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Brilliant. I'll bring the crate, with a note on it: "anyone eating these just to try or enjoy White Castles is missing the Larger Philosophical Point."

Sure. I would assume anyone here professing their enjoyment of White Castle is one of these people. Heck, I'd assume almost all the posters here have both high-brow and low-brow tastes. While it may not be White Castle specifically on the low brow side of the scale, it could be something comparable like Taco Bell or McDonald's or whatnot.

If you've never had them before, don't set yourself up for disappointment from the get-go. Do not think of them as hamburgers. I'd say they have more in common with Chinese steamed pork buns/baozi than they do your average fast food burger. I would never steer someone who's never had them to White Castle for great hamburgers, because they really are in their own category of sandwiches ("sliders.")

This entire debate, this website for that matter, is about taste. And taste is subjective. There's not a formula or equation for what strikes us. One mans spicy is another mans bland. If it speaks to us, even in a language others don't understand, that doesn't lessen the conversation.

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"In pursuit of joys untasted"
from Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata

I never doubted that they taste about the same as any other fast food nugget- just something about the shape seems unnatural and unappetizing.

True that.

In fact, I'm not sure I'd trust the judgement of someone who said he or she preferred to eat only at one or the other end of the spectrum.

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“We all have to stand before the kitchen gods.” Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni

I can still recall my one and only foray into the world of White Castle burgers. It was 1966, and I was at a camp reunion. Some of us were hungry, and there was a White Castle down the street from the YMCA where the reunion was being held. I ate two cheeseburgers. I was eleven. Never, ever, ever again. In fact, I find them so abhorrent that my husband and stepdaughter were forbidden to bring them into my house whenever they had a craving for them. I would occasionally find the bags stuffed in the trash outside, but as long as I never found them inside my home, it was okay.

That being said, I've beeen pursuaded to eat the chicken rings once or twice when heavily under the influence of alcohol, and the onion rings as well. I don't think I could order them when sober.

Suzy

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" There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life."
- Frank Zappa

I am wondering if those that find wc burgers abhorrent are finding the actual taste of them to be abhorrent or the concept of them to be abhorrent. I find few foods to be abhorrent. Things that really taste bad to me are abhorrent. Grisley, grease soaked, fatty, spoiled, rancid, moldy I find abhorrent. I do not find WC anything to be abhorrent. Here is abhorrent: When I was in India some years ago, my mother in law left the shrimp for curry in the so called "meat safe" for a while. A stupid contraption, especially because she had a refrigerator. There were small ants that got into this thing (it was a wooden cabinet with screening that you placed food in to protect it from insects) and were crawling all over the shrimp that were probably caught in the Indian Ocean a few hours before. Yup, I cleaned the ants off of the shrimp and we made them into curry. That is abhorrent but had to eat them, nothing else to eat there that day. Of course they were cooked. Its amazing what a stomach could take. After my travels, WC is nothing.

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Toria

"I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" - As You Like It,
W. Shakespeare

Here is a good one....White Castle stuffed Portobello Mushrooms.....

http://www.whitecastle.com/food/recipes ... -mushrooms

Good or disgusting? I would love to see some of the wc haters or dislikers make this and see if they find this good. I would make it and report back but I hate Portobellos. I only like regular size mushrooms. See I have my oddities too.

Oh and there is a recipe for WC Lasagna too.

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Toria

"I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" - As You Like It,
W. Shakespeare

I admit, as somebody who likes White Castle, the idea of White Castle Thanksgiving bird stuffing sounds off-putting to me. Actually, that's an understatement. It sounds stupidly disgusting. Yet, there's a couple of posters vouching for it in this thread. Is it really something I need to try at least once?

Actually, yes. When I was doing "alternative" thanksgiving dinners for the workers at my father's assisted living place, (the standard fare was what you would expect, I did a real meal for his caregivers) they loved the WC stuffing and insisted on it every year. I also had traditional stuffing and (yuk) cornbread stuffing for the wife. The WC stuffing was always gone first. The cornbread stuffing was never touched except for the wife.

