Unholy Sliders

[UncleFred]

I was going to ask “Who invented the ‘Slider’ style of hamburger?” but this thread

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=638507&highlight=sliders

and a little research seem to indicate White Castle first came up with a style of hamburger called a ‘slider’ (or “Slyder”).

HOWEVER, the prototypical “Slyder” has holes in it to facilitate fast and even cooking.

Every slider I’ve seen doesn’t have holes in it - so who started that? They seem to be all over the place now.

Maybe this should just be dismissed as another product-debasement in the pursuit of the allmighty dollar, but if there is a story behind it I’d like to hear it.

[Telemark]

@UncleFred

Every slider I’ve seen doesn’t have holes in it - so who started that? They seem to be all over the place now.

From the wiki page:

Anderson’s method is not in use by the chain today, having changed when the company switched from using fresh beef and fresh onion to small, frozen square patties (originally supplied by Swift & Company) which are cooked atop a bed of rehydrated onions laid out on a grill. The heat and steam rises up from the grill, through the onions. In 1951, five holes in the patty were added to facilitate quick and thorough cooking. The very thin patties are not flipped throughout this process.

Since most sliders (generic term) aren’t cooked that way there’s no need to make the holes.

Q: Why are there five holes in a White Castle slider?
A: It takes five shots to kill a rat.

[Michael63129]

I have never understood why people don’t like White Castles; I like them and have never had any of the uh, digestive problems people report (I eat a couple of them, just the regular ones, with some ketchup). Compared to other hamburgers, they are also much more sensibly sized, with only 270 calories for two (which together weigh less than the meat in a quarter-pounder).

As for holes, they definitely do have holes in the meat (maybe you thought they were in the whole thing, bun and all)