Jucy Lucy Burger

No, that is not a spelling mistake. What is a Jucy Lucy then, you ask? Wikipedia's explanation is fairly comprehensive: a 'Jucy Lucy' is "a cheeseburger having the cheese inside the meat patty rather than on top... resulting in a molten core of cheese within the patty... that tends to gush out at first bite". I first saw the Jucy Lucy in this episode of Food Wars and I knew it was something that I just had to try. Let's get juicy... I mean, jucy!

Ingredients needed to get started:

1. 600g of ground beef mince (try get an 80/20 mix for full flavour and a juicy result)

2. Colby cheese, sliced (or your favourite melting cheese)

3. Tasty cheese, sliced (double cheese power!)

4. Hamburger buns

5. Lettuce

6. Tomatoes

7. Chips

8. Salt

9. Pepper

10. Mayonnaise

11. Tomato sauce

12. Barbecue sauce

Step 1: Set up and prep ingredients

Start by preheating the oven to 180°C and placing the chips on a foil lined baking tray.

Slice the hamburger buns in half and butter the bottom half buns.

Slice up those tomatoes, and chop that lettuce. Make sure you strip away the first layer of outer leaves on the lettuce that are wrinkly and dead. Gross. Also, rise the lettuce and tomato to remove any dirt and/or pesticides that may have been sprayed onto the vegetables.

Slice up the cheese into small squares. You don't want to make the squares too big, otherwise you'll have a premature cheese erruption later. As I used two different types of cheese, I layered them so that when they melted, the flavours would get mixed together evenly.

By this time, the oven should be hot enough to begin cooking the chips, so pop them in now.

Step 2: Patty architecture

Portion out 4 balls of the ground beef.

Taking one of the balls, separate it in half.

Using the palm of your hand, squash the mince down into a patty shapes. We want fairly thin patties, 3-5mm or so in height. Make sure the patties are even in thickness all the way through to allow for even cooking.

Continue this process for the rest of the patties, stacking them up as you go with a sheet of wax paper in-between to prevent sticking and other hassels.

Grab one patty, lay it flat on a surface and pop on a stack of cheese right in the middle of the patty. I know, it's completely unorthodox, but trust me, it will turn out amazingly. It helps if you take the cheese stack and squeeze it tight, compressing the layers of cheese, thus making the stack smaller.

Now grab another patty, and place it on top of the cheese. You probably think I have lost all sense by now, but just you wait. Press down the edges together and make a firm seal while adding pressure to the entire patty, securing its contents.

1 down, 3 to go. I hope you are starting to see the genius behind this monstrosity. Continue patty building, until you've done all 4 patties.

There we have 4 cheese filled patties, ready to hit the stove. Well, what are you waiting for?

Step 3: Meat meets heat

Get those patties to the stove!

A little oil in the pan and a high heat is all this patty needs. Season well with salt and pepper, the cover and leave for 5 minutes. Check back on it and if ready, flip it.

Beautiful. 

If you used too much cheese before, or did not seal the patty properly, this is the point where you would have a premature cheese eruption. It can be fixed by simply using a spatula to clean away the mess. Prick a few holes in the top with a toothpick to let out some steam from within the patty (don't worry, cheese won't flow out of the holes). Season this side, then cover and check back in another 5 minutes. If it's done, you're ready to start building your burger.

Step 4: Burger assembly

You want to be as quick as possible with the next few steps, so that your burger is still hot, and the cheesy filling still molten and flowing.

Start with the bottom hamburger bun.

Add your patty.

A drizzle of your favourite sauce (in my case, combination barbecue and tomato), followed by lettuce, mayonnaise and tomato is a smart move. If you wish to keep true to the original (just like the video link in the beginning), then omit all the vegetables and keep it as a simple cheeseburger.

Finish with a top half bun and a side of chips, fresh from the oven.

Take a big bite.

WARNING: Molten cheese is extremely hot, and can burn your tongue and face (if it splashes out at you), so be careful! You may want to give it a minute or two to cool down before biting in.

The photo does not do it justice, it was seriously satisfying. The gooey cheese that oozes out of the patty with every bite was incredible. They don't call it a jucy lucy for nothing ;) yum!

- WeCannotCook