Juicy Lucy Burger - Casablanca Date Night

One of my favorite married date nights was about 25+ years ago back in Minneapolis MN - it was planned by Kevin and we went to an old movie theater located near the University and it showed old black and white movies--it was a double feature of Casablanca and the Maltese Falcon.  Before the movie we went to a local restaurant known for its Juicy Lucy Burger and Malted Milkshakes. A Juicy Lucy is described as..."It's pure juicy, cheesy goodness when melted American cheese is sandwiched between two seasoned ground beef patties. "  Louie, this the beginning of a beautiful relationship




Anyhow I recently decided to surprise Kevin with recreating that date night -- He will tell you the recreated night was just as good! Play it again Sam...

Let' start with the ingredients....Round up the usual suspects 

3/4 pound ground beef (best with 80/20% beef) 1-1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper 2 slices American cheese 2 hamburger buns, split

Directions:

Combine ground beef, Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, and pepper in a large bowl; mix well.

Form 4, thin patties from the beef. Each patty should be slightly larger than a slice of cheese. I like to score the meat to make the pattie size equal

Cut each slice of American cheese into 4 equal pieces; stack the pieces. Sandwich one stack of cheese between 2 ground beef patties.

Ok so I bolded the above part because I didn't discover until after cooking that I hadn't read the instructions properly --as you can see I folded edges of cheese to fit on top of a thin burger --had i folded each slice into quarters it would have melted like a mini ball of cheese and my burger wouldn't have had to been so thin!! Learn by my mistakes....as usual

Tightly pinch edges together tightly seal the cheese within the meat. Repeat with the remaining cheese and patties.

Burger sealed and readey to hit pan!

We love grilled sauted onions so we carmelized one in EVOO until done

Preheat a cast-iron or other heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat.
Here is Kevin whipping up our chocolate malted shakes

Cook burgers until well browned, about 4 minutes.It is common for burgers to puff up due to steam from the melting cheese. Turn burgers and prick the top of each to allow steam to escape; cook until browned on the outside and no longer pink on the inside; about 4 minutes. Serve on hamburger buns.

Yes we were using the 'celebrate' plates for fun and I wrapped the oven fries in freezer paper for fun to serve!  Here's looking at you kid!!