The Real Deal

You guys have probably been wondering where I've been.  At least I hope you have.  I feel guilty and a bit off my axis because it's been so long since I've written.  You see, our nephew got married on October 26 in Lakeville, Minnesota.  I've never been there and of course, the wunderkind hasn't either and she'd never flown before.

Seriously, is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen?  Still hasn't mastered the spelling of her middle name yet though!

  Neil hasn't been back since 1994. As a Southerner, born and bred, here's what I thought I knew about Minnesota:

• Everyone, I mean, everyone is of Viking descent
• All 10,000 lakes are freezing cold
• With the exception of July and August, it's numbingly cold and snowing all the time
• They have a killer restaurant scene, if you believe Guy Fieri or Adam Richman

Turns out I was right about one of these.  The restaurants.  Think it about a minute.  If you watch Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, Man -vs- Food, etc., you may have noticed the disproportionate number of MN restaurants featured on these shows.  Why, I often wondered?  

One that caught my eye a long time ago was about two joints in the Twin Cities area that have a long time feud about who invented the "Juicy Lucy."  You may remember this post after I saw this on TV.  I told Neil back then, "One day, when we go up there, we're finding this place and having a Juicy Lucy."  The place I'd decided looked and sounded the best to me is called the 5-8 Club.  So, when we booked our flight for the wedding, I promptly went to the 5-8's website for their address because, as I said, WE ARE GOING TO GET THIS HAMBURGER. Since I now have crazy coupon lady syndrome, I noticed a little place on the site that said "Join our email club."  This, of course, made me say to myself, "hmmm, I bet if I do that I'm going to get something."  Well, sure enough, I instantly received an email coupon for a FREE Juicy Lucy.  We're officially in business.

We arrived on Wednesday and I mentioned this Juicy Lucy obsession to my brother-in-law.  His response?  "Let's go tonight!"  And it was so.

Friends, this was a hamburger. I split one with the little one because they are 1/2 lb.  Just as expected and promised, I cut it in half to see golden, oozey cheese burst forth.  The meat was well seasoned and cooked just right. A nice crust that comes from a nice, hot flat top. The closest I have been able to come to this is with a good ol' fashioned cast iron skillet.

Did somebody say Ooey Gooey Good Golly?

 To make the whole experience even better was looking around and recognizing where we were from the TV shows.  Oh yeah...we also had real, Minnesotan cheese curds.  Not familiar with these?  More on that later.

Authentic Minnesota Cheese Curds!

 Our trip was fantastic on many levels.  My nephew's wedding was beautiful, the parties were rockin' and the food, drink and dancing kept us all busy well into the night(s)!  Jackie and her wedding party were all gorgeous and her style was evident in all the details.  

Neil's old house

Como Park, St. Paul MN

We also got to see Neil's old childhood home, the ski slope where he trained (and so did Lindsey Vonn), went to the 1st zoo established in the state of Minnesota (Como Park), saw St. Paul, saw Minneapolis, and got to visit the 5-8 Club for the original Juicy Lucy.  I'd say this was one successful voyage!

The Juicy Lucy

I love Food Network.  I don't think we go through one single day without watching something on it.  My daughter recognizes chefs by name and just the other night proclaimed who was going to be chopped because his dish wasn't "balanced."  I swear she said that; Neil and I almost fell out!

I think it was Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives where I saw a piece about 2 restaurants in Minneapolis that battle over who serves the Original Juicy Lucy burger.  The Juicy Lucy is a burger with tons of ooey, gooey, American cheese oozing out from the inside of the patty.  Interestingly, Neil lived in the twin cities area for many years and he's never heard of this phenomenon.  Nonetheless, we have been destined to try one.

The J.L. isn't difficult to make, but there are a couple of details that I think are important.  They are as follows:

• REAL CHEESE.  I shouldn't have to put this in all caps, but the American public has been duped by marketing execs for decades.  Kraft Singles are NOT real cheese.  Real the package.  Don't buy anything that is called cheese food, cheese product, cheese thingie.  It should simply say American Cheese.
• Kosher salt and a good, healthy dose of it.  You have to season meat.  Period.  Don't believe me?  Watch Food Network.  You'll see more people get their asses handed to them because they failed to just add some salt to the meat.  
• Technique.  Practice makes perfect.  The key here is to seal the patties together really well so you don't have any cheese rupture toward the end of cooking.  You want all that gooeyness to stay inside where it belongs.
• The right meat.  You can't get a good, juicy hamburger that holds together well from 90/10 meat.  It's gotta have some fat in it to bind it and to flavor it.  If you want to make burgers for dinner, buy the meat that day and cook them fresh.  You'll notice the difference for sure.

Measuring out what we need

Divide into two thin patties, stuff and put back together

Cook 'em up old school in cast iron

Viola!  Final product

So, our Juicy Lucy's were a great success!  The little one gave it her signature "10-thumbs up."  Neil hardly said a word as he was busy devouring his and I've changed out of my jeans and into yoga pants! You know what I'm sayin'. 

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