Cheeseburger

Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Pp-move-indef Template:Pp-semi-indef Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox food A cheeseburger is a hamburger with one or more slices of melted cheese on top of the meat patty, added near the end of the cooking time. Cheeseburgers can include variations in structure, ingredients and composition. As with other hamburgers, a cheeseburger may include various condiments and other toppings such as lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, avocado, mushrooms, mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard.

In fast food restaurants across the United States, processed cheese is usually used, although other meltable cheeses are used, such as cheddar, Swiss, mozzarella, blue cheese, or pepper jack. Virtually all restaurants that sell hamburgers also offer cheeseburgers.

OriginsEdit

By the late 19th century, the vast grasslands of the Great Plains had been opened up for cattle ranching. This made it possible for many Americans to consume beef almost daily. The hamburger remains as one of the cheapest forms of beef in America.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Adding cheese to hamburgers became popular in the 1920s. There are several competing claims as to who created the first cheeseburger. Lionel Sternberger is reputed to have introduced the cheeseburger in 1924 at the age of 16. He was working as a fry cook at his father's Pasadena, California, sandwich shop, "The Rite Spot", and "experimentally dropped a slab of American cheese on a sizzling hamburger."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> An early example of the cheeseburger appearing on a menu is a 1928 menu for the Los Angeles restaurant O'Dell's, which listed a cheeseburger smothered with chili for 25 cents.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=kcet-2013sep18>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="lapl">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Other restaurants also claim to have invented the cheeseburger. For example, Kaelin's Restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, said it invented the cheeseburger in 1934.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> One year later, a trademark for the name "cheeseburger" was awarded to Louis Ballast of the Humpty Dumpty Drive-In in Denver, Colorado.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to Steak 'n Shake archives, the restaurant's founder, Gus Belt, applied for a trademark on the word in the 1930s.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} (7 July 2004) 323 F. Supp.2d 983 (E.D. Mo. 2004)</ref>

Dale Mulder, the owner of an A&W Restaurants franchise in Lansing, Michigan, has been credited with inventing the bacon cheeseburger in 1963, putting it on the menu after repeated requests from the same customer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This was highlighted in a 2014 ad campaign for the chain featuring Mulder, who had since become the president of the A&W chain.<ref>"You'll Never Guess Who Invented the Bacon Cheeseburger", Ad Age, June 23, 2014, Web.</ref> However, there are earlier examples of a restaurant selling bacon cheeseburgers, including a menu for a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania restaurant from 1941.<ref>"NEW—DIFFERENT; Announcing Opening of Hitchin' Post Restaurant", Harrisburg Evening News, January 3, 1941, page eight. Retrieved November 16, 2024 via Newspapers.com.</ref>

The steamed cheeseburger, a variation almost exclusively served in central Connecticut, is believed to have been invented at a restaurant called Jack's Lunch in Middletown, Connecticut, in the 1930s.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The largest cheeseburger ever made weighed Template:Convert. It is said to have included "Template:Convert of bacon, Template:Convert of lettuce, Template:Convert of sliced onions, Template:Convert of pickles, and Template:Convert of cheese." This record was set in 2012 by Minnesota's Black Bear Casino, smashing the previous record of Template:Convert.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the United States, National Cheeseburger Day is celebrated annually on September 18.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

IngredientsEdit

File:At Dot's Diner - Alpine Burger.jpg

Some cheeseburger ingredients

The ingredients used to create cheeseburgers follow similar patterns found in the regional variations of hamburgers, although most start with ground beef. Common cheeses used for topping are American, Swiss, Cheddar and other meltable cheeses. Popular toppings include lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, avocado or guacamole, sliced sautéed mushrooms, cheese sauce or chili, but the variety of possible toppings is broad.

A cheeseburger may have more than one patty or more than one slice of cheese—it is reasonably common, but by no means automatic, for the number to increase at the same rate with cheese and meat interleaved. A stack of two or more patties follows the same basic pattern as hamburgers: with two patties will be called a double cheeseburger; a triple cheeseburger has three, and while much less common, a quadruple has four.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Sometimes cheeseburgers are prepared with the cheese enclosed within the ground beef, rather than on top. This is sometimes known as a Jucy Lucy.<ref name=mndaily>Template:Cite news</ref>

GalleryEdit

Burger King Quad Stacker cheeseburger.jpg

A Burger King "Quad Stacker" cheeseburger, containing four patties and bacon
Cheeseburger - BrewDog Camden, Camden Town, London.jpg

A cheeseburger at a restaurant in Camden Town, London
McDonalds Big Mac hamburger cheeseburger.jpg

A half-eaten McDonald's Big Mac, showing the contents of the burger

ReferencesEdit

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Cheeseburger

Contents

OriginsEdit

IngredientsEdit

GalleryEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

Further readingEdit