It spit in our face. Here on this site, and on other sites where it was blogged about, all we heard was, "Where's the bacon?"
Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth. I went through several iterations of the sandwich, trying different breads and different patty sizes, to find the proper beef-to-bun ratio—to create a burger you could actually fit in your mouth and one that a glutton of normal proportions might actually make.
But I guess with something like this, more is more, and so I heeded the call of the internets, and decided to make a second version of this burger with what you all said was the missing ingredient. What you are looking at above, ladies and gents, is the new, improved Bacon Hamburger Fatty Melt. Here's the smack on this meat stack. From top to bottom:
Bacon-stuffed grilled cheese sandwich as bun top
Bacon
Cheese
Four-ounce beef patty
Bacon-stuffed grilled cheese sandwich as bun bottom
Happy now? No? Then get a load of what follows , after the jump.
The Double(!) Bacon Hamburger Fatty Melt
The stack-up on this one:
Bacon-stuffed grilled cheese sandwich as bun top
Cheese
Bacon
Four-ounce beef patty
Bacon-stuffed grilled cheese sandwich as interstitial bun (a nod to the Big Mac)
Bacon
Cheeese
Four-ounce beef patty
Bacon-stuffed grilled cheese sandwich as bun bottom
And here's the autopsy shot:
Wanna make one? Follow the recipe for The Hamburger Fatty Melt but stuff sandwiches with bacon and add bacon as a topping to your clogged little heart's content.
We also did a Single Bacon Fatty Melt with grilled onions (another frequently requested topping), for a heavier patty-melt vibe:
I have to note here that I still think the original Hamburger Fatty Melt is the way to go. The bacon ends up overpowering the flavor of this thing. Also, it ends up making this into a snakejaw experience — i.e., you need a snake's hinged jaw to get your mouth around this thing.
Also note: Wear a bib or bring plenty of napkins to the table. This thing is one greasy mofo.
i'll stick with the original...i don't need to die of a heart attack at 36 years old. plus when i did it i used the whole wheat pepp farm bread, lean meat and i used one of those imitation, healthy butter spreads. every little bit helps
@ESNY1077: Ha. I trust you're joking! We had a tomato on the original. People seemed to think the tomato was too big a nod toward healthiness. You have the basic concept. Do with it what you will—tomato, lettuce, onion, green chiles, etc.
I agree with Adam: The original was much better. There was bacon grease dripping down my hands as I ate this burger (uh, a small piece of it) and all I tasted was bacon. Which could be awesome in some other context, but in this one, it wasn't.
This is nowhere near as artery clogging as the Scooby Snack. Available only in Glasgow, this burger-like treat consists of the following: double cheeseburger, a slice of bacon, a potato scone, a lorne sausage (square sausage found in Scotland with a spongy consistency and bright pink) all topped with a fried egg, smothered in ketchup and brown sauce and encased in a floury bun. Marvellous!
If someone made me these in slider form (I'm a girl, there's no way I could eat the full size one!), I'm pretty sure I'd marry them. I think bacon, on the grilled cheese only so you can smash it, and grilled onions is the way to go.
I really would have to add lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, avocado slices, and grilled mushroom slices. Can't eat that without a generous slathering of mayonnaise, ketchup, and a wee bit of yellow mustard. Definitely take out the onions.
Oh, and a big pile of batter dipped twice-fried fries w/ mayonnaise and ketchup.
Grilled gruyere or brie & bacon donut panini in place of buns, your best burger topped with carmelized onions, grilled mushrooms, beefsteak tomato slice, nestled between this awesome sandwich.
Imagine the symmetry of a round burger nestled between round donut panini, rather than plain ol' buns. You could make it much healthier by adding a leaf of lettuce. If you're looking for gourmet, shave a truffle over the tomato.
It would be perfect if instead of hamburger patties, they had ribeye steaks. Also, caramelized onions sounds too healthy, I say toss on some onion rings. Is there a sauce on it? Though BBQ sounds like a natural choice, lemme suggest Ranch because Americans love Ranch on everything.
@wunami---sure would, they would probably forbid that choice then.
