Welcome to my first guest post. Usually I take care of the high-tech stuff and leave the cooking to Nicole, but I have been known to make food of varying levels of acceptability from time to time. This recipe is my attempt at recreating a great-tasting sandwich I had in Pittsburgh a few years ago: The Roethlisburger.
The Roethlisburger is a hamburger-esque invention by Peppi’s Old Tyme Sandwich Shop. I first had the sandwich at Peppi’s on a trip to Pittsburgh a few years ago, and liked it enough to try duplicating it at home. Basically, it’s a loose mixture of beef and Italian sausage on a roll topped with cheese, grilled onions, a scrambled egg, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise.
Mine isn’t an exact replica but it’s close. I used regular hamburger rolls and made it much smaller than the original. I was also out of American cheese and had to substitute shredded cheddar.
- 2 1/2 lbs. Ground beef
- 3 links of Italian sausage
- 1 Onion
- 1/2 egg per burger
- Lettuce
- Tomato
- Mayonnaise
- Roll or hamburger bun
Cut open the sausage links, remove the casing and mix the sausage meat with the ground beef.
I’ve researched a lot of Roethlisburger recipes and the meat ratio varies between 50/50 and 60% ground beef / 30% sausage depending on the writer. I don’t know what Peppi’s does, but I’ve tried both and prefer the 50/50 mix.
Form the mixture into whatever size patties you prefer. In this recipe I made more normal-sized 1/2 lb. patties to go on hamburger buns.
Chop up and grill some onions. Scramble and cook an egg (one egg should be enough for two burgers).
When the outside of the patties has browned, break them apart so the meat is loose.
Melt some cheese on the meat, let the meat finish cooking and place it on the bun. Top with the grilled onions, scrambled egg, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise.
I noticed some versions of this sandwich have french fries. Maybe you can optionally order them as an extra topping, but they weren’t on the sandwich I had in Pennsylvania.
Here we have a Roethlisburger slider along with a few regular-sized burgers. The original at Peppis is much, much bigger. More like a sub or a hero sandwich. I was out there on a road trip with the guys… a few of us didn’t even finish the sandwich, and we were moving pretty slow for the next few hours!
Tags: Ben Roethlisberger, burger, Football, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Roethlisburger, Steelers
Is it weird that I am excited that I have almost all the ingredients to make this? This is such a great sandwich and if my kids think it’s a burger, all the better because getting those ex-vegetarians to eat meat is a trial. Doesn’t help I have the same issue.I prefer that you used shredded cheese, it melts better and has a much better flavour.
I love a good burger and since I’m a Steelers fan, this one looks perfect. I’d have preferred its name be Polamalu Sliders, but we can’t have them all. It looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing the recreation and for guest blogging.