Let's Talk BBQ
General => General Discussion & Topics => Member Gatherings and Road Trips => Topic started by: TMB on July 01, 2019, 10:44:27 AM
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So after two weeks and over 900 + miles (back and forth to Mississippi and Tenn) we have completed the "SlugBurger Trail"
It's been great and I have learned a lot about "Slug Burgers" from the history to different styles and even found out there are other "Slug Burgers" out there but by different names and different states.
In Tenn they use mostley pork but add a little beef and use flour and corn meal and spices. Flat top seems to be the prefered way to cook them.
Mississippi they make them with pork, soy flour and white flour with spices. Deep fried and flat top to cook them
Alabama (with exception of Dismal Cavern) they make them with a mixture of beef, white bread, flour and spices.
Dismal Cavern is owned by the same folks who own Borroum's Drug Store. The burgers are as close to one another as you can get. There the perfect Mississippi Slug Burger
Best way we found to have them is Mustard, Onion & Pickel
Now due to to amount we were gonna eat we bought one burger cut in half and rated each one. Our favorites were from Alabama since they used beef, but most of the Miss ones were really with one exception The Butcher Block and to be as honest as I can they were horrible. As Kimmie's PawPaw would say "If you feed one to a dog it would have to lick it's butt to get rid of the taste" It was so bad we took one bite and trashed it. It was mushy and tasted like it was left out overnight.
Alabama's rated this way....... (side note, we prefered beef over pork)
Dubb's would be our first choice along with Penn Burgers (soon to re-open) followed buy Dismal Caverns, Willie's, then Busy Bee
Mississippi rated....
Borroum's Drug store (10 out of 10) then B.J's ( first started the tour) Then front Street Snack Bar, Latham's Hamburger Inn, Jonnie's Drive In, White Trolly Cafe and then The SlugBurger Cafe.
Tenn ended up like this....
Rockabilly Cafe, Brenda's Cafe, Pat's Cafe, Hope's cafe, Fat Cat's Cafe Then Wink's
All were good, but cornmeal gives a funny texture and flavor vs soy flour or white flour/bread. But Tenn's Slugs were not our favorites.
We both had a ball doing the four trails Ala (1) , Miss (3) and Tenn (1) and like I said we learned a lot ate well had a great time
and look forward to visiting these burger joints again.
Now we are looking into the next trail to go on!!
Pictures are going to be posted as soon as I get them uploaded and info of each place
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We stared our Ala tour in Cullman Alabama at the Busy Bee.
(https://i.ibb.co/5TfbxLf/IMG-2657.jpg) (https://ibb.co/wyx5r4x)
(https://i.ibb.co/zr9MZnY/IMG-2654.jpg) (https://ibb.co/80vC9Kp)
Next we moved on to Willie's burgers in Hartsel Alabama
(https://i.ibb.co/NWKLTCH/IMG-2663.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ygq84Pb)
(https://i.ibb.co/1v11Lkp/IMG-2659.jpg) (https://ibb.co/kHjjxtr)
(https://i.ibb.co/rm5f7nc/IMG-2660.jpg) (https://ibb.co/W6BpxSP)
Then it was off to Dubb's for the last burger of the trail in Alabama (so we thought)
(https://i.ibb.co/q1ZTd1g/IMG-2664.jpg) (https://ibb.co/5c7b6cj)
(https://i.ibb.co/j5KcD6X/IMG-2665.jpg) (https://ibb.co/7zcwKYm)
(https://i.ibb.co/RC9xP0F/IMG-2668.jpg) (https://ibb.co/8j0W25C)
(https://i.ibb.co/TmR5TMJ/IMG-2673.jpg) (https://ibb.co/0hZ3Xy1)
(https://i.ibb.co/1X5rFnN/IMG-2670.jpg) (https://ibb.co/M14cFhH)
Then the next day we found out about the Dismal Cavern grill
(https://i.ibb.co/M2XgBZL/IMG-2677.jpg) (https://ibb.co/HFJKhBQ)
(https://i.ibb.co/R77qQNx/IMG-2678.jpg) (https://ibb.co/CWWfV6k)
(https://i.ibb.co/yXZbMPk/IMG-2680.jpg) (https://ibb.co/rmz1L0p)
(https://i.ibb.co/2PwBwWN/IMG-2683.jpg) (https://ibb.co/0Zk3kmt)
We got there 1 hour early but the lady said "If your on a tour like this I can't let you go without trying one!" So she open the grill and cooked just for us
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Tommy is it like meatloaf as a burger? Never have heard of them before you started posting this. I would think beef was the best but no Ketchup lol
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You may find this funny but I have put a bun on a grill or griddle & toasted it after cooking burgers.....& you still get some of the taste lol. It is the poor mans burger deluxe but with a little ketchup...ain't so bad lol
Would love to have tried some of those burgers even with the mustard.....lol
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Tommy is it like meatloaf as a burger? Never have heard of them before you started posting this. I would think beef was the best but no Ketchup lol
No ketchup kills the flavor. I have more picts coming! these are not like meatloaf, the Tenn burgers were likie fried catfish texture and Miss were sorta like sauage ball texture
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Now this burger (if you can call it that was the worse one we had. We tossed it after one bite
(https://i.ibb.co/Km2H0Q3/IMG-2689.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ZNBCLwk)
(https://i.ibb.co/cb0JBK7/IMG-2692.jpg) (https://ibb.co/mvkJjrM)
(https://i.ibb.co/d0pLgmB/IMG-2693.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ns1nCPr)
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Then off to Latham's Burger Inn!
