Steakhouse Pizza

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A little over a year ago, Carl's Jr and Hardee’s presented their Steakhouse Thickburger to the world, complete with an ad that featured a hamburger god and scantily clad goddesses. It followed a tradition in advertising for the fast food restaurant chain that is designed to attract guys 18 to 34 years old - or guys that like to see hot chicks in skimpy outfits - which is most guys in general.

After speeding to Hardee’s and trying the sandwich, I recreated it here at Behind the Bites. I thought it was a real home run for man burgers.

The burger featured lots of complimentary flavors that could easily be transferred to a pizza, and that is what I have done here.

I use A1 as the sauce which goes well with the steak, but it’s the perfect compliment to the tangy blue cheese. For texture and a slightly sweet flavor, french fried onions are added and everything is bound together with mozzarella cheese.

For the steak, I diced up some thin-sliced sirloin tip before cooking it. This helped tenderize the little chunks and help retain all their moisture after being cooked – none was lost do to slicing. With all of the great flavors working together the steak still shines through as the star of this pie.

BEHIND THIS BITE
I have cooked this pizza a few times in the last year and each time something went wrong which prevented me from being able to document and post what I cooked.

The first time I did this I was using a new camera, the exposures were all completely different and could have been classified as a food-photography disaster.

The second time, which I did a few months later I piled on the ingredients and it really ruined it. I used ground beef instead of steak and it made the pie greasy. Not only was there to much ground beef but there was to much everything. The thin crust I used didn’t hold up and the entire pie could have been classified as a pizza-making disaster.

All this lead to my third attempt, which is what is contained in this post. I got the exposure right, switched to actual steak and was happy with the ingredient amounts. The pizza was delicious and I couldn’t stop eating it. Before I knew it I had eat all but one slice of an entire pie which could have been classified as a healthy-eating disaster.

Eat well, cook often ...

THE RECIPE
Make 2 12” pizzas; 30 minutes
2 12” pizza crusts
Divide over crusts
3 C Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Reserve small amount for final layer
1/2 lb Sirloin steak, cooked, diced
1/2 C French fried onions
1/4 C Blue cheese crumbled
Remaining cheese

Assemble and bake pizza
On pizza crust layer A1, most of the mozzarella, steak, onions, blue cheese and then the remaining mozzarella. Bake in a preheated 425° oven for 7 to 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Steakhouse ThickBurger: A True Man Bite

Printable version

While watching football a couple weeks ago, I saw a commercial for Hardee’s and Carl Jr’s new Six Dollar Steakhouse Thickburger. According to the ad, the sandwich was created by Hamblor, god of hamburgers. He has the power to shoot french fried onions from his hand, rides a giant saint bernard that carries a keg of A1 steak sauce around its neck and he is flanked by beautiful goddesses that seem to love eating massive burgers. Laughing hysterically at this divine commercial, I made a pilgrimage to get one.

After devouring this glorious celebration of beef and bun, I knew it was my earthly duty to recreate it. What make this sandwich stand out is the french fried onion strings that give the burger a nice crunchy element. Also, blue cheese crumbles work surprisingly well with the tang of A1 sauce. I’m confident Hamblor and his goddesses would agree that this homemade version is far superior to the one prepared in a flurry at the chain store.

BEHIND THIS BITE
Had the Catholic church presented such holy visions as Hamblor and his busty goddesses as part of sunday school growing up, I would have been valedictorian of St. John Bosco's confirmation class in 1988. But that is exactly what the add is targeting – Guys. Guys 18 to 34 to be specific. That's the demographic Carl Jr's. and Hardee's market their food too.

In the past, they have used scantily clad celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton and Audrina Partridge to sell their food. In 2005, Carl Jr's created an uproar with an add that featured a provocatively dressed Paris Hilton washing a car and eating a Spicy BBQ Six Dollar Burger. It created such a frenzy when it was released that a company-made mini-website featuring a longer ad billed as to racy for television crashed for nearly 4 hours do to heavy traffic it was not equipped to handle.

I learned all of this after I ate and recreated the burger. I went and bought two of these sandwiches. One to eat, and another to take apart and study for the purpose of this post. The Steakhouse Thickburger was made for men – Complete with an ad campaign featuring a Hamburger god flanked by gorgeous women indulging on it.

This is a true Man Bite.

Eat well, cook often ...