There is no appetizing name for these...

There is a Midwest food phenomenon that permeates the culture... even more so than sweet corn and giant fried pork tenderloins in some places. There really is no nice way to say to so that it sounds better without infringing on someones copyrite so here it is...

Loose Meat Burgers

It is what it sounds like but the flavor is so much better than that. I can only tell you that they were named by a practical every day Midwesterner who apparently called it like he saw it and didn't know or care about culinary etiquette.

Regionally where I grew up on The River the are called by more glamorous names associated with the restaurants that serve them; Ross burgers, Maid Rites, or farther out into the territory; Yum Yum's or Mug's Up.

They are made of finely crumbled, secretly seasoned ground beef served on hamburger buns or some other bread/starch combination. Sometimes with cheese, bacon, pickles etc... your regular hamburger toppings.

At home there is a 24 hour truck stop called Ross' that serves their own Ross burgers or... for the adventurous; Magic Mountains. A Magic Mountain starts with a piece of texas toast, topped with french fries that are covered with loose meat Ross burger and smothered with cheese sauce. If you like you can get it with a dusting of "snow"; chopped onions. If you are really walking the line you can order a volcano; it is of course a Magic Mountain covered with chili.

I have perfected my own version of this infamous loose meat using bits and pieces from the internet discussion boards claiming to have created the perfect replica. This is not perfect of course, but it tastes really good. That's all that counts.

Here are photos of my own version and the real Ross' Magic Mountain side by side.

 

Clearly I did not layer in the same order but I do believe that mine holds up to the standard.

My version of a Midwest Loose Meat Burger and Cheese Sauce

2 Pounds Ground Beef

1 Minced Onion

1/2 Cup Beef Stock

1/2 Cup Root Beer

1 Tsp Paprika

1 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce

Salt to taste

Fry ground beef and onion. Drain excess grease. Add stock, root beer, paprika and Worcestershire Sauce. Cook on medium until liquid has evaporated. If the mixture becomes too dry add more root beer. (this seems to be the secret in everyone's secret recipe... marinade the meat in soda pop.)

Cheese Sauce

1 small block of Velveeta

1/2 Cup of milk

1 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce

Melt the cheese and stir in the milk and Worcestershire Sauce.

To make you own version of Magic Mountain; layer with toast, a potato (fries or hashbrowns), loose meat, cheese sauce, onions, chili or whatever else just sounds good...

It's called loose meat... it's not like you could make it sound any worse.