White Castle Hamburgers AT HOME!

Featured Friday Nov. 14, 2008
first featured instructable for me, Thanks!

For tips on Cast-iron cookware, go here.

Update: When making burgers like this it is pretty important to keep them all uniform in shape and thickness.
To make sure they are all the same thickness head on down to your local hardware store and purchase 2 dowels (square dowels work the best)
and then head to walmart or your local supermarket and pick up some wax paper,a long rolling pin, and one of them roll type pizza cutters.
Set your dowels down on your counter at about the max width of your rolling pin. and then place one long piece of wax paper between and over your dowels. toss your beaten meat in between the dowels and on top of that wax paper ( try and spread it out a little so its not one giant beaten meat pile in the middle) toss another piece of wax paper over the top. get out the trusty rolling pin and start rolling making sure that the rolling pin stays on top of the dowels as you roll you may need to adjust the top piece of wax paper. you should wind up with a big somewhat square sheet of beaten meat, now all you need to do is peel off the top wax paper, slide the dowels out and run your pizza cutter across your meat in straight lines(forming squares) and you are ready to hit the frying pan!

Thanks Noblevagrant!

Step 1: Do Work.

Go get..

1/4 cup of hot water, boiled in the microwave.
About a teaspoon of dry onion in the little jar(it equals to about a small onion in really small cubes.)
3oz. jar of beef baby food (trust me, you'll love em')
1lb of Ground beef
2/3 cup of beef broth (start with 1/3 and work your way up, or they with be really mushy)
an actual pinch of salt(not an 1/8th Tsp)
small hamburger buns or dinner rolls(like burn and throw away rolls)
a small bird to help you along the way.
sliced cheese (optional)
vegetable oil (optional)
Cast iron pan (easier to control the heat, a non-stick pan will work, but dont get it too hot or use a metal spatula)

Wooden dowels I've heard work well to keep the burgers shape around them, mostly the square dowels.

Comments

[Benwa]

Since you have your pizza cutter out, you can use it to mince fresh onions. A trick I picked up while working in a pizza kitchen. Rough chop onions (quartering seems best) and put into a plastic bucket or similar container. Then "stab the crap out of it" with a pizza cutter. Shake bucket to bring big pieces to the top. Continue stabbing the crap out of it. It's fun and you'll be surprised at how uniform the pieces are.  If you want a finer mince... keep stabbing.  A good way to process a large amount of onions and it seems to cut down on "onion eyes" because it's quick and most of the volatile chemicals stay in the bucket.

[cwilks1]

do you mix in the onions in the water with the rest of the other stuff

[Yerboogieman]

Nah, just stick it in the pan until it boils. It kind of steams the hamburgers.

[SGT. Desert]

tank you now i dont have to drive 35 miles to eat an hamburgare

[CandiiKorn]

AWESUM!!!

[panderson8]

I'm sure the recipe above tastes lovely in it's own right, but as a long time White Castle fan and ex employee, I can tell you that you have it wrong. Slyders are actually nearly grease free. The delightful squidgeyness comes from being steam grilled on a bed of water and onions. It's more colorful to call it grease but inaccurate. The cooking process is nearly impossible to duplicate at home. Your burgers may be delicious and greasy, but they are not slyders and much more unhealthy.

[kdodson2]

Thank you Yerboogieman and panderson8. My dad worked at White Castle for 42 years (Maintenance dept./building new castles/etc.). During that time i would often go with him when he made equipment repairs and 'study' how they made the burgers. Key point is to add the 5 holes, which are actually not an original component of the White Castle burger, but were added in the 1940s or so - helps them cook quickly but more importantly "evenly" without having to flip. This is critical to achieve the moist bun. No grease involved in cooking, just plain old water and onions on a griddle will do the trick. Though i can understand why people think it may be grease. BTW, when my dad worked their the staff would often take their own WCs and dip them in the french fryer for about 35 seconds. This would create a beautifully browned and crisp burger that only a select few could enjoy! BUT it definitely had LOTS of grease!

For the serious coniseur I suggest investing in a large electric griddle. Just build a steel pan, 1/4" wall all around, to hold the water in while cooking. The electric will give you a more even cooking temperature across the griddle as well. As you all mentioned, dehydrated chopped onions are most authentic. Oh, and be sure to stack the top of the bun on top of the burger/bottom bun while cooking to ensure even temperatures.

Having a dad that worked at White Castle while I was growing up was a wonderful experience. At Christmas his bosses would sometimes give the warehouse/maintenance staff an actual box of the frozen patties! My mom would cook them up in a frying pan at home (yeah, i know, but she just wasn't in to the griddle angle).

