A good little foodie story is the Matt’s Bar v. 5-8 Club on who owns the origin of the “Juicy/Jucy Lucy”. I ain’t gonna re-visit that, but I’ll say it’s a fun banter that keeps people talking, so I’m all about it. Anyway, I was out in Minnesota for a week, so I had to go visit. I went ahead and enjoyed the Matt’s Bar Jucy Lucy, because I liked the story with the absent ‘i’.
I’ll add on that I had another competitor (that wasn’t one of the two mentioned) and it was near the quality of Matt’s. Won’t name ’em, but I know I do them better. When I first bit into the Matt’s Bar Jucy Lucy, it was the burger that I always make – thin-patty blackstone with about an 80/20 blend. It was familiar.. very familiar, so naturally I enjoyed the hell out of it.
I went to the city that birthed the cheese-filled lava burger, now let’s go ahead and create our own.
The Prep Table
Was going to do a little bit extra and add on some beef bacon, but I absolutely forgot the damn thing in the fridge. Oh well, this burger didn’t have bacon, only onion/pickle, so we’re staying true to form. Had I wanted to truly make it legit, I would’ve went with a higher fat percentage – but I needed to re-up my ground beef supply, and Costco offered an 88/12, so an 88/12 is what I got. Lastly, this was all sparked because these onion challah buns called my name at the grocer, and so we begin.
I took out about 2lbs of the 6+ in that mega pack and threw it in a mixing bowl. I thought about just doing salt/pepper.. then I thought maybe some Meaty Bits Beef Rub – but alas, I chose the Spicy Montreal Steak McCormicks. I do enjoy my own blends, but I gotta give McCormick’s credit when due.. that Montreal is spot on. I put a good dice on the onion and took a slice of American and quartered it. That’s about all we have for prep, so let’s patty the burger.
The Process
Competitor Lucy burger was thick and had different cheese and bacon inside. The consistency and meat/cheese ratio was just off. Now, I’ll also mention that the stuffed burger is generally ‘eh’ – in my opinion. If you recall, my Elk Burgers that I brie-stuffed was good, but didn’t really add to it. And (I’m sorry Minneapolis) – there’s no positive to the cheese in between as opposed to on top. That being said, let’s patty these up.
So of the rough 2lb pound ball – I made 5 “Lucies”. A bit of rough common core math – we’re looking at about a 3oz (~1/5lb) patty. This is a bit smaller than my usual smash, but since we’re doing a pre-smash due to cheese stuff – we’re about on point. Between two parchment sheets, I did the smash. I put the quartered cheese in the middle, added a second patty and sealed it up. I wanted to avoid the ‘ooze’, so I did a pinch on the sides and then a solid rotate formation to make sure it was good and symmetrical. A 6oz burger is good and plenty for a burger, so that’s what we do. I placed these pre-mades in the fridge for about 15 to become one, and then we’re taking ’em out to the griddle.
So the game plan is to throw a solid sauté on the onion, because it the onion-essence is important with this burger. Hey, I’ve done some serious ridiculously onion burgers on this site: Oklahoma Onion, White Castle, Onion Soup Mix Burger – I know the importance of the allium genus. Once the onions are good – throw it on the warm side of the Blackstone and go to town.
Another little secret add – Duck Fat Spray. I got the Blackstone going with the Olive oil drizzle, then pre onion, pre burger.. even pre-bun toasting – throw the DFS on there and go un-healthy with it. Throw the patties on there, watch the gray creep up the burger and flip. Can’t oversell the importance of the griddle crisp that’s applied to the burger. We went this far, don’t half ass it now.
The Result
Burger’s good and built and it’s time to eat. This particular day was hitting that 100 degree heat index and even though your typical Blackstone burger is a real quick cook – it was hot out there. I was that neighbor who had the vittles permeating the air while contractors were hard at work next door. In a rare form of compassion from my otherwise stone-walled self, I threw the leftover four in a tray and fed the crew. Didn’t get their review, because I sought shelter in the air conditioning after eating, but I know how it was.
Matt’s Bar gave a warning – it’s lava, it’ll burn you. (It didn’t). The competitor burger said the same.. it was less hot and lava-like than Matt’s. I took a bite into mine and it had a slow crawl of cheese. It was hot, wasn’t molten – but it was a delicious burger. I brought out a couple extra cheese squares, because I thought the additional slice would be better – but I didn’t want it after tasting this.
Next time, I might try to not layer the quartered cheese slice exactly on one another and let some cheese spread out from the burger instead of the stack. Not only because it was hot as anything outside and definitely became a brick – but because each bite deserves some cheese. Again, I don’t see the draw of throwing the cheese inside instead of on-top – but I won’t knock it either. It’s delicious – it’s a cheese burger, and it was good! Thanks “MSP”, thanks “Mpls”.. thanks Matt’s Bar – hope we did you proud!
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