White Castle Burgers Review: Frozen Vs. Fresh

Hard to believe a middle aged guy that had never experienced a burger from the oldest hamburger chain in America. I must have been living under a rock for an awful long time.

White Castle, everyone's heard of their little slyders. A square bun and a square meat patty, perforated with 5 holes to create a quick steam cooked burger that's not much more then two bites in size. Founded in 1921 in Wichita Kansas by Billy Ingram, "White Castle chose the sterile White theme as a way to convince the public that their methods were sanitary and the their food was safe to eat.

While doing my weekly grocery shopping a few weeks ago I spied White Castle burgers, frozen and in a box in the supper market. As our Satellite TV plays their commercials on a regular basis, I had to give them a go. Duluth MN is without one of their chain restaurants, so I thought I'd try a box to see what I thought of them.

The box contained six burgers, individually wrapped. Following the directions, I zapped three in the microwave and sat down for my meal. Now I know why they call them slyders, they vanished from sight in a matter of a minute or so. A tasty treat, though not quite enough. The remaining three burgers hit the microwave, only to vanish just as fast as the original three burgers did. Not bad at all.

As good as they were, they just whetted my appetite for more. I knew I would have to find the nearest White Castle outlet to see what fresh off the grill tasted like. 75 miles away in Hinckley MN a long established White Castle existed. With a planned camping trip to the area coming up, it was decided a short side trip was in order.

The place had none of the old time charm, yellow and red, it was a corner of an existing Little Store. Gone was the White Castle facade. They were pleasant enough, asking for my order as I approached. After scanning the menu, I added some onion chips ( their form of onion rings) to the order and headed back to the car to enjoy our meal.

The meal was OK, the buns were fresh. After devouring my three burgers I was a bit disappointed. Some how I expected more. The buns were fresh and soft, the meat was fully cooked, but the flavor just wasn't right.