@Adam Kuban---you just made it look like a foreign food.
I think I just got a chest pain for reading this one...sigh. Maybe I should have one of those new broiled BK Steakhouse burgers w/o the nasty BBQ sauce, or onion rings. Cheese/mushroom sauce isn't bad IMO.
@supastupa---how about Philly-cheese style, but with all the bacon, onions, lots of both, then the ranch, now that would be awesome, on one of those lovely cheesesteak long rolls. Ribeye meat would be too tough I think, can you imagine with thinly sliced london broil or brisket and all that bacon, cheese, onion, and ranch.
While scrolling down the page and spying the double, I was taken in by the engineering marvel that is the Bacon Hamburger Fatty Melt. I eat all kinds of burgers but my favorite is topped with cheese and pickles only, so I'm thinking pickles instead of bacon in the grilled cheese sandwiches that lovingly surround the perfect beef patty. I'm also thinking my arteries are constricting at the thought so I might have to keep this one in my dreams.
@holdthemayo: My favorite burger toppings are onion and pickle, so I think your suggestion of putting pickles in the grilled cheeses is sound. Pickle and cheese sandwich is a great, great thing.
although im pretty sure i could finish the DBHFM, I am equally as sure its not a good idea. that being said I will be making one and atleast giving it a try......its gotta be trasharificlly good.
reminds me of my youth, making double, triple and sometimes even quintuple decker PB&J's and seeing if you could eat it!LOL.....good times, for the record 7 strata of bread was my personal best.
Over the last year, I've managed to lose 45 pounds.
Today I finally realized what the purpose of losing all that weight was:
So that I can eat this sandwich and not immediately die.
Make me one now.
No seriously, do it.
sudo make me that damned sandwich.
Hold the bacon. I love bacon, but by itself, or on a BLT. A little bit of onions (not too many) would work, although I think the idea is to get that grilled cheese texture (goo experience) simultaneous with the burger. This is a well designed sandwich that should be adopted on by all the major chains.
I'd like to disclose that I am a vegetarian; so I would make the whole thing with soy "meat." Anyway, to make this into a true death by burger meal, how about montechristo-ing the whole thing. That's right. Dip it in batter and deep fry that bad boy! ( not recommended for people genetically predisposed for heart disease)
We actually made the original fatty burger when we first saw it on SE.
It was absolutely delicious and I'll make it again next year the way I make fried chicken once a year.
I did the first one and it was good, did another with lots of bacon and it was even gooder, but could only eat half . Too much bread, but I love grilled cheese. So third sandwich I did a simple patty melt extra cheese lots of butter, lots of bacon - 8 thick slices and a 1/4lb buffalo patty as I like the flavor of the meat and of course mayo and a few rings of a sweet onion. IT WAS GREAT! The originals are very good and a must try, but too much of a good idea is worth a try and I did. Now I'll just have a greasy decadent pattymelt and on occasion have the original grilled cheese burger wlth bacon onion and mayo. I'm drooling again.
That double looks droolingly hardcore! I'd definitely go for one (or more...) of those in the 'perfect world' - definitely with you on that perfect world, shipwreck & WannabeTVchef!
@snowmoonelk: Thank you for correcting the spelling of the commenter above, but as folks are unable to edit once comments have been made, it's wasted effort. Even if edits were possible, it's wasted effort nonetheless. To try to correct the spelling and/or grammar of every nonstandard comment would be madness. Everyone makes mistakes from time to time, and given the volume of comments and Talk threads on the Serious Eats sites, there's lots of opportunities to make a typo.
Ha ha, Adam, thank you for your effort in trying to tell me not to waste my effort :) I was not trying to correct a typo, as such, I thought you Americans call it carmelized as a matter of course as I have seen it written like that on blogs many times! Bless you, anyway.
I gotta go with snowie here. It's not a 'typo' Adam (check the definition); it's an improperly spelled word. So the comment isn't made simply to correct a post (which can't be done here), but to *educate* the OP and others regarding the proper spelling of 'carameli(s/z)ed.' In the same vein, I will always welcome corrections when people misspell 'prix fixe' as 'pre-fix,' etc. With enough such corrections, many restaurants and purported foodies might finally learn the proper spelling (which derives from the French term for 'fixed price,' natch). I'm just sayin'.