(https://i.ibb.co/bgNPFfN/IMG-2696.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Fb8KXP8)
(https://i.ibb.co/pwgcKYP/IMG-2699.jpg) (https://ibb.co/vqbpd0B)
(https://i.ibb.co/C0rc6By/IMG-2702.jpg) (https://ibb.co/w6vk7yq)
Now that was a good SlugBurger
Now off to Jonnie's where Elvis useto eat when he was young. just down the street from where his house was when he was growing up
(https://i.ibb.co/tcDpKwM/IMG-2735.jpg) (https://ibb.co/q9pYjLM)
(https://i.ibb.co/stDTtT0/IMG-2736.jpg) (https://ibb.co/9GfxGxF)
(https://i.ibb.co/2j2MpwM/IMG-2732.jpg) (https://ibb.co/khnDPpD)
This is a booth where the KING would sit when he ate there
(https://i.ibb.co/NVRfg9S/IMG-2734.jpg) (https://ibb.co/tmRnwqX)
Borroum's Drug Store
(https://i.ibb.co/X57Yg3L/IMG-2742.jpg) (https://ibb.co/z2X6Y7x)
Where they still make Coke the old way, they mix the syrup and water then stir
(https://i.ibb.co/QMFvdCk/IMG-2751.jpg) (https://ibb.co/XtZx83D)
(https://i.ibb.co/MfxjXQg/IMG-2753.jpg) (https://ibb.co/r3RLWNQ)
(https://i.ibb.co/gPD8X3Q/IMG-2754.jpg) (https://ibb.co/jWLYxTq)
(https://i.ibb.co/j3b4Zgv/IMG-2756.jpg) (https://ibb.co/7rjyN2J)
Very Very good SlugBurger!!
Then off to The White Trolly
(https://i.ibb.co/Y3pMJk1/IMG-2761.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Vt2ZbSz)
(https://i.ibb.co/4WRmhJJ/IMG-2762.jpg) (https://ibb.co/CBK1RWW)
(https://i.ibb.co/Sn87GVJ/IMG-2766.jpg) (https://ibb.co/qsfFVmx)
Then to end our trail, we went to the SlugBurger Cafe
(https://i.ibb.co/Qkqt9SK/IMG-2771.jpg) (https://ibb.co/68pLY9W)
(https://i.ibb.co/wRRbdRJ/IMG-2772.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Y33KN3D)
(https://i.ibb.co/CsRKGvB/IMG-2773.jpg) (https://ibb.co/5xbhHvT)
The very last SlugBurger bite of the trail!!!
(https://i.ibb.co/C1qxVDN/IMG-2776.jpg) (https://ibb.co/w0TDpj3)
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Sorry, if the thread seem long but there was a lot of pictures and info I didn't post ;) We did take many many pictures of the places and food and had a wonderful time
If your ever in these parts stop buy any of them WELL maybe not the Butcher Block :P (just our opinion)
I tried to keep the photos in order and each shop with their burger and as far as I can tell I got them right
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Great story and great pictures -- thanks for contributing this one, TMB :)
I'd never heard the term "slugburger" before but I've eaten a few. Long ago. Our school cafeteria was noted for its pinch-penny ways and "watering down the soup" was a way of life for the lunch ladies who herded us through lines to get lots of stuff that never exactly got rave reviews. One of their specialties was called a "hamburger" but I now know was a slugburger. It was about 90% breadcrumbs, I think. Served with two pickle slices and a dab of mustard, a carton of milk, and an oatmeal cookie.
Hub
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Glad you and Kimmie had a good time. A little mini vacation trip. :D
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Man Tommy you got me interested I just can't picture how it would taste but I bet I would like them. I got to see if anyone up here makes one....thanks
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Man Tommy you got me interested I just can't picture how it would taste but I bet I would like them. I got to see if anyone up here makes one....thanks
Actually, I think most of the "Mom & Pop" joints probably use some extender, or "binder" in their burgers.
Maybe not as large of a ratio of filler to GB as the ones billed as SlugBurgers, but I believe it is very common.
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Fantastic post, Thank You :thumbup:
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Tommy, Great posts! I've enjoyed living this trip vicariously through your camera lens.
When you first told me about the trip, it piqued my curiosity and I did some research. Turns out I've had what amounts to a slug burger in Burlington, NC. It's just called a Zack Burger (after the restaurant where it's served).
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Tommy, Great posts! I've enjoyed living this trip vicariously through your camera lens.
When you first told me about the trip, it piqued my curiosity and I did some research. Turns out I've had what amounts to a slug burger in Burlington, NC. It's just called a Zack Burger (after the restaurant where it's served).
There are many states that have them. Ky has the SlawBurger and looking forward to trying one in Sept when we go the BBQ On The River!
OBTW.. In Tupelo Miss DO NOT CALL THEM SlugBurgers, we were told thats a bad word ;) they call them DoughBurgers in that part of Mississippi
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Tommy you also got me on the hand made coke ...It has been years since I had one.....the only way to drink a coke IMO
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Great story and pictorial! I've never heard of a slugburger; but they look very similar to what I've known as a "chuckwagon" here in NC. I used to eat them all the time during my days at ASU many many years ago.