Replicating White Castle Cheeseburgers at Home

[NoNiceTime]

For dinner tonight I was going to sous vide a Mulard Duck but I decided against it at the last minute. Instead I decided to recreate an American classic the White Castle Cheese Burger. These little belly bombers are probably the quintessential guilty pleasure. Many times I've indulged on these in my youth after a night of boozing only to wake up the next day doing shots of Pepto. Why do we subject ourselves to such punishment? Maybe because they are delicious and their mini steamed goodness is so unique that they have to be enjoyed regardless of their undesirable side effects. With the help you You Tube I finally saw how they were made and became determined to duplicate them in the comfort of my own kitchen.

1lb ground chuck

2 onions chopped

1 egg

12 Wonder Bread Dinner Rolls

Couple dashes Worcestershire sauce

Couple dashes Adobo

Few slices of American Cheese

Ketchup

2 tblespns canola oil

2 oz water

Cook the rolls as directed cut them in half and put aside. Mix the chuck,egg, Worcestershire sauce and the Adobo in a bowl well. Grab a large piece of wax paper or foil to stage the patties. Make the beef patties as flat and square as possible. You want to make them larger than size of the rolls because when the patties cook they will shrink. I achieved this by pressing them down by hand and cutting the edges with a knife to form the square. You will probably have to shape it by hand a bit as well. They don't have to be perfect but try to get them as square as possible. With your pinkie finger make several holes in the patties. After the patties are made transfer them to the freezer and let them firm up for about half an hour. I did this because White Castle burgers are cooked frozen and I wanted to be true to the recipe and technique.

To cook the onions I used a large griddle pan, if you do not have one I guess use a large skillet or maybe even a cookie sheet. Regardless of what you are using place it on your stove with the oiland add the onions and cook for a few minutes over medium heat turning them over a few times. Add the water then spread the onions out flat in a single layer and proceed to put the patties on top of them. Then place to top of the rolls on top of the patty. I know it might seem odd, even unsafe to place the bread on top of the raw meat but this is how they are made in the White Castle restaurants. This is how the burgers get their tradmark flavor and texture, the steam from the onions cook the beef and the vapors travel through the holes in the patties and are absorbed by the bun. Its actually pretty clever. Cover the everything with foil, lower the heat and let cook for ten minutes or until the patties are well down. While the patties are cooking add the ketchup on the bottom of the bun and place a piece of cheese on top of it. After that patties are well done assemble the burger and serve. I recommend a Napa Valley Pinot Noir to be paired with the burgers.

* Here is a link the aforementioned You Tube video:

[dockhl]

OMG. It is 9 AM and I want those ! Thanks for the instruction.

K

[snowangel]

When Alton Brown did these, he put the meat in a parchment lined sheet pan, rolled the meat out, and used a pizza cutter to cut the burgers. Looks like it made for easy shaping!

However, when we get the slides from The Castle, there is a dill pickle slice (ripple cut!), and no ketchup.

[NoNiceTime]

When Alton Brown did these, he put the meat in a parchment lined sheet pan, rolled the meat out, and used a pizza cutter to cut the burgers.  Looks like it made for easy shaping!

However, when we get the slides from The Castle, there is a dill pickle slice (ripple cut!), and no ketchup.

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I never saw that Good Eats. I actually wanted to use a cookie cutter on them but I do not have any.

[markk]

I think it's very telling that the ones they're assembling have been ordered "without onions", because after 41 years of being addicted to them, that's finally how I learned to order them - so that I can eat them and live to tell about them without the normal, expected digestive side-effects. I came up with this idea after seeing the can that the onions come to them in - they're pre-chopped, and packed in a watery chemical solution, which you can see at the beginning of the video when they "pour" the onions and water onto the grill. I hypothesized that it might be the chemical solution that makes the onions indigestible. So now I order them without the onions, though thankfully the flavor is steamed into the meat. But without onion I can eat a dozen of them with no after-effects, and frequently do.

I'm not convince that you really need the adobo and Worcestershire sauce, by the way, to replicate the real flavor.

If you love them so much, you might enjoy reading the book "Selling 'em By the Sack" which is the history of White Castle.

Edited February 2, 2008 by markk (log)

[Tri2Cook]

Interesting. I haven't had a white castle (or krystal if you're down south) burger in years. There was a recipe on the web years ago that was supposed to replicate them that combined ground beef and beef baby food which seemed to be a bit weird to me so I never tried it. Might try this one though, I actually like those little gut grenades. A night of pickled eggs and beer ended with a bag of white castles was a sure fire way to keep everybody out of the room while you slept it off the next day.

[annecros]

Big old steamer pack of Krystal's girl here!

Rehydrated dehydrated onion is the trick. I guess it replicates the canned taste.

Oh, and mustard. No self respecting Krystal would be caught dead with Ketchup. One dill chip.

Parkerhouse rolls of any type are great, and the freezing of the thin patty is the way to go.

Gut bombs - I can eat a gazillion of them.

[Fat Guy]

NoNiceTime, where are you getting the ingredients information from? Adobo? Worcestershire? Egg? I was under the impression, and the ingredients list on a box of frozen White Castles seems to support this, that the patties only contain beef, onions, salt and pepper.

