Macaroni Cheeseburger, Cheesecake Factory-style

When I went to America last year, I was very excited to visit the Cheesecake Factory in Las Vegas, as I'm a huge fan of Big Bang Theory (the main female character is a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory) and of course I love cheesecake. But I discovered their main courses were just as good as the desserts; I had a macaroni cheeseburger, which was a burger with a deep-fried ball of macaroni cheese on top (inside the bun); when you bit or cut into it, the cheese oozed out. You can read more about it here.

Ever since I came back I've wanted to recreate the macaroni cheeseburger, but I never cook burgers at home (since I occasionally eat them when out). I decided that it wouldn't be so bad if the burger was homemade.

First I made some macaroni cheese, though I didn't have any macaroni pasta so used fusili, and made a basic cheese sauce. I left this overnight (actually, I had it for my lunch at work, and kept a small portion for this recipe).

To make the burger, I took some minced beef, and mixed it with finely chopped onion, oregano and salt.

I shaped it into patties, though they aren't perfectly round as you can see!

Next I took the macaroni cheese, which had clumped together now it was a day old

I did my best to shape the pasta into a ball and cover it with breadcrumbs then I fried it in a couple of centimeters of oil.

I fried the burgers in a separate pan

When the burger was cooked, I topped it with the deep-fried macaroni cheese

It made for a pretty big burger!

I loved the taste and texture together, but when I bit into the macaroni cheese, the cheese sauce didn't ooze out in the same way when I ate this at the Cheesecake Factory. I don't really know how you keep enough of a liquid sauce in the cheese for it to be the right consistency while at the same time make it thick enough that you can make a ball of the macaroni and deep fry it. Has anyone tried to make this at home?