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Tripping down memory lane again
One of the fond memories of my high school years of the late 1950s is of Linda's Drive-in Restaurant in Mountain View, CA. This place served hamburgers, fish sandwiches, shakes, a few other specialty sandwiches. One item that I often enjoyed was called a Parisian Burger. This was made
'Your arm is now immersed in the sauce a little bit past the elbow.'
Preparing the hamburger: The meat was cooked on a gas fired grill/griddle at 350 degrees. The hamburger was cooked just long enugh to see gray juice come up through the meat while cooking the first side and then it was turned over. By the time the buns were ready, and the sauce and cheese on the meat, the patties were done. The split sourdough rolls were heated on a covered grill at about 250 degrees, just until the inside was starting to toast a little. When the meat was done on side one it was turned over, about 1-1/2 tablespoons of sauce was put on one patty and cheese was put on the other. The bottom half of the French roll was removed from the grill and put on a heated counter. The pattie that had the sauce on it was removed from the grill and placed on the pattie with the cheese on it and then the whole 'stack' was removed from the grill, using the top half of the French roll to balance the stack and absorb the sauce The stack was then placed onto the bottom part of the French roll. The whole thing was then wrapped in waxed paper and served to the customer. Assembling the ingredients:
Putting it all together:
The sauce is best served when warm and can be used as a general purpose meat sauce in addition to its original use at Linda's. Incidentally, according to Charles, the commercial recipe called for all the ingredients to be poured into "...an old looking 15 gallon trash can..." and mixed by hand - literally, as Charles adds:
Nothing was said about what the cooks did to prevent arm hair and dander from mixing in with the sauce, or what was done with the sauce that clung to the cook's arm. One supposes that they rinsed off rather than using the other hand to squeegee the mix back into the bucket. Charles' post online can be viewed here. Notes: 1. The commercial recipe calls for S. E. Rykoff brand ketchup and mustard. 2. A #10 can is equal to ¾ gallon. 3. The recipe posted online mentions that an "industrial spoonful" was equal in diameter to a man's closed fist. A search online turned up nothing relating to "industrial" spoons.
Here is an uncredited and undated photo of Linda's drive-in. An uncredited undated photo showing the order window and the menu board inside.
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Here is an uncredited and undated photo of Linda's drive-in.