Before I get into this burger, I have to talk about pickles first. And divorce. I was first really exposed to White Castle shortly after my parents separated. My mom had bought some boxes of frozen sliders from Aldi. Back then, I think Aldi was about the only grocery store that sold these, at least in our area. They're everywhere now. In any case, my brother and I were both big fans of these, but if you are familiar with the frozen sliders versus the ones you get at the restaurants, you know that the frozen ones do not have pickles. Even if you didn't know that, you probably aren't terribly surprised to learn that. Freezing pickles and then microwaving them sounds like an awful idea to start with, and that's before you start complicating it with putting them on a burger. So, for years, I wasn't getting the full White Castle experience and was blissfully unaware. I don't think I visited an actual White Castle until college, or at least late into high school. And that's when I discovered sliders were supposed to have pickles. Now, I like pickles. I don't know that I love pickles, but I like them well enough. But I very rarely ever put them on burgers (or any other sandwich, for that matter). I find their flavor is too strong and assertive, it ends up dominating every other ingredient. It doesn't mix with other flavors, it just masks them. I don't find that to be the case with the usual White Castle slider, though. They are there, certainly, but the whole melty-texture of everything (not just the cheese) somehow dulls the pickle. Or maybe White Castle just doesn't use very strong pickles. I don't know, but I don't mind them at all there. Off the top of my head, that is the only exception I can think of where I typically get pickles. Which finally brings me to the 1921 Slider that White Castle has busted out for their birthday celebrations. According to White Castle, this is the original slider recipe the chain started with. Though I have read and watched quite a bit of fast food (and White Castle in particular, actually) history, I actually can't verify that information myself. So I have to take their word for it. But, if this is what they started with, I can definitely see why they took off. The differences are pretty obvious just by looking at the picture. The patty itself is noticeably bigger (as is the box it comes in), and it has lettuce and tomato as well as the usual pickle and onion. The bun I believe is the same, though the consistency is much different. I presume this burger is cooked differently, so this bread is not fused to the burger the same way as a normal slider. As White Castle's site says, this meat is also definitely seasoned differently. The 1921 Slider tastes quite a bit lighter and brighter to me. I think the additional veggies mostly accounted for that, but the bread also did not feel as heavy. The only time things felt heavier is when I would get a bite of pickle. For me, this burger definitely would have benefited from losing the pickle. It dominated every bite I had of it, and it honestly frustrated me a bit, because the bites I got without pickle were just so good. The usual slider, despite its size, has always felt more heavy and greasy. And I'm not complaining about that. Again, I'm a big fan of White Castle. But with having so few toppings and all those toppings being the same consistency, it coats the mouth and is definitely more sour-forward. I didn't really get that with this one. The lettuce and tomato did a better job of complimenting the meat, and the meat itself tasted more like something you might grill at home. Even if you aren't a fan of White Castle, I highly recommend getting one of these and giving it a whirl yourself. Though, if you are like me, you might want to tell them to hold the pickle. Maybe it had a home a century ago, but it felt like an outlier to my 2022 taste buds. Comments are closed.
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