OH JOY! I actually get to write about these lil burping, belching, and farting, wonder bombs! I have been eating White Castles since I was a little girl of about 4! And I will never forget those lovely things no matter how long I live in England! And it should be noted at this point, that to call it a Restaurant, is a bit of an American thing. See, in America we don’t call them take-aways. At best they are drive-thrus, but no matter, either way, you either have a fast food restaurant or a sit-down restaurant. But, if they serve food, and you can sit inside or outside on parasol seats with tables, it is a restaurant. So, lets get that sorted, before you think this is some classy place to go. It would definitely be classified as take away food here, though you can sit in this place and eat. Think McDonalds, or Burger King, but BETTER! As I hate both those places.
In The Beginning:
(This is taken directly from the White Castle website --Which I have only just discovered. And considering it is THEIR site, I figure they can give you the history more concisely than I can, so I am taking it literally from the time line they provide - except where I can make it easier to explain or say or type - NOW, if that doesn’t cover my butt for plagiarism, I give up trying!)
In 1921, with $700 of borrowed money, (that would be £350 translated with today's exchange rates), the first White Castle opens in Wichita, Kansas, offering hamburgers at the unbelievable price of only 5 cents, (£ .02)!
In the 1930's the crush proof square box, for the square hamburger was designed.
In 1949, the ever-present mark of the 'five hole burger' appears, as one of the workers learned that they cook more evenly and give the burger a better quality. (OK, now that is just utter nonsense! A nice way of saying we took five holes worth of meat out, kept the price the same, and made you deal with it! BUT, that being said, they wouldn’t be the same to me without the five holes. Though, if I lived in 1949 when they added - or subtracted rather - this feature, I would have definitely refused to visit them ever again. But since I didn’t come along until 19(something) then they were already established with the five holes, and I was too young and unknowing to complain! And I love em too much to complain now.... still the point had to be made!)
1950's White Castle patents their five-hole 'slyder'. (I don’t ever remember them being called slyder, but apparently that is what they are. That is my first point. My second is, why the heck they bothered to bloody patent it I don’t know. If I was a burger seller, I don’t think I would try to steal the idea of putting holes in a burger. I think I would rather market mine as the 100% burgers with no AIR HOLES! BUT, obviously W.C. felt they needed to patent their holey burgers!) Also, Milkshakes (erm, Ice-Cream shakes really) are added to the menu.
1960’s In 1961 W.C. sold 1 billionth burger, more than any burger chain in the US. (HA! TAKE THAT MCD!) In 1962 Cheeseburgers come to the menu. In 1968 (the year of someone’s birth - though we are NOT saying WHO's) W.C. reaches 2,147,176,733 burgers sold. AGAIN, HA HA MCDONALDS! (Do you get the idea I don’t like McDonalds?)
1970 ONION CHIPS introduced....YUM! The ONLY accompaniment appropriate for these yum burpers! And only a milkshake will do for a drink. We aren’t talking nutrition here; we are talking bloody gastronomy folks! And the pudding MUST be the wonderful Apple Pie (very similar to the McD apple pie, but a heck of a lot better!)
The rest of the history I find quite boring, so I refuse to copy it here just for idle typing purposes. If you are just 'craving' to know (as the crave burger are their slogan - along with others), then you too can visit whitecastle.com and read all that stuff! For the rest of us, lets move along this guided tour!
The Look Well you lucky lil readers, I have managed to figure out this here picture insert thingy, and so you are going to get a firsthand look at these lil lovelies without having to visit the site from which I took them! I bet you can hardly contain the excitement.
The Process Well this is actually the secret behind the burger. Employees of W.C. take these little square frozen burgers no more than about 4" square before cooking (if that), and no more than 1/4" thick, with five holes in them (see piccies), and they lay them on a hot, flat, stainless steel griddle that has been well scattered with diced onions and a tiny bit of oil. On top of these burgers they lay the square base of the bun (on the side which it remains after cooking) and on top of THAT base, they lay the top part of the bun, flat side down. These babies cook for about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes basically by 'steaming' done. Thus the reason they have to be so thin. After this, the burger is scooped up, flipped over to cover with the top bun. After all of that has been done, whilst still laying on the grill for a moment, the ‘chef’ quickly adds two sliced dill pickles (known here probably as gherkins, but not the sweet ones), and then quickly puts all the burgers in the square box. Mind these burgers are cooked about 36 at a time on this grill. So, they have to be fast here. If ever you get the wonderful opportunity to visit a White Castle you can actually watch this process in action as you wait for your food. At least it keeps people occupied.