For me the problem with White Castle is that, while I admire the place from a nostalgia standpoint, the end product just doesn't taste good. At pretty much every step along the way to producing a slider, White Castle makes the wrong choice -- an inferior ingredient, a questionable process -- and the end result is an inferior product. The onions they use are disgusting; they use frozen, compressed, low-quality beef patties; the take the highly questionable step of placing the buns on top of the patties when the patties are still raw, they use awful bread and awful cheese. No wonder the things are so hard on the stomach and so disappointing to eat. Your burgers look infinitely better.

There's a place in New Jersey called White Manna. It dates back to the 1930s and serves sliders that, at first glance, seem similar to White Castles. Except they're great. If you took every step in the White Castle process and reimagined it in the service of good flavor, you'd get a White Manna slider. It so happens there's a

available as well. The differences are apparent: White Manna starts with ground beef at refrigerator temperature, not frozen, and uses sliced onions not chemical-bath diced prepack onions. The burger patties and onions cook alone together for a bit, then the cheese gets added, then the bun is put on top to steam at the end. The buns they use are the excellent Martin's Potato Rolls out of Pennsylvania. The burgers are served with good-quality pickle slices on the side. Now that's something worth imitating!

[BarbaraY]

I've never seen a White Castle place around here but once made the mistake of buying a box of frozen ones. They were just plain nasty.

[NoNiceTime]

NoNiceTime, where are you getting the ingredients information from? Adobo? Worcestershire? Egg? I was under the impression, and the ingredients list on a box of frozen White Castles seems to support this, that the patties only contain beef, onions, salt and pepper.

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Well the adobo and w. sauce is what I uusally season my burgers with normally so I just stuck with that.

I put the egg to bind everything up because I was nervous the mixture might fall apart

White Marina sounds good. Going to have to look them up next time I'm in NJ

[budrichard]

Elton Brown's method produces excellent 'sliders'!-Dick

[Jenni]

This looks similar: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=38912

[deltadoc]

It has been just a few years since I used to eat White Castles for breakfast. There was a drive-thru 1/2 block from where I worked. I could sit there in my pick-up truck and watch the whole process.

First, they used re-hydrated dried onions. They put the onions on the grill (which is heated from underneath by boiling water) and then slather them with a pitcher of white clear oily looking stuff. I figured it was just light liquid crisco or something.

Then once the onions are going, they laid the patties on the bed of onions.

Then after "cooking?" for a bit, they turned them over and then laid the bun top on them.

Traditionally, they're served with the onion and dill pickle. The holes were meant for two things: patties won't shrink, and the amount of thickness of meat becomes more uniform throughout the patty.

Yes, I learned long ago to order them without the onion. Once they screwed up the order and I got sick the next day.

The number one important thing to remember about White Castle, is going there ONLY when they're busy. That way, you have a better chance of getting fresh White Castles and not ones left over from the last batch sitting there under a heat lamp.

Just my observations. I'll take a Maid-Rite over a White Castle any day!

doc

[70/30]

I too love the idea of a slider. And I agree that neither Krystal Burger or White Castle taste good unless you are very drunk and, even then that's debatable. Eating either companies burgers probably will result in an extended stay on the throne the next day. I try to make my version of a slider whenever the urge for a burger hits. I don't really care what ingredients are traditional on a slider, I just add what tastes good to me.

That said I can get a little anal-retentaive about condiments and toppings. The mayo, mustard, and ketchup I use are all homemade. I usually bake my own slider buns but, having lived in PA for a few years I can vouch for the quality of Martins potato rolls and would use them if they were readily available where I live. I always grind the meat myself. Usually beef chuck, but the most recent batch was boneless beef short rib and it worked nicely. Add some diced onion sauteed with the beef, cheese, and shredded lettuce and that's enough to satisfy me. It might seem a lot of work to make a mini-burger but the resulting product is delicious and worth it every second it takes. As a bonus your stomach won't punish you the next day. -Mark

[tastykimmie]

This looks similar: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=38912

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oh yeah

[Jenni]

^^

Hmm, after I posted that I went back and had a look and actually it looks quite different to me now! I just saw the square burgers and also the name of the topic reminded me of White Castle. However, the white castle video on youtube looks more...I'm not sure how to put this politely....wet? The onions look more boiled than fried to me! The link I posted to has "proper" browned burgers and onions, so perhaps it's not as White-castle-y as I thought.

(Correct me if I'm wrong though...I'm from the UK, have never been to White castle. But I've heard a lot about them!)

[deltadoc]

^^

Hmm, after I posted that I went back and had a look and actually it looks quite different to me now! I just saw the square burgers and also the name of the topic reminded me of White Castle. However, the white castle video on youtube looks more...I'm not sure how to put this politely....wet? The onions look more boiled than fried to me! The link I posted to has "proper" browned burgers and onions, so perhaps it's not as White-castle-y as I thought.

(Correct me if I'm wrong though...I'm from the UK, have never been to White castle. But I've heard a lot about them!)

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Well, they don't any hotter than 212 f (100 C), but with thermodynamics in motion, I would think there'd be some heat loss from the boiling water as it heats up the grill block. Anyway, I think frying involves higher temperatures and White Castles only fry the french fries onion rings etc.

doc