There are some pretty crazy, weird and interesting records in The Guinness Book of World Records. This past Labor Day weekend, a ridiculous world record was broken when Minnesota’s Black Bear Casino made the world’s biggest hamburger. Why did the casino decide to make a colossal hamburger? They would say, just for the fun of it.
As reported by Eater.com, Jerry Bayerl – Black Bear Casino’s executive chef – recently decided he wanted to make the world’s biggest burger.
At first, he thought the record for the biggest burger was 200 pounds, but after some extensive research he found out the previous record for the world’s biggest burger was 881 pounds. In order to secure the new title, Jerry made sure his bacon cheeseburger clocked in at an amazing 2,014 pounds!
Cooking the cheeseburger was no easy feat. It required a crane, parking lot, and a gigantic homemade oven.
The diameter of the buns and meat patty measured up to a total of 10 feet. It took seven hours to bake the bun and four hours to cook and flip the meat patty. Stacked on top of the patty was even more ingredient madness. There were 60 pounds of bacon, 50 pounds of lettuce, 50 pounds of sliced unions, 40 pounds of pickles and 40 pounds of cheese.
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Fourth of July is here and burgers sizzling on a hot grill is practically the American dream, but with so many people watching their weight, the typical high-fat beef burger is no longer the best barbecue option.
Not only are typical burgers high in saturated fat and calories, but the toppings people use to dress them, like bacon and cheese, can be calorie bombs themselves. With seafood, chicken and vegetables offering a lower-fat and calorie option, there is no shortage of grill fare to choose from when it’s time to plan your next party.
The book Burger Parties by James McNair and Jeffrey Starr (Ten Speed Press) offers a variety of party menus centered around burger recipes, including beef alternatives like chicken burgers with jicama slaw an swordfish burgers with tangy apple tartar sauce.
This year, when you’re grilling to celebrate your favorite patriotic holiday, opt for something lighter than the traditional burger. Look to different protein options, such as chicken, fish, turkey and tofu to fill your menu.
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It’s happened to all of us. You’re on the road, you’re hungry and your only option is fast food. So what do you do? You choose the healthiest option possible! But looks can be deceiving. We did some research on what is the healthiest menu option at the popular fast-food chain McDonald’s and if you’re looking for a meal, there weren’t a lot of choices, but there are some.
We selected the below food options based on feedback from registered dietitian Rebecca Scritchfield. All meals have less than 500 calories and about 500 milligrams of sodium, as part of the new daily sodium recommendations from the U.S. government.
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UPDATE [10/15/2010]: McDonald’s released a statement in response to the Happy Meal Project. They argue that the burger didn’t rot from lack of moisture: “If food is/or becomes dry enough, it won’t grow mold or bacteria. In fact, any food purchased from a restaurant or grocery store or prepared at home that lacks moisture would also dehydrate and see similar results if left in the same environment.”
We recently posted an article about photographer Sally Davies’ “Happy Meal Project,” which documents the life of a McDonald’s hamburger and fries as they steadfastly refuse to rot. The project is not the first of its kind, and there are reports of burgers that looked about the same after four and even 12 years after their date of purchase. The idea is this: most healthy food will eventually spoil, so how long a food goes without going bad is an indicator of unhealthy ingredients.
So what’s behind the miraculous preservation? As far as the beef patty is concerned, it’s not from preservatives. According to the ingredients list published by McDonald’s, the patty contains 100 percent Angus beef, prepared with a “grill seasoning” that consists of salt (we wonder how much) and black pepper. The high fat content and the high cooking heat are enough to account for the burger’s resistance to decay. Over time, the moisture in the burger will evaporate and the fat will harden, much like it does in arteries of people suffering from atherosclerosis.
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One of the eating guidelines in Michael Pollan‘s Food Rules is to eat things that will eventually rot. Things like meat, fruits and vegetables, all eventually decompose, returning them to the organic cycle from which they came. Foods that don’t go bad, from Twinkies to Spam, have been highly processed. Not only are processed foods often full of synthetic chemicals, they’ve also been stripped of many of the nutrients that your body needs yet are still full of empty calories.
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