Copycat Steak 'N Shake Frisco Melt Recipe - Mashed (2023)

VonJake Vigliotti/Updated September 14, 2021 8:32 am EST

Steak’n Shakestore openedin 1934, but didn't really break into the national scene until thendie 1990er, and now has over 500 locations around the world. The selling point is fresh, tasty burgers cooked to order. It's not fast food - it certainly can be quