The Breaded Cheeseburger

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I remember going out to eat with Mom and Dad when I was a kid and seeing a new item at a local diner that I had to try: The breaded cheeseburger. It was a beef patty and slice of cheese encased in a shell of crispy breading that was deep fried and served hot.

The breaded cheeseburger was delicious, but it was literally dangerous to eat. The cheese was inside the breading so it was molten hot when served. A huge first bite would send scalding cheese all over your mouth, so it had to be eaten with caution. My Dad learned this the hard way.

For this recipe, I make my own version of the breaded cheeseburger I discovered in my youth, but I add the cheese after the patty is breaded and fried to avoid third degree burns. I shallow fried this version in olive oil, so in order to cook it through I had to make the patty much thinner than a normal burger and I use extra lean ground beef to cut down on the amount of grease. The crunchy breaded patty creates a unique burger experience and I highly recommend any burger aficionado try it at least once.

BEHIND THIS BITE
I'm planning on revisiting this recipe in the future. It turned out delicious but I think this concept can be explored further. I presume that when these are made in restaurants the patties are frozen or pre-cooked. It was a challenge to cook the burger medium before the breading would burn. I overcame it by making the patties thin, which worked but made the beef less prominent in the overall taste of the burger. I think that could be improved greatly.

I made four sandwiches originally and topped one with just cheese, pickles and mayo. This brought out more of the breading flavor, but in the end I preferred the traditional LTO and decided it was best for the flavor of the overall recipe.

I did some browsing on the web and found that like the breaded tenderloin, the breaded cheeseburger is kind of an Indiana original. I guess us Hoosiers like breaded meat sandwiches as much as we like corn and basketball.

Eat well, cook often ...