When Food Network Magazine named the Heart Attack on a Plate sandwich at Mother's Federal Hill Grille as the ultimate burger in Maryland, I had to try it. The magazine's June/July issue, now on newsstands, picked 50 favorite burgers, one in each of the 50 states.
After all, almost every American eats burgers, including two guys at the top of the nation's food chain, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. The other day, these two leaders of the free world scooted out of the White House to chow down on burgers for lunch at Ray's Hell-Burger in Arlington, Va. Ray's was the magazine's top burger joint for the state of Virginia.
Maile Carpenter, editor in chief, told me the magazine was looking for interesting burgers. "We were careful with the wording; we did not say 'best.' The idea was to identify the burger you had to try if you visited that state," she said.
The Mother's burger is unusual. It is an 8-ounce patty of ground round chuck, stuffed with cheddar cheese, covered with a Cajun batter, and - are you ready for this - deep-fried. That explains the name.
When relaying an order to the kitchen, the staff at Mother's simply call it "a heart attack," as in "Gimme two heart attacks."
It is fried in canola oil, which is better for you than frying in peanut oil, but I doubt that this treatment makes the burger health food.
One day last week, I watched a couple of the cooks at Mother's, Brian Badger and Devon McCoy, prepare a heart attack. The tricky part, according to Badger, is knowing when the burger is cooked. Because it is coated in a Cajun beer batter, a spicy recipe created by Mother's co-owner Adam Rather, Badger had to insert an instant-read thermometer in the burger to see when it was ready to emerge from the boiling oil.
Usually, it takes about 10 minutes to get a well-done burger, Badger said.
The burger came out of the fryer looking very brown, like a giant fritter. Its appearance improved when McCoy placed the chipotle mayonnaise and the lettuce and onion on the buns that encased it.
While it looked weird, coated in an almost orange crust, it tasted good. The texture of the coating provided a pleasing texture. The cheese, a dollop of cheddar stuffed in the middle of the patty, seemed more for show than flavor. The chipotle mayonnaise covering the bun delivered pleasing, spicy notes.
