You know how all the popular eateries of today boast of fresh ingredients, unique toppings
and clean places?
That's exactly how White Castle became famous.
Yes, that same place where Harold and Kumar went to chow down on a ton of sliders was
at one time the pinnacle of innovation, and responsible for changing the entire way Americans
eat.
And they owe it all to a tiny hamburger.
Here's what you don't know about White Castle's famous sliders.
"Good morrow, sire!
Welcome to the Castle of White!"
The first fast food hamburger
McDonald's may be synonymous with fast food, but White Castle beat them to the punch by
nearly two decades.
In 1921, "Billy" Ingram and Walter Anderson decided to open a restaurant focusing on the
relatively newfangled sandwich called the "hamburger."
After their first joint in Wichita, Kansas, proved popular, they soon opened branches
in El Dorado, Kansas and Omaha, Nebraska, becoming the first hamburger fast food chain
in the world.
Why white?
Thanks to shocking exposes like Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, the meat industry had a bit of
a bad name back in the day.
To counter that, Ingram and Anderson decided they would show how pristine their operation
was by painting the building white and using stainless steel on the inside so no stains
could hide anywhere.
The marketing gimmick worked, and White Castle was born.
Burger design
White Castle had a secret to getting their burgers out quickly — they were wicked tiny.
In fact, they're so thin, White Castle can make 18 of them with just one pound of beef.
That allows them to be cooked faster.
But originally, they still weren't being cooked fast enough.
White Castle pioneered the art of searing both sides of the burger to keep the flavor
in, something other chains like Five Guys and Steak 'N Shake later emulated, but it
still took too long to cook them.
So in the early 1950's, a White Castle cook from Cincinnati by the name of Earl Howell
suggested they poke little holes in the patties to cook them faster.
It worked, leading to the burgers you know and love today.
Onion time
White Castle used to flip their burgers, but like searing, it just took too much time.
So now they simply put the burger on top of a pile of onions and let the burger cook via
"onion steam."
They then lock in that steam bath by plopping the bottom bun on the burger while it's still
cooking.
It's this onion method that gives White Castle sliders their unique taste, as each burger
ends up paired with roughly two ounces of rehydrated onions - just enough to provide
that special flavor.
The burger content
White Castle boldly claims they use "100 percent" beef, which is nice, even though it doesn't
mean a whole lot.
Ground beef can be any cut of cow, though the Department of Agriculture says it can't
have more than 30 percent fat.
So how much fat does White Castle beef have exactly?
Each tiny slider packs 6 grams of fat — 2.5 of which is saturated.
And with all that fat comes the calories, with 140 a slider.
So if you pick up a Crave Case of 30 sliders you're looking at almost 4200 calories.
Science!
In the 1930s, hamburgers had a bad reputation, so White Castle co-founder Billy Ingram commissioned
University of Minnesota Physiological Chemistry professor Jesse McClendon to do a study proving
White Castle burgers were safe to eat.
Test subject Bernard Flesche, a med student at the university, spent the next 13 weeks
eating only White Castle Burgers, and survived the experience intact.
The study, Ingram said, showed that people,
"...could eat nothing but our sandwiches and water, and fully develop all physical and
mental faculties."
Flesche later became a doctor and died of heart problems at age 54, and according to
his daughter, "he never willingly ate hamburgers again."
They have a food truck
There are just over 400 White Castle locations spread across only 13 states, so there's a
pretty good chance you've never had a White Castle slider.
Luckily, there's a solution: the White Castle Crave Mobile food truck, which drives around
the country, selling sliders outside events like fairs or NASCAR races.
In 2015, they parked outside the Orlando theme park Fun Spot and sold over 10,000 sliders
in a single day.
And if you can't find the food truck, you can also check your local supermarket, as
White Castle is the nation's top distributor of frozen burgers.
They're exactly the same as the burgers in the restaurants, but you'll have to supply
your own pickle.
Slyders
Even if you're the biggest White Castle fan in the world, you might be spelling their
signature burger wrong.
Technically, the trademarked term is Slyders, though even White Castle doesn't always remember
to use that silly Y, referring to them on their own website as "The Original Slider."
Harold and Kumar go to Krispy Kreme
Let's be real — when you hear White Castle you think Harold and Kumar.
But that almost never happened, because the movies' producers first approached Krispy
Kreme instead.
They declined, though, as something about a couple kids stoned out of their minds apparently
didn't sit will with the image they wanted to sell donuts.
Instead, White Castle stepped in and etched their name into pop culture history.
"Damn, that hit the spot."
"That was the best meal of my life."
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