On-topic, I would go with the basic single burger with grilled-cheese buns, with the option of bacon and/or caramelized onions on the burger itself. I am sorely tempted to cook one up soon!
@snowmoonelk: I think what's going on and what you're seeing is that we often pronounce it "car-mull" (two syllables). I'm guessing the Brits do three syllables? So many people, I think, misspell it, dropping that second "a." The "z" vs. "s" thing seems to be a U.S. English vs. English English thing -- like "flavor," "color," "favor" vs. "flavour," "colour," "favour." And, yes, drmoze is right. I should have thanked you for correcting the OP. I think I was just a bit cranky when I got home and saw a spelling correction. Thanks! I usually do appreciate a spelling correction when it's in my own posts, but I do know that some community members get upset about it, so I was trying to get PerkyMac's back. Sorry for getting cranky, snowmoonelk!
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68 Comments:
LOL, I'm making one as soon as I can get to the ingredients!
hairofthedawg at 8:54AM on 10/13/08
I have to note here that I still think the original Hamburger Fatty Melt is the way to go. The bacon ends up overpowering the flavor of this thing. Also, it ends up making this into a snakejaw experience — i.e., you need a snake's hinged jaw to get your mouth around this thing.
Also note: Wear a bib or bring plenty of napkins to the table. This thing is one greasy mofo.
Adam Kuban at 8:58AM on 10/13/08
Forget Obama, forget McCain.
I'm voting this monster in for president.
I mean can't a "Bacon Hamburger Fatty Melt" running the country make us feel better about ourselves than either of those two?
BigWoollyMammoth at 9:05AM on 10/13/08
It would be the final nail in McCain's coffin, and Obama couldn't finish it.
Adam Kuban at 9:12AM on 10/13/08
My arteries hurt just looking at this.
Agreed, I think the bacon may be a little too far. Grilled onions look pretty good, though.
Laurel E at 9:12AM on 10/13/08
OMG I may drown on the drool that this thing is causing.
Jeffala at 9:12AM on 10/13/08
In the realm of food porn, the autopsy shot of the Double would definitely be considered hardcore.
kyle25 at 9:15AM on 10/13/08
i'll stick with the original...i don't need to die of a heart attack at 36 years old. plus when i did it i used the whole wheat pepp farm bread, lean meat and i used one of those imitation, healthy butter spreads. every little bit helps
dozertx at 9:40AM on 10/13/08
What, no tomato?
ESNY1077 at 9:42AM on 10/13/08
@ESNY1077: Ha. I trust you're joking! We had a tomato on the original. People seemed to think the tomato was too big a nod toward healthiness. You have the basic concept. Do with it what you will—tomato, lettuce, onion, green chiles, etc.
Adam Kuban at 9:48AM on 10/13/08
ROFL~Impressive and Deadly!
izatryt at 9:52AM on 10/13/08
I was thinking....
Instead of just beef, how about a nice andouille/beef patty with pepperoni grilled cheese....
Now that's a nice spicy combo and wouldn't effect the "eatibility" of the thing.
lawofmurphy at 9:59AM on 10/13/08
Where's the donuts?????
PerkyMac at 10:04AM on 10/13/08
I agree with Adam: The original was much better. There was bacon grease dripping down my hands as I ate this burger (uh, a small piece of it) and all I tasted was bacon. Which could be awesome in some other context, but in this one, it wasn't.
I want my non-bacon fatty melt back!
roboppy at 10:14AM on 10/13/08
@PerkyMac: I suppose we could do one where the grilled cheese sandwiches are made with donuts??? Heh.
Adam Kuban at 10:17AM on 10/13/08
Does someone actually have a mouth large enough to fit around the double?!?
lspirer at 10:24AM on 10/13/08
think i'd still put in some pickle slices and some tomato...
adam-if you don't mind, i'm going to start using 'snakejaw experience' all the time now. :)
gastronomeg at 10:30AM on 10/13/08
@lspirer: No. Nobody has the mouth to fit that. That burger was made as a final-word STFU to the WHERE'S THE BACON? crowd.
