresh avocado.They are excellent.

jodm:Made from exceptional steak, charred on the outside, red juice on the inside, that drips downyour chin as you eat it. The extra juice on the plate can be mopped up with fries

henryle74:There is this awesome burger at red robin. at first I thought i would hate it but I was in anexperimental mood so I ordered it and now I love it. It is called the royal red robin and ischeeseburger topped with a fried egg with mayo and bacon. It is soooo good.

Andra Zeppelin:Colorado's tasty lamb, ground up, spiked with minced lovage, green garlic, andpreserved lemon, cooked on charcoal, served on a Dijon lathered slice of slighly charred bread andtopped with grilled sweet onions and fresh arugula. Open face serving!

Recipe at www.frenchpressmemos.blogspot.com

reapfood:Lombardino's grilled lamb burger with a fried quail egg, gruyere cheese, and homemadepickles. Just one of the awesome gourmet burgers featured at the annual Burgers & Brew: The TasteIs Local! event in Middleton, WI. http://reapfoodgroup.org/Programs-Events/burgers-and-brew.html

JaniceF:I am wounded that your vast reference of burger style sandwiches did not include the nearfamous Primanti Brothers cheesesteak sandwich from Pittsburgh, PA. The provolone topped patty istopped with french fries, tomato, and a vinegar based cole slaw between two slices of fresh Italianbread. A true Pittsburgh tradition, it is absolutely delicious and has been featured on several foodshows on the Travel Channel. Everyone should eat one when they visit the burgh! The battery in thephoto is for visual size referencing. Footnote: this fan finds the cheese steak the perfect hang overcure!

tanqueray77:While it may sound heart stopping, the combination of pastrami and a grilled beef pattyin the same sandwich is quite good. First found at Minos Burgers in Anaheim, CA (then spread toCrown Burgers in SLC, UT), the pastrami burger can be found at most every independent burgershack in Southern California.

Holowacz:Deep into the Carolina Lowcountry's sea islands, almost to the mighty Atlantic, sits theShrimp Shack...purveyors of a very simple fried minced shrimp patty on seeded bun, enjoyed by all.Behold, Hilda's Shrimp Burger.

The shrimp fleet docks from Forest Gump are just across the Highway, and summertime tomato andvegetable farms, like Dempsey's, offer all-you-can pick ripeness: corn, peppers, tomatoes grown inisland soil. Historic Penn Center and the tabby Chapel of Ease are a quick meander down Seasideand Lands End Roads. Sheriff McTeer's old place, Coffin Point Plantation, still reminds the visitorthat magic and root work are still as thick as the pluff mud. And there ain't no better place to kayakand the marshes and meet a few dolphins than nearby Chowan Creek.

Stop and see Hilda, near the far end of St Helena Road, and have a shrimp burger at her little oldshack.

btmom:8 oz. of ground steak trimmings, no filler, medium/medium rare (lots of juice!), Americancheese, and meat well seasoned. If the foregoing is done right, I take the top off the bun so I canfinish the meat.

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