I'm coming down to less than two more months of living out in the Midwest, so time is ticking and we're trying to continue to see as many big cities as we can while we live out here. So continuing on with my adventures to the big cities in the Midwest comes Minneapolis, Minnesota where we of course had to stop at the Mall of America, which I LOVED and wished I could have spent all day there! And we went to a Utah Jazz/Minnesota Timberwolves game, and of course ate anything we could find that was distinctive to just Minneapolis. The two main things we had to try were lefse and the famous Juicy Lucy burger.

We noticed that there is a lot of Scandinavian food in Minneapolis because of Minnesota's strong Nordic heritage. There was one particular Scandinavian food that sounded so yummy called lefse. Lefse is a traditional soft, Norwegian flatbread. Traditional lefse is made with leftover potatoes and flour. Some current variations of lefse is made out of flour, andmilk or cream (or sometimeslard), and cooked on a griddle. To me, lefse basically just looks like a nice, thick homemade tortilla, but it definitely tastes very different than a tortilla. You can really tell it is made from potatoes, but yet it is very mild. The way it is usually served, and the way we had it, was covered in butter and sprinkled in cinnamon and sugar. It was very delicious and something I might make at home sometime, for a new cultural experience at home.

Next on the docket was Minneapolis' famous burger: the Juicy Lucy. Two bars in Minneapolis, Matt's and the 5-8 Club, have competing claims to being the creator of the infamous Juicy Lucy burger (or Jucy Lucy, depending on whom you're talking to). The Juicy Lucy burger is basically just a burger where the melty cheese in on the inside of the hamburger. We went to the 5-8 Club since it was closer to where we were, and I don't mean to sound like a food snob, but I wasn't extremely blown away by this burger. I am usually not extremely picky and totally thought I would have LOVED a burger with this much hype, but I just didn't. It was okay to me, but nothing I'd have to go back for. I blame this on living the last several years in the Salt Lake Valley and am convinced that Salt Lake City should be the burger capitol of the world! I could name at least 10 burger places in the Salt Lake area that are absolute 10/10's (Crown Burger, JCW's, Training Table, Olympus Burger, just to name a few :) )! I have really missed that (although it has probably been a blessing in disguise to not have all those yummy burger places to tempt me!) Anyway, compared to my favorite burger joints in Utah, this Juicy Lucy burger just did not compare to me. I honestly think I could make them better at home and I think I will try because the cheese on the inside thing is unique and would be fun to try. I have posted a recipe for a Juicy Lucy knockoff so you can recreate this burger at home. I'm thinking that probably part of the reason I don't love this burger is that the inside cheese is American cheese, which is definitely not high on my hierarchy of cheese list at all, so I think I will try it with cheddar and see what happens.

Anyway, I hope I am not boring you to tears telling you about my culinary adventures in the Midwest, I just really love trying out the unique food in each new city I see, and it is fun to share it with you. I would love to hear if you've been to Minneapolis and had either of these foods, or if you've had them anywhere else. Our next, and probably last stop: Chicago! Wahoo! If you have any good food recommendations for Chicago for me, please let me know. :)

Juicy Lucy Burgers

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 3/4 teaspoon garlic salt 1 teaspoon black pepper 4 slices American cheese 4 hamburger buns, split

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Combine ground beef, Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, and pepper in a large bowl; mix well. Form 8, thin patties from the beef. Each patty should be slightly larger than a slice of cheese.
2.	Cut each slice of American cheese into 4 equal pieces; stack the pieces. Sandwich one stack of cheese between 2 ground beef patties. Tightly pinch edges together tightly seal the cheese within the meat. Repeat with the remaining cheese and patties.
3.	Preheat a cast-iron or other heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat. Cook burgers until well browned, about 4 minutes. It is common for burgers to puff up due to steam from the melting cheese. Turn burgers and prick the top of each to allow steam to escape; cook until browned on the outside and no longer pink on the inside; about 4 minutes. Serve on hamburger buns.

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