Adam Kuban at 10:43AM on 10/13/08
This is nowhere near as artery clogging as the Scooby Snack. Available only in Glasgow, this burger-like treat consists of the following: double cheeseburger, a slice of bacon, a potato scone, a lorne sausage (square sausage found in Scotland with a spongy consistency and bright pink) all topped with a fried egg, smothered in ketchup and brown sauce and encased in a floury bun. Marvellous!
anniekap at 11:02AM on 10/13/08
@anniekap: That being Scotland, I'm surprised it wasn't all deep-fried to boot!
Adam Kuban at 11:07AM on 10/13/08
If someone made me these in slider form (I'm a girl, there's no way I could eat the full size one!), I'm pretty sure I'd marry them. I think bacon, on the grilled cheese only so you can smash it, and grilled onions is the way to go.
Highly impressive!
bobcatsteph3 at 11:52AM on 10/13/08
I really would have to add lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, avocado slices, and grilled mushroom slices. Can't eat that without a generous slathering of mayonnaise, ketchup, and a wee bit of yellow mustard. Definitely take out the onions.
Oh, and a big pile of batter dipped twice-fried fries w/ mayonnaise and ketchup.
Cassaendra at 12:49PM on 10/13/08
Too much damned bread....carbs always get in the way of consuming more meat! Ditto on the cheese! Less bread, more bacon!
http://gonzogastro.wordpress.com
vinovamp at 12:56PM on 10/13/08
In defense of donuts:
Grilled gruyere or brie & bacon donut panini in place of buns, your best burger topped with carmelized onions, grilled mushrooms, beefsteak tomato slice, nestled between this awesome sandwich.
Imagine the symmetry of a round burger nestled between round donut panini, rather than plain ol' buns. You could make it much healthier by adding a leaf of lettuce. If you're looking for gourmet, shave a truffle over the tomato.
Love, Paula Deen
ok, just kidding
:-)
PerkyMac at 1:02PM on 10/13/08
Bravo!
sulin at 1:04PM on 10/13/08
You need to do the opposite. Burger patties on the outside and grilled cheese in the middle.
ESNY1077 at 1:06PM on 10/13/08
@ESNY1077: That would be the TLEM YTTAF REGRUBMAH. Or the TLEM YTTAF REGRUBMAH NOCAB.
Adam Kuban at 1:15PM on 10/13/08
It would be perfect if instead of hamburger patties, they had ribeye steaks. Also, caramelized onions sounds too healthy, I say toss on some onion rings. Is there a sauce on it? Though BBQ sounds like a natural choice, lemme suggest Ranch because Americans love Ranch on everything.
supastupa at 1:35PM on 10/13/08
Now that is a worthy Death Row Meal. Might kill you before the injection does too.
wunami at 3:35PM on 10/13/08
@wunami---sure would, they would probably forbid that choice then.
@Adam Kuban---you just made it look like a foreign food.
I think I just got a chest pain for reading this one...sigh. Maybe I should have one of those new broiled BK Steakhouse burgers w/o the nasty BBQ sauce, or onion rings. Cheese/mushroom sauce isn't bad IMO.
iamon02 at 5:50PM on 10/13/08
@supastupa---how about Philly-cheese style, but with all the bacon, onions, lots of both, then the ranch, now that would be awesome, on one of those lovely cheesesteak long rolls. Ribeye meat would be too tough I think, can you imagine with thinly sliced london broil or brisket and all that bacon, cheese, onion, and ranch.
iamon02 at 5:54PM on 10/13/08
A party in my mouth for sure.
liwinegirl at 7:08PM on 10/13/08
While scrolling down the page and spying the double, I was taken in by the engineering marvel that is the Bacon Hamburger Fatty Melt. I eat all kinds of burgers but my favorite is topped with cheese and pickles only, so I'm thinking pickles instead of bacon in the grilled cheese sandwiches that lovingly surround the perfect beef patty. I'm also thinking my arteries are constricting at the thought so I might have to keep this one in my dreams.
holdthemayo at 8:39PM on 10/13/08
@holdthemayo: My favorite burger toppings are onion and pickle, so I think your suggestion of putting pickles in the grilled cheeses is sound. Pickle and cheese sandwich is a great, great thing.
