Yes. Made with stewed onions and a red sauce

Yes. My brother makes them they are amazing. He does them on the grill and then puts them in a crock pot. You don’t even need a roll you can eat them with some potatoes and some corn or whatever. I think he just uses beef broth or maybe au jois.

Edit: if you are in the Skook maybe they are some coal region thing? I never thought of them as being a regional food.

Probably an adaptation of central/eastern European kebab type things like cevapi (Balkans) or kotlety (Poland)

I am in the Skook, unfortunately. I've heard of them throughout my life but never realized it wasn't a nationwide food until I also noticed no one really talks about or makes them anymore. Granted I don't talk to a lot of people. 👀

Interesting.

Found this recipe:

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/274604/stewed-burgers/

That’s like the one silver lining of living around here. The local foods are pretty damn awesome and you can’t find much of it once you leave the coal region. That reminds me I wanted to try getting over to Shenandoah this week to get a few pounds of kielbasa. That stuff is the best. Shenandoah was feeling a little too stabby the last time I was over there lol.

Haha. I have heard the place in Shenandoah has people come from out of state for their Kielbasa so maybe it's worth the risk of getting stabbed?

Sounds like meatballs

Cook the burgers halfway then put them in a casserole dish. Sautee 1 onion with garlic and butter put over top of burgers, sprinkle with more garlic, bottle of ketchup with a little Worcestershire sauce, cover and bake for a while. I think I was told they can go in the crock pot too. Never heard of them either but tried them last year and got the recipe. They were so easy and a hit with the family.

coney island pottsville baby

I’m having a weird flashback to my grandmother (from the suburbs outside of Philadelphia) making what she’d called “California cheeseburgers” that were actually burger paddies without buns with tomato sauce. I wonder if this was the origin of that. I googled California cheeseburger and I just see a bunch of stuff about in-n-out and stuff.

I haven't been there in years. I imagine they're getting more customers since the Sheetz is gone at the moment.

haven't been there since it has been torn down, i usually send my wife after practice =)

I’ve only had them twice, both times at a picnic in the coal region.

That sounds like a depression era meal. My grandmother (also Philly burbs) used to make “muscle makers”. Slice of white bread, yellow mustard, sprinkled with sugar.

In Georgia we had sugar sandwiches, just slightly toasted buttered bread with some sugar sprinkled on

Stu.burger is on insta. So is stu.burga

Sounds like a Burrys Burger! They used to be a staple at the York Fair. If i remember, the recipe has diced onions, ketchup, Worchestershire sauce, and grape jelly. Most folks just call them Crockburgers. I love them!

https://www.ydr.com/story/news/history/blogs/york-town-square/2007/09/26/reader-reveals-burys-secret-re/31624137/ I was wrong about the grape jelly.

Can confirm. Stab risk is much lower than the satisfaction provided by Kowalonek's kielbasa. I often encounter people from out of state with very long lists when I go there

I think the mainstream perception of Cali cheeseburgers is just a regular cheeseburger but with lettuce, tomato and onion, maybe mayo.

Steamed hams?

Why take the recipe to the grave? That’s just odd

My grandma used to make Burys-like burgers, but I don’t know that she ever put sugar in hers. I don’t remember them having a sweet flavor - just a tomato sauce flavor.

Yeah I think this may have just been a within-family name for the dish. I know she moved to California with my grandad for a bit before they got married so it may be that they ate it a lot out there and named it that, but that’s just speculation on my part

I literally never heard of them until this post and the comments are fascinating.

They slap

There is actually a website with the recipe on it from a Schuylkill resident, has a lot of the region's recipes, and most of em family recipes; which makes it easy for me to make my favs since I no longer live in Schuylkill. https://www.acoalcrackerinthekitchen.com/

My grandmother (from Philly) used to make SOS aka Shit on a Shingle. Creamed beef on white bread lol

>Stewed burgers.

That is a great website. Brings back a lot of memories from my youth in the Anthracite region.

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It's more of an Albany expression.

Is this similar? https://www.acoalcrackerinthekitchen.com/2020/06/10/saucy-stewed-hosey-burgers/

No idea. People are weird about recipes sometimes I've noticed.

I think so. That's the recipe I found and will try making.

Sometimes referred to as Sale Burgers in southern pa because they were common at church bizarres, public sales and the like. The burgers I know of were half cooked in a frying pan or flat-top then stacked in crock pots or steamer trays. Sauce was ketchup thinned down 1:2 with water and seasoned with a little each of mustard, Worcestershire sauce, minced onion, vinegar, salt, pepper, and sugar. Then they stewed for a while in the liquid.

Thanks to this thread I'm also only just now learning that stewed burgers are a local thing. They should be more widespread, stewed burgers are great

I moved here 3 years ago from California and the lack of lettuce, onion, and tomato on burgers was an unwelcome culture shock.

We used to have these often at lunch in school and at home. I grew up in central PA in an old coal mining town. Did your burgers have rice in them by chance?

https://www.thespruceeats.com/baked-porcupine-meatballs-3058245

Same thing, just a variation due to family

Same thing here but for South Central PA, PA has so many fun regional quirks

Seymour, the house is on fire!

This woman has helped me feed my western pa husband coal region style. He was eating the wrong pot pie for 30 years, it was so hard to watch.

I have one that’s going with me because it’s so easy I don’t want people realizing just how low effort I’ve been over the last 20 years

My mom used to make them for cookouts and family gatherings. They're made in a cockpot like you mentioned. In true Skook fashion, we only get together when someone gets married or when someone dies, so they've been at every wedding and funeral get together. I can ask my mom how she makes them.