I am not kidding that I was asked for the WC/Chicken broth version several times throughout the year.

From John Kass' column today on the NATO Summit and the "real" Chicago:

"Another option to see the real Chicago is to hit a White Castle, say at 79th and Stony Island. Real live Chicagoans live there, too. Not everybody lives in the theme-park city that official Chicago wants you to see. Have a sack of double-jalapeno cheeseburgers at 4 a.m."

It's awfully tasty, but I'd make it on the side. I'm with The Wife, I love cornbread stuffing too.

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I want to have a good body, but not as much as I want dessert. ~ Jason Love
There is no pie in Nighthawks, which is why it's such a desolate image. ~ Happy Stomach
I can't go to Hollywood. I got biscuits to make. ~ Dwight Henry

Late-Nite Eats Database

OK, I'll put it on my to-do list. Might not be until Thanksgiving that I try it, but hopefully I won't forget by then.

I didn't realize this, but while looking up the recipe on the White Castle website, I came across a whole slew of WC-based recipes. I am both horrified and fascinated by the recipes, much in the same way a lot of the hot dishes and "salads" you find at church pot lucks leave me scratching my head. I wonder if anything outside the White Castle stuffing is made with any regularity. I admit, the stuffing does actually make some kind of sense.

(To those who don't feel like clicking the link, here's a run-down of the recipes: latkes, enchiladas, a breakfast casserole, some spicy Italian-Mexican influenced casserole, bread stuffed with WC, meatballs, a Mexican-influenced casserole, a choriqueso-style dip, cheeseburger soup, calzone, stuffed potatoes, stuffed pasta shells, chili-tamale casserole, hash, chili, chicken-and-WC casserole, enchiladas, broccoli casserole, and stuffing.)

there is a paperback recipe book the folks @ WC put out.

WC sent me a copy last year for some promotion they wanted me to do for Grubseeker(breakfast perhaps) - havent made anything from it, but had some laughs at the recipes.

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I got a real good mind.

Before Cotton was King: http://www.grubseeker.blogspot.com

My standard dining plan when driving to Cincinnati by myself or with my son (doesnt go over too well with the wife and daughters) is to stop at the WC in Lebanon, Indiana for 4 double white castles (no fries or chicken or other crap) followed 90 minutes later with 4 cheese coneys at the Skyline in Batesville. Drive the rest of the way with the windows open.

-Will

I was going to ask about that...

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I want to have a good body, but not as much as I want dessert. ~ Jason Love
There is no pie in Nighthawks, which is why it's such a desolate image. ~ Happy Stomach
I can't go to Hollywood. I got biscuits to make. ~ Dwight Henry

Late-Nite Eats Database

I get a little tired of some of the pompous posters around here who deem their opinion of a food or restaurant the final word, and will consider no opposing opinion. Those of us who do like to eat at WC do so because we enjoy the food( for me, a double cb W/mustard and catsup). But to imply that I'm an asshole for liking such things as WC, or for not liking ribs that taste like they barely survived a lumberyard fire, or my preference for beef stands other than the sainted Johnnies--begins to wear thin after awhile. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. They shouldn't be belittled for expressing it.

Who said these things? 'Tweren't me. By not naming your culprits, you implicate us all (other than yourself, of course). Hyperbole, I think, is best reserved for humor and sportscasting, but not accusations of snobbishness and imputations of calumny against random members of a voluntary social community in which one has himself chosen to be a member. I do not specifically recall - nor would I expect to - anyone, here or elsewhere, saying they liked eating ribs that had been burned in a lumberyard fire (what would it cost to offer such a dish? Come to think of it, I think Trimalchio served that once or twice.) Sounds like a difference of taste to me. Nor do I know anyone here to have canonized Johnnies (although many consider it their favorite) or, more to your point, to have seriously argued Johnnies is the only acceptable beef stand, or to have excommunicated anyone for denying the same. I actually have eaten only once at Johnnies, and while I liked it, I found it very expensive, a small serving, and not so wonderful that I have found myself making the drive over there in the five years since that one visit. I have not been asked to turn in my LTH decoder ring.

