Cheeseburger

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For other uses, see Cheeseburger (disambiguation).

A cheeseburger.

A cheeseburger is a hamburger that contains cheese. The cheese is usually sliced, melted, or grated and then added a short time before the hamburger finishes cooking to allow the cheese to melt. The cheese that makes up a cheeseburger is usually American cheese, but there are other possible variations.

1 History
2 Variations
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

In 1924, Lionel Sternberger grilled the first cheeseburger in Pasadena, California. The date and place of this event has been called into question.^[1] When Sternberger died in 1964, Time magazine noted in its February 7 issue that:

“

…at the hungry age of 16, [Sternberger] experimentally dropped a slab of American cheese on a sizzling hamburger while helping out at his father's sandwich shop in Pasadena, thereby inventing the cheeseburger…^[2]

”

Others have claimed the invention of the cheeseburger as part of their local legend. Louisville, Kentucky-based Kaelin's Restaurant claims to have invented the cheeseburger in 1934.^[3] The following year, the mark for the name "cheeseburger" was awarded to Louis Ballast of the Humpty Dumpty Drive-In in Denver, Colorado.

[edit] Variations

Image:The Hat, cheese burger.jpg

A cheeseburger from The Hat

A cheeseburger can be served with toppings such as pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, bacon slices, mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, and barbecue sauce. A double cheeseburger is a cheeseburger consisting of two pieces of meat with two slices of cheese in between.

A Jucy Lucy is a type of cheeseburger, developed and popularized in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the cheese is placed inside the raw meat and then cooked until it melts.