Adam Kuban at 9:31PM on 10/13/08
although im pretty sure i could finish the DBHFM, I am equally as sure its not a good idea. that being said I will be making one and atleast giving it a try......its gotta be trasharificlly good.
reminds me of my youth, making double, triple and sometimes even quintuple decker PB&J's and seeing if you could eat it!LOL.....good times, for the record 7 strata of bread was my personal best.
concreteoatmeal at 10:14PM on 10/13/08
all i can say is: wow.
piratemptress at 11:59PM on 10/13/08
um, shouldn't you melt the cheese on the patty??!
ctillman at 3:52AM on 10/14/08
God Bless Adam Kuban. :-)
(I was out of town all day so I just now saw this)
FastFoodCritic at 4:08AM on 10/14/08
WOW! I am sure it tastes like heaven but I can feel my hips zooming out just lookin' at it!!!
Yu Ming Lui at 5:43AM on 10/14/08
.... but I can feel my hips zooming out just lookin' at it...
Wide hips are a sign of fertility among women.
Or maybe it just means they're fat?
Hmmm, I might need to do a quick fat check... I mean fact.. FACT check.
FastFoodCritic at 7:27AM on 10/14/08
What, no mayo???
RichardCrystal at 8:28AM on 10/14/08
Over the last year, I've managed to lose 45 pounds.
Today I finally realized what the purpose of losing all that weight was:
So that I can eat this sandwich and not immediately die.
Make me one now.
No seriously, do it.
sudo make me that damned sandwich.
ArmyOfAardvarks at 9:22AM on 10/14/08
I think I saw this on Rachel Ray.
grubbytron at 1:41PM on 10/14/08
Hold the bacon. I love bacon, but by itself, or on a BLT. A little bit of onions (not too many) would work, although I think the idea is to get that grilled cheese texture (goo experience) simultaneous with the burger. This is a well designed sandwich that should be adopted on by all the major chains.
tjmile1 at 6:21PM on 10/14/08
I'd like to disclose that I am a vegetarian; so I would make the whole thing with soy "meat." Anyway, to make this into a true death by burger meal, how about montechristo-ing the whole thing. That's right. Dip it in batter and deep fry that bad boy! ( not recommended for people genetically predisposed for heart disease)
hmboj1976 at 9:50AM on 10/15/08
This is what dreams are made of...
jonny509 at 10:59AM on 10/15/08
WWEE- What Would Elvis Eat?
A Double Bacon Fatty Melt
eatorama at 1:35PM on 10/15/08
This looks fanastic but this is why America is fat!
tammiebalon at 1:39PM on 10/15/08
"The bacon ends up overpowering the flavor of this thing." - you say it like it's a terrible thing.
Taking one further step - garnishing the hamburger meat ... with Bacon Salt!
mikewat at 5:12PM on 10/15/08
I'm starting a new religion with the Bacon Hamburger Fatty Melt as the central deity. Bow down before the unmistakable power of It.
kodiak at 6:52PM on 10/16/08
this is my new favorite place to go on the internet!.
megplease at 8:50PM on 10/16/08
@megplease: Thanks! That's really nice to hear. We hope AHT doesn't kill you with cholesterol, though! ;)
Adam Kuban at 10:31AM on 10/17/08
This is fantastic. Of course my wife doesn't agree, but she doesn't that's to be expected :)
One suggestion. Make that burger a Jucy Lucy if you really want to go over the top!
PizzaMonkey at 9:26PM on 10/17/08
We actually made the original fatty burger when we first saw it on SE.
It was absolutely delicious and I'll make it again next year the way I make fried chicken once a year.