To me, it sounds like you are creating a straw man, and are PO'ed enough to do that, even though you know it is not going to change any minds. As one White Castle eater to another, and as a member of this community, can you try to tell me what is your real issue, because you certainly have not articulated it very clearly with the post I have quoted from above.

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JiLS

While I agree that thick is creating a bit of a strawman here, do you seriously not see in this thread how somebody might get that impression? David Hammond's posts were meant, I assume, as rabble-rousing hyperbole a la talk show radio (or in the spirit of a Mike Royko-esque rant against putting ketchup on hot dogs), but I could certainly see how an observer might read it as snobbery.

Binko,thick has been a member of LTH for almost seven years; I do not think that qualifies as "observer," but rather "participant." Beyond that, I should clarify; thick's comments regarding White Castle snobbery were not the straw man arguments. I agree with you that David was using some hyperbole himself, difference being that his straw man was an anonymous external group of White Castle fans; David did not issue a bill of attainder against unspecified members of this forum.

Anyway, it was the piling on of over-generalized statements about thick's perceptions of barbecue and Italian beef snobbery on LTH that triggered my response, not his remarks about White Castle. If David's post offended thick, then thick should have said so -and I think did so, quite effectively. To use that as a springboard to launch into generic attacks on an unspecified set of LTHers was, however, unwarranted - or at least not justified by the content of thick's post. Thick was letting off some steam, perhaps. But why? It was off-topic, or at least not obviously on-topic, and inflammatory. That is what sparked my response.

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JiLS

I meant "observer" in the context of this thread. "Reader" will work, too.

As for the rest of the response, I agree with you mostly, but I also see where thick is coming from. I'll let him/her answer for themselves.

I took Thick's post to be a bit of meta-satire. I base this on his use of the word "catsup" and saying he puts it on sliders.

I'm with Hammond here or at least what I took from a quick, superficial read of the thread. White Castle sucks. "Food" is a dangerous misnomer to describe the substances they are peddling. The succession of quickly-dissipated mild euphoria, nausea, guilt and sudden and unexpected cravings for the product more appropriately puts what they are selling in the category of street drugs, and cheap, shitty ones at that. China white, this ain't.

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"By the fig, the olive..." Surat Al-Teen, Mecca 95:1"

To be honest, I was driving past a WC today and was in and out within five minutes with a crave case (no pickles) for my 15 year old. He was very happy when he got home from school.

Hmm...if what you say is true, then most all capsaicin-laced "food" could be categorized as cheap, shitty street drugs. Did I hear you say that you had a taste for some LSC chicken crack?

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Pi r round.

Rest assured, there's no nausea or guilt involved when I deal with White Castles. It is true that you may not want to be with me in an enclosed space six to twelve hours after I eat them, but, other than that, no shame.

I actually hate LSC's chicken "crack." It's definitely not chicken china white. Delicious, spicy food, however, say the oily habanero hot sauce I brought back from Costa Rica - that's the good stuff. Maybe one day you will pay for over-doing it (usually the next day), but the high is long, there is no guilt involved, and you'd sell your mother's TV to get more.

I realize these analogies are tenuous and don't really make sense upon even a moment's consideration - but here's the point I am trying to make: there is good, and there is bad. White Castle is bad.

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"By the fig, the olive..." Surat Al-Teen, Mecca 95:1"

Great, someone else who decides they can tell me what to like

How about we just admit tastes vary and stop with the "I know better than you" bullshit.

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The cake is a lie

As I was saying...

No one is telling anyone what they can or cannot like, of course.

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“We all have to stand before the kitchen gods.” Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni