Three meats and three cheeses stacked up to make one amazingly delicious burger!
The Story Behind the Triple Stack
At 19 years old, I stopped by TGI Friday’s to get a bite to eat with my mom. I ordered what I think was called the “triple jack burger”. Jack Daniels is, or was at the time at least, a big thing there so I’m guessing that’s where the “jack” part came from, or maybe pepper jack cheese. Same year, I’m in Iraq talking about one of the first things that I’m going to eat when we get back to the States. In my experience, this is a pretty common conversation. It doesn’t matter if you’re eating steak and lobster every Wednesday, your mind always tries to wander to something “better” that you can’t get to……..yet. On this one, all I kept going back to (in terms of food at least) was that burger.
Months later, I walked through the doors of TGI Friday’s with a few friends to get my fix. We ordered drinks and, although I was overly certain on what I wanted, began searching the menu. Then, I started to get that stomach drop feeling of startled panic. I had skipped straight to the only section that mattered to me, the burger section. Guess what wasn’t there!? The burger that I had been mouth watering over for the past several months!!!
To make the situation worse, every menu item had the calories posted right next to the title. As I voiced my devastation, my friend threw in his complaint of the calorie notes. Nobody wanted to see that, haha. We were there to indulge, not be taunted with the reality of bad decisions. One of the guys asked, “just want to go somewhere else?” Me, “yea man, this place sucks”. We paid for the drinks and bounced. If I’ve been back since, it was masked by my unfilled crave for the long lost burger.
The Fix
You know how craves go! Nothing satisfies except that exact thing, right? My only option was to figure it out and recreate. For this, some lame copycat recipe (not that I don’t use those, too) wouldn’t give me my fix. I had to go above and beyond to make it better than the real deal; a burger that would put a grin on my face and honor that night’s exiting statement. Over a decade later, I’ve done it!
The Triple Stack Burger
Ingredients
- 1/3 lb hamburger patty
- 4 slices black forest ham
- 2 slices of quality bacon
- 1/4 cup pimento cheese
- 1 bakery fresh bun
- 1 tsp of sweet & spicy bbq sauce
Instructions
- The Burger: I prefer burgers on a flat iron. I just think they're better that way so I sit a flat iron on my grill grates with some wood chips underneath for the best of both worlds. Also, I'm a firm believer that fresh ground is better than prepackaged, but there isn't always time for that. Regardless, just patty 1/3 pound of the ground beef, season it, and cook to your liking via your preferred method. For seasoning, I typically use seasoned salt but Bad Byron's Butt Rub works good here too.
- The pimento cheese (don't buy the stuff in the container): Using a cheese shredder, shred 1/2 lb of American cheese, 1/2 lb of Monterey Jack cheese, and 1/4 lb of medium or mild cheddar cheese into a large bowl. Add 3 tbsp of chopped pimentos, 1 chopped jalapeno, and 1/2 cup of mayo (light is fine) and mix thoroughly. You'll have plenty of extra for sandwiches, etc. I took what was left to a party with some Wheat Thins for people to munch.
- The Triple Stack: On a fresh bakery style hamburger bun or brioche bun, stack the cooked patty, ham, bacon and pimento cheese. Spread the barbeque sauce on the top half of the bun and press down enough to mash the pimento cheese across the other toppings, but not so much that you smash the whole thing. For the sauce, I recommend Rufus Teague Touch O' Heat for this behemoth. The sauce is supposed to be an underlying flavor note. While I always encourage you're own personal touch, let's try to keep this a burger and not turn it into a barbeque sandwich.