Bwahahahahahahahahahaha.....
you like that nice play of the spelling in the title.
Well, it is ME (Crystal) and not the slider joint well known
to all of us here in the south
vs. White Castle.
My hubster was born and raised in Indiana.....home to many White Castles.
I was born and raised in Georgia.....Krystal Kountry.
I have never eaten a White Castle and he always tells me that
White Castles are better than Krystal's.....
I know I know.....it can be debated until the cows are
ready for the hamburger plant.
But its really all about personal preference, like most things. You will most likely choose the one you ate as a small child because it brings back so many memories.
I still love my Krystal's and probably always will. I order my Krystal's with extra mustard and if there is still not enough on them, I ask for extra packs of mustard to add at my leisure.
The only real differences I can see from research is the 5 holes in the meat, maybe some seasoning on White Castles and the ketchup vs mustard debate.
Other than that, they are both cooked on some sort of
griddle and steamed...
not cooked, per say.
Hubs says the buns are not as thick on White Castles, I really didn't see a difference from pictures I have seen.......but we'll just have to see........
So, on to my experiment.....
First is the hamburger meat.
You need a high fat content so the burgers will stay juicy.
I used 75/25. I rolled the meat out to a thickness of 1/4" and then cut into approx. 4" squares.
I used a drinking straw to make the 5 holes as seen in a
White Castle burger.
They may not be the prettiest patties, but they will serve their purpose.....
Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Not sure if this is really that important. But in my search, I saw several recipes called for season salt on the White Castles. I even watched a video of a real White Castle restaurant and they
very lightly shook on a non-descript powdery substance onto the patties while they were cooking...
hmmmmmm. I searched thru my spice cabinet and these are the ones that I had readily available. I chose to use the ones on the right. Again, VERY LIGHT amount.
Next is the onions. No tears had to be shed to create these....HA!
I reconstituted some dried minced onions (simply pour boiling water over to cover and let sit) and the key here is NOT to drain the juice.
It WILL be used in the cooking process.
Dill pickle chips.....easy enough. Open the jar and drain. But I do think one key is not to have them
cold out of the fridge. Let them get to room temp.
Ahhhhh...the foundation for it all.....THE BUN!!!
I think any square dinner roll will suffice. But as the stated earlier, the hubs thinks Krystal's are too "bready". So, I bought the two below and did a comparison.
First, I didn't like the yellow color of Martin's potato rolls. I tasted them and there wasn't much difference there. But side by side and you can see that the potato roll on the left is significantly thicker and the top doesn't look as smooth. I chose the Nature's Own on the right to use for our White Castle experience.
Sorry I didn't get a picture of the cooking process.
But it was pretty simple. I put a pat of butter and a few tablespoons of juice into a skillet and cooked on a low-medium heat.....just until the juice are barely simmering. I placed a patty into the juice and cooked for just a minute or two. Then I placed a small pile of the reconstituted onions in the skillet and flipped the patty over on top. Placed the bottom of the sliced roll on top of the burger and then I laid the top on and then placed a lid on to steam everything.
Here's the finished product.
As you can see the bun soaked up some of the juice and streamed to perfection.
They were a HIT!!! Hubs said they tasted just like White Castles.
He finished off 4 in no time flat.
He ate his nekkid and used ketchup on his fries.
I, of course, added mustard to mine.
It was a successful experiment and
I had a lot of fun trying something new.....
and it was a lot cheaper than driving up to Indiana.
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
I don't think I will change anything that I did. I made way more patties than we needed and packaged up the rest and will freeze them for future use.
I forgot to add the cost comparison -
homemade vs. bought
Krystal avg. 79 cents each
White Castle avg. 63 cents each
homemade approx. 45-50 cents each
Now there are no excuses why you can't try them yourself.
Until later, hamburglars.........Gotta split........TFL!!!!
