[John Cheramie and his burger creation. Photographs: John Cheramie]

I get a lot of emails with a subject line that read "burger." Friends and strangers alike pass along a link or a photo that they think might capture my burger fancy. I like the attention so I'm not entreating them to stop, but the truth is there usually isn't much for me to sink my teeth into.

Then sometimes someone sends me a photo of a burger bigger than my meaty head, and my heart soars.

Recently a friend sent along this photo of John Cheramie and his 30th birthday burger. I immediately knew that I was duty bound to track down the intrepid fellow who decided to celebrate himself with 30 pounds of ground meat. John was kind enough to share the whole story and some amazing photos. You can see this franken-burger come to life after the jump.

I asked John what inspired him to tackle the 30 pound burger project and here's what he told me:

The basic idea behind the burger is that I wanted something symbolic of my 30th birthday. I have had burger nights at my house before, but I needed something much more grand; something I could have all of my friends join in on. Being that I'm a musician I have a close group of friends that usually gets me into trouble. On the other end of the spectrum are my church friends. You see, I am a youth leader at a local church and that group of friends keeps me out of trouble.

I needed one event that could bring everyone together. Then realized the answer: food. I figured one pound of burger for each of my thirty years sounded good. The credits go this way: my friends Jose and Luis documented the event, Mike baked the bun, and his cousin, Ernie, assembled it. Myself and Jonathon prepared and cooked the burger patties.

Here's how this beast came together:

Each patty weighed 15 pounds. John used 1 egg for every 5 pounds of ground beef. He seasoned the meat with garlic salt and pepper.

John and his team estimated the bun was about 7.5 pounds. It was made with 6 eggs and 15 cups of flour. They made sure the bun was very heavy (i.e. not fluffy) otherwise it would crush under the weight of the patties.

John added three pounds of sharp cheddar, four tomatoes, two onions, a head of lettuce, and one jar of dill pickle chips. Oh yeah, and no small amount of mayo, mustard, and ketchup.

They tried using a toothpick to keep the burger stable, but couldn't find one big enough. John made the executive decision to go with the very cinematic 12-inch butcher knife.

In the end the whole thing cost him about $150, but considering half the burger fed all fifteen people in attendance that nigh it wasn't such steep price tag. Besides John isn't wasteful; he packed up the leftovers and ate some of his burger twice a day until it was gone. It took him a week.