The Square Wonder Now comes the good part! You get to take these babies out of the box, and EAT EM! Let me tell you, for starters, the minimum you will eat is 3. Typically, men eat about 6, but women usually eat no more than 4. This should give you the idea of their size. For starters, these burgers have a very well blended flavour of beef and onion. Because they have been steamed onto the bun, they are literally stuck to the bottom bun, which is soggy on the burger side, but only in a yummy sort of cooked beefy way. The onions, because of the way the burgers are prepared, are all over inside the box. This is quite cool, because if you ever lived in America, and had White Castle take-away, and you ate it in your car, (as nearly every person in a White Castle location has probably done AT LEAST ONCE), it will leave you with the happy memory that a car is just not a car without some lost tiny squares of cooked onion hiding away in the creases of the back seat! With the blending of the slightly sogged bun, the oniony beefy burger, and the solid yet soft top bun, well, I cant say anything except it is heaven in a gas ball! The only problem is deciding whether to add ketchup. Me, I eat a couple, until they kind of give me that tickly feeling in the side of my head (only SOME people will relate to what I mean here, its kind of like, when you eat too much chicken and you get that strange feeling in the side of your head), then I eat one last one with ketchup. Also, you can take some home and put them in the fridge, and granted not as nice as when they are fresh, but there is a whole new taste sensation with a cold refrigerated white castle! YUM to some, and GROSS to most, I would imagine.
Cost Well I am almost certain I still remember these babies only costing 10 cents (about 7p. English), but I have to wonder now, as the last time I was there they cost around 39 cents. Expensive in one way for what they are, but then again…NO ONE else is going to give you this experience.
Where To Find These can be found in different States around North America, and in many grocery stores over there in the frozen, prepared food section (NOT EVEN CLOSE to being as nice this way!) As the stores are open 24/7 days (except Christmas Day), you can always pop down and grab a few.
Funny Story When I first married Christopher, I had never been outside America. And, seeing as how I was living in a University Dormitory at the time, I did not have cooking facilities, so we ate a lot of take-aways. Though I pretty much knew White Castle to be an American thing, I never thought much about the reputation they had. So, I took him to White Castle, a couple times in a row, and the next thing you know he has a terrible farting session. Well, considering this happened only 2 days after we met, I thought, MAN, he needs to do something about his flatulence. It was only about a week after feeding him these - and Skyline Chili Dogs (another story, another time, but basically an American hot dog topped with onions and beefy chilli and cheddar cheese), and Taco Bell (Mexican take-away food), and any other fast-food place we could land ourselves at for dinner times - that I found out from my mum what was happening. We were at her house, laughing every 5 minutes, when he let off again, and my mum said, ‘ Tracy, WHAT have you been feeding him?’ I quickly retorted that I did nothing! I had only taken him to places to try new foods that he claimed they didn’t have in England. Yeah, that would be the problem she said. Needless to say, he is a MAN therefore he farts daily, and is quite proud to do so, and even has contests with friends and son alike, BUT AT LEAST, he doesn’t do this more than the usual bloke now! That problem is now well sorted.
Strange ‘Fact’ or Lie, (I haven’t verified this one way or the other) Apparently, some clever twit took some White Castles, de-bunned them, and pureed the meat and passed it off as liver pate at a high-society wedding reception. Take it for what it is worth, which is something I heard a long time ago, and don’t remember who told me (or even if it was a quick snippet on the late news). I found it funny even if incredible, myself.
Serving Suggestion Two White Castles Nice CHOCOLATE shake (American style …see review about cool drinks) Battered Onion Chips …and a lovely hot apple pie (W.C. style) for pudding.
Get fat, and have fun! After all, you don’t live there, so you can’t put on that much weight on a short holiday stay. AND, you can have farting contests that evening in the hotel with family and friends when the planned holiday entertainment proves to be as dull as usual!
PS Wonder if Delta Airlines will give me discounted rates (so I can go home and get some now that my mouth is watering), if I promise to give them a free load of fuel (gas) on the return flight?