[acidbass]

I am with you on that one no one can replicate the white castle goodness just like coke and dr. pepper and the big mac secret sauce

[Yerboogieman]

Erm, I hate to break it to you but Big Mac sauce is actually very easy to make. Thousand island dressing, dehydrated onions, mayonaise (not miracle whip, yuck) and relish. :-P I like to add a bit of Johnny's too.

[acidbass]

I know its just..not the exact same

[Yerboogieman]

The only fat in the burgers was already in the beef which was 93/7. What was in the pan was water and onions preheated in the microwave. I would also add water every now and then while cooking.

[acidbass]

who knew harold and kumar didnt have to find white castle they just had to make the homemade knock-off versions

[doomsdayltd]

the way to really make this is almost like how people make chicken fried steak, place a piece of plastic wrap then meat and then another plastic wrap. Now take a hammer (or something to smash it with), and swing away until you get a 2mm thick meat. Cut this to proportion and cook on the onions, this gets the thickness right and the right amount of onion absorption! :D

[lifetaker1000]

my inner 15 year old came out at the title of this. and thats not a bad thing.lol

[nzelnick]

There's a key step missing here. These burgers are greasy...that's okay, they're supposed to be. But the grease will soak into the buns and make them very hard to handle. The solution is to put a thin thin thin (may I reiterate, thin) layer of mayonnaise on both buns. This will act as a barrier and trap the greasy goodness in the burger itself. This is part of what makes a slider slide. And ummmm...a little more fat does a lot of good.

[jennahilary]

White Castle burgers are supposed to be greasy like that. All the ones I've had, the grease was just soaked into the bun. Only thing I'd say is to make the patty as thin as possible.

[Yerboogieman]

I've never had problems with grease in the past. They aren't very greasy to me when I eat them.

[nzelnick]

Okay. I'm working off my own experience in a variant recipe (no baby food, no broth). Maybe you're using leaner beef ...?

[Yerboogieman]

Safeway meat. 92% beef 8% Fat. Sometimes even 94%.

[nzelnick]

Yup, that's lean.

[pattyaitch]

Had a recipe way back when~~~~maybe 20 some years back in the Orange County Register, that added a can of liverwurst. It's by the same company that makes deviled ham. Same little can. way tasty!

[Pizzapie500]

In the text it says 1 teaspoon=1 small onion but in the pic you put a note 1 tablespoon=1 small onion. Which is right? Also how many burgers does this make?

[Yerboogieman]

Sorry about that, 1tsp =1 small onion. It makes a bunch of little ones. Feeds 3 well along with lunch the next day.

[jdwaynes1980]

Love your Titles for each step.

[knexsuperbuilderfreak]

they look delish i need to try this (and maybe try white castle burgers if there around here)

[=SMART=]

Yum Yum, I've never been to white castle before !

[Phoghat]

Christ on a cracker, where do you live?
Go to http://www.whitecastle.com/ and see if there is one near you.  You haven't truly lived if you haven't had one

 

[loppy96]

me neither

[AnarchistAsian]

and you might want to keep it that way, cuz it's a prison...

[Brother_D]

Its the same way with Krystals down south.

[AnarchistAsian]

Krystals???

[Brother_D]

Yeah they're the exact same thing as White Castle. Except its called Krystals...

[Funk_D]

No, no, no. White Castle burgers have ketchup on them, Krystal ones have mustard. They have kinda a "gentleman's agreement" that Krystal won't place stores up north and White Castle won't put stores down south.

[jonathanrice78]

White Castles uses a very light flavored ketchup mustard blend which when mixed right still comes out yellow. I would bet money Crystals does the same trick. But, nothing beats White Castles onion chips. If you haven't had them come to the metro Detroit area

[kadeishasims]

actually there is a white castle down south.thers one right down the street from my grandmas house in nashville.

[CerealKiller]

White Castle burgers do not have ketchup on em.  The difference between WC and Krystals is WC has onions where Krystals has cabbage.

[Funk_D]

Really? I never thought they tasted like cabbage. I eat at Krystal all the time. lol. For like $1 you can get 5 sandwiches.

[=SMART=]

you guys eat too many burgerz

[LividMonkey]

I don't think they are the same. I've never been to White Castle but I hear they are very similar. Krystal's also has yummy chili cheese pups and corn pups. Again, tiny versions of full sized delights. The perfect thing at 3 am after a night of binge drinking! If White Castle has the same things, they may be owned by the same people now. I also hear (hearsay) that White Castle uses ketchup but Krystal's uses mustard. Kinda like the difference between McDonalds and McDowells (Coming to America joke). I don't think White Castle isn't in the south because of racial interpretation. I mean, they do have Cracker Barrels in the south...

[mg0930mg]

I'm up in Jersey, and I see Cracker Barrels.