A Hamburger Today
Guilty Pleasure: McNugget-Enhanced Cheeseburger
McNugget-Enhanced Cheeseburger, blogged to AHT from the Flickr photostream of Slice
Four or more years ago, before A Hamburger Today was even a glimmer in my eye, I was introduced to the magic of the McNugget-Enhanced McDonald's Cheeseburger.
It was at a McDonald's somewhere along the Connecticut Turnpike, and I was traveling with my girlfriend at the time. I was perplexed when a friend of hers ordered the two cheeseburger meal and a six-piece box of McNuggets. "Glutton," I thought.
But what happened when we sat down at one of the uncomfortable plastic booths was pure alchemy. Peeling the bun top away from the semi-melted cheese, he placed three of the oddly shaped chicken chunks on his sandwich.
Begging one McNugget off him, I tried it on a portion of my cheeseburger and was a bit amazed. Two distinct tastes, yet a whole new experience. The whole as more than the sum of its parts.
I tried it a couple more times, on the couple occasions I found myself at McD's with that dude, but I hadn't had it in ages. So the other night when I found myself with little time to spare for dinner, and spurred by discussion of this mash-up either on the Talk section of Serious Eats or here in the Serious Eats–AHT office, I hit the clown's place around the corner from my apartment and grabbed a single cheeseburger and a Dollar Menu four-piece. I had to document this Frankenburger, after all.
It's still as weirdly good as ever. But I think it's best had in four-year intervals.