Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Peanut Butter on a Hamburger?

I'll admit, I was a bit weirded out when I first saw that offering on the menu at Cheeburger Cheeburger, so I asked the waitress if anybody actually ordered it. She was more than happy to tell me that she was surprised that there was a small minority that regularly asked for it on their hamburgers. I went home and read a bit about it here, here, and here and happened a burger construction method that I thought I would find appealing: peanut butter, pepper jack cheese, and bacon. I was all about trying it, but never found the opportunity to head back to Cheeburger Cheeburger to give it a whirl.

Fast forward to last night, myself and Steph, the parents, Rory and her boyfriend Drew hit it up for an impromptu birthday dinner for Rorycles. Everyone's ordering their burgers (or portabello mushrooms) with cheddar, sauteed onions, tomato...pretty standard stuff. The waitress gets to me, and I order my medium burger with peanut butter, pepper jack and bacon...and the waitress is stunned. My family is interested in the combination, and I definitely endure some ribbing about my choice, but I would not be constrained by the boundaries that society has put on burger toppings!

Allow me to take this time to disparage Cheeburger Cheeburger. I'm no professional, but I am fully capable of testing to see whether a hamburger is cooked to medium, medium-well, or well done through the use of a instant-read thermometer, or even simply by poking the hamburger. What kind of place CUTS open the hamburger to see if it's done? All that does (and did, yet again last night) is cause the burger to cook unevenly, giving me areas that are well-done and areas that are medium. Get with it people: hire cooks who know how to cook hamburgers!

So my burger comes out, and I'm slightly disappointed from the get-go. Everything I had read and seen about peanut butter on hamburgers is that the peanut butter is spread right on the burger, so it gets melty and gooey - my burger had the peanut butter spread on the top bun :-( Not to be denied, I took a big bite...and was pleasantly surprised! The smokiness of the bacon, the earthiness of the peanut butter and the creamy/spicy from the pepper jack cheese was a great combination with the burger. Next time, I'm going to have them put it directly on the burger.

Would I order it again, or even try making it myself? Absolutely*.

*Just not from Cheeburger Cheeburger.

4 comments:

Kristin said...

I've heard of this before but have never had the nerve to try it. Reading your description makes me very curious though.

Unknown said...

I sat right across from him and it still seems disgusting. Yuck.

And yes, my portobello sandwich with Swiss cheese and sauteed onions was delicious. Much better than peanut butter on a burger. Crazy.

Anonymous said...

You prolly put vinegar on french fries too. Blech!!!

Ms. Meg said...

That is whack.