The Giant Burger, June 2005.   ~mike gradziel.
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Seventeen pounds of beef, a big bag of flour, two pounds of cheese, one pound of bacon, a giant onion, portabella mushrooms, avocados, tomatoes, lettuce, mustard, ketchup, and pickles came together with fire and friends and some specially constructed cooking tools one day in June. Berto borrowed a big round fire box. Mike brought some grills and a thermocouple for monitoring the temperature within the burger. I found some scrap sheet steel in the garage and welded together a big round lid to cover the grill. I also made a turn-over fixture for flipping the burger and a steel ring to surround one of my big pizza pans to contain the creeping mass of dough while it rose in my oven. The buns barely fit and had to be baked separately; I sliced the top crust off one loaf to make the lower bun and took the bottom crust off a second loaf to make the upper bun.

We worked crushed garlic and barbecue sauce and egg into the beef, then grilled it slowly till cooked through. On the gas grill we browned the onion slices and added them to the burger with the bacon and lots of cheese, which melted and fused the toppings into a wonderful medley of flavors. When at last the top bun had been set in place and a giant toothpick was speared through the center, we took the monster to our specially constructed balance:

I bolted a sturdy hook to the ceiling in my apartment and hung a 2x4 timber from it, balancing a suspended wooden shelf hung at one end with iron from Sean's weight bench hung at the other end. Knowing the weights and measuring their position, we accurately measured the uncooked beef pattie (17 pounds) and the collosal finished hamburger: 29.75 pounds! That was one giant sandwich! Then came the eating, and more eating, ...and more eating. The room got quiet, people started to fall asleep, and just for a moment the world seemed absolutely perfect.

the flour for one half-bun, in my biggest kitchen container   the flour for one half-bun, in my biggest kitchen container  
One half of the bun - that's three 2-loaf recipes at once   the first bun is rising in my oven  
after baking started, I removed the steel ring to brown up the crust   me with a finished half-bun  
gthis is one large load of bread   the meat  
the balance   a bun tips the balance at seven pounds - it's a heavy one  
look at that onion: the tomatoes and avocados are normal sized   look at that onion: the tomatoes and avocados are normal sized  
starter charcoal   preparations  
splat goes the meat   mush moosh  
add barbecue sauce   add some egg  
add some egg   mini burger is normal sized  
Berto starts a fire   Berto starts a fire  
big burger weighs in at 17 pounds before cooking   cooking goes slowly  
Matt fries the bacon   the burger was bigger than the grill, so we used the steel ring again to hold it together  
the turning fixture worked like this   after a while, the steel ring went away  
giant onion: that's almost as big as my head   Matt carries in the melted cheese bacon beef goodness  
another view of the melted cheese bacon beef goodness   the melted cheese bacon beef goodness with more toppings  
the melted cheese bacon beef goodness with more toppings   now you can appreciate the size  
giant burger   mini burger is actually rather ordinary  
keg can is actually not that large after all   the weighing  
normal burger for scale   team giant burger  
Doug mimes the first bite   the machete comes in handy  
mmmm juicy bacon avocado onion cheese beef   mmmmmmmm  
mmmmmmmmmmmm   mmmmmmmmmmmmmm  
Sean attacks his piece of giant burger   the room got very quiet  
Sean actually finished his piece   Mike didn't finish his though  


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