The Stuffed Cheeseburger Revolution

Today I made Stuffed Cheeseburgers for the first time. I had ground beef in the fridge, and a large block of cheddar cheese, and I was thinking about grilling cheeseburgers and having them on English muffins.

But then, as if from the heavens, a culinary lightning bolt struck me, and I thought, why not try those stuffed cheeseburgers you see on the TV food shows?

I was a little skeptical, because on the low-budget food shows where they go to county and state fairs, the burgers just look messy, sloppy and unappealing.

But lo and behold, they came out really well.  I followed a recipe that called for mixing 90/10 ground beef with Worcestershire sauce, paprika, and black pepper. I improvised by adding salt and garlic powder.

Next I grated about a cup of white sharp New York State cheddar cheese and placed it in a bowl.

I then put the ground beef in another bowl, and added the Worcestershire sauce and the spices. I mixed the ground beef with the other ingredients, then formed the mixture into eight thin patties.  I placed the eight patties on a cutting board, then covered each cheese patty with a plain patty. I gently massaged each burger together and sealed the edges.

I coated a grill pan with two tablespoons of olive oil, then grilled the burgers for about ten minutes at medium-high heat.

When they were ready I ate the first burger on a toasted English muffin with tomatoes, onions, and ketchup.

It was really good, but with the English Muffin plus all those fixings on it, the burger got a little bit lost.

So for my second burger I went au natural, with just a little ketchup on the side.  

Wow did it pop! All of a sudden I felt like I knew what stuffed cheeseburgers were all about.

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If I can think of one word to describe a stuffed cheeseburger, the word would be awesome. The second word would be decadent, because these burgers are not exactly #fitlife approved.

But who really cares, they’re just so damn good. Maybe every once in awhile you need to throw caution to the wind and say screw it, today I’m going to eat something that makes me feel really, really good.

Did I mention the sensory overload from all that cheesy goodness coming at you from inside the burger?  It’s like heaven, it really is.

The combination of the salty beef patty with sharp melted cheese oozing out and raining down all over your taste buds is truly something to experience.

So I’ll definitely be making these burgers again.  I highly recommend everyone trying them at least once, just to see what all the fuss is about.

This is my homage to the stuffed cheeseburger. If my epitaph were written today, it might read “loving son, brother, uncle, friend, and stuffed cheeseburger aficionado.”

One can always dream.

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