Nonny at 9:54AM on 10/19/08
where's the innovation? A little ingenuity and I think you could bread the entire bomb and deep fry this mother.
SmokedMeat at 10:07AM on 10/20/08
I did the first one and it was good, did another with lots of bacon and it was even gooder, but could only eat half . Too much bread, but I love grilled cheese. So third sandwich I did a simple patty melt extra cheese lots of butter, lots of bacon - 8 thick slices and a 1/4lb buffalo patty as I like the flavor of the meat and of course mayo and a few rings of a sweet onion. IT WAS GREAT! The originals are very good and a must try, but too much of a good idea is worth a try and I did. Now I'll just have a greasy decadent pattymelt and on occasion have the original grilled cheese burger wlth bacon onion and mayo. I'm drooling again.
shipwreck at 2:46PM on 10/20/08
Heaven. In a perfect world this would only have 35 calories and 200% RDA of vitamin E.
WannabeTVchef at 7:49PM on 10/20/08
i'm with ya wannabeTVchef or we could all have one of those perfect metabolisms that would let us eat as much of anything we want
shipwreck at 1:53PM on 10/21/08
That double looks droolingly hardcore! I'd definitely go for one (or more...) of those in the 'perfect world' - definitely with you on that perfect world, shipwreck & WannabeTVchef!
libbyk at 2:47AM on 10/22/08
Holy Cholesterol, Batman!
Deb Harkness at 5:59PM on 10/22/08
That's just WRONG.
>>
muchcat at 8:15PM on 10/22/08
CARAMELISED!!! Not Carmelized (don't care about the z, just add an A for chrissakes!
snowmoonelk at 3:56PM on 10/26/08
@snowmoonelk: Thank you for correcting the spelling of the commenter above, but as folks are unable to edit once comments have been made, it's wasted effort. Even if edits were possible, it's wasted effort nonetheless. To try to correct the spelling and/or grammar of every nonstandard comment would be madness. Everyone makes mistakes from time to time, and given the volume of comments and Talk threads on the Serious Eats sites, there's lots of opportunities to make a typo.
Adam Kuban at 4:45PM on 10/26/08
Ha ha, Adam, thank you for your effort in trying to tell me not to waste my effort :) I was not trying to correct a typo, as such, I thought you Americans call it carmelized as a matter of course as I have seen it written like that on blogs many times! Bless you, anyway.
snowmoonelk at 7:35PM on 10/26/08
I gotta go with snowie here. It's not a 'typo' Adam (check the definition); it's an improperly spelled word. So the comment isn't made simply to correct a post (which can't be done here), but to *educate* the OP and others regarding the proper spelling of 'carameli(s/z)ed.' In the same vein, I will always welcome corrections when people misspell 'prix fixe' as 'pre-fix,' etc. With enough such corrections, many restaurants and purported foodies might finally learn the proper spelling (which derives from the French term for 'fixed price,' natch). I'm just sayin'.
On-topic, I would go with the basic single burger with grilled-cheese buns, with the option of bacon and/or caramelized onions on the burger itself. I am sorely tempted to cook one up soon!
drmoze at 8:25PM on 10/26/08
@snowmoonelk: I think what's going on and what you're seeing is that we often pronounce it "car-mull" (two syllables). I'm guessing the Brits do three syllables? So many people, I think, misspell it, dropping that second "a." The "z" vs. "s" thing seems to be a U.S. English vs. English English thing -- like "flavor," "color," "favor" vs. "flavour," "colour," "favour." And, yes, drmoze is right. I should have thanked you for correcting the OP. I think I was just a bit cranky when I got home and saw a spelling correction. Thanks! I usually do appreciate a spelling correction when it's in my own posts, but I do know that some community members get upset about it, so I was trying to get PerkyMac's back. Sorry for getting cranky, snowmoonelk!
Adam Kuban at 8:50AM on 10/27/08
no worries - guess my British humour didn't come through quite as I'd hoped! ;)
snowmoonelk at 2:58PM on 10/27/08
why not crumble up bacon and mix it in with the hamburger before you cook it.
lunchboxroundpants at 12:33AM on 10/28/08