I debated whether or not to post on the Luther Burger here on Feats of Meat. Technically, the feat of the Luther Burger is in the meat surroundings, not in the meat itself. However since it is most definitely a feat, and meat is involved, and I make the rules, we're going to talk about the Luther Burger.

Legend (wikipedia) has it that the Luther Burger was invented when our hero Luther Vandross ordered a bacon cheeseburger at a Georgia restaurant. The waiter/cook explained sadly that they were out of buns. Luther, being the enterprising sort, brilliantly suggested that they just put the burger between donuts instead! They did, Mr. Vandross found it delicious, and the Luther Burger was born.

This brings us to yet another Feats of Meat hero: Mrs. Paula Dean. Paula Dean is very good at making things better (see her deep fried bacon wrapped mac and cheese). Paula saw a way to improve on the Luther Burger the only way that she knows how, by adding an egg!



Paula dubbed her new and improved creation "The Lady's Brunch Burger." Perfect.

And that's where the Feats of Meat test kitchen came in. We aimed not to improve on the Luther/Lady's Brunch Burger, only to duplicate it. Some things cannot be improved upon without risking death and dismemberment.

Our results were surprisingly positive. Much like the chicken fried bacon, the burger tasted great, but VERY guiltily so. Our Feats of Meat nutrition team researched and found that replacing a bun with a donut does not in fact add all that much calorie/bad stuff wise to a burger. This did not allow us to feel better about ourselves.

One thing the donut did add to the bacon egg cheeseburger was a nice hint of caramelized sweetness, much like getting some syrup on your bacon in the morning. In short, using donuts for hamburger buns is delicious. However, like most things we attempt here in the Feats of Meat test kitchen, not likely to be repeated. We want to live to conduct more experiments.

One thing I will note is that if (when) you try this, slice the donuts in half and grill the insides (non glazed sides) on the grill. Assemble the burger with the grilled sides out. This will make them much easier to handle, and also give you more delicious caramelized glaze.

Sadly, once again, all of our Feats of Meat tasters were too busy enjoying the fruits of our labor to take any photos (applications are being accepted for Feats of Meat documentarian). All we have to show for this one is this sad picture of a leftover Luther Burger, minus the delicious bacon and egg.



Rest assured that this one was the anomaly, and all the other burgers contained all the fixings (and looked as good as Paula's, I must say). We promise to be better about this sort of thing so you don't have to keep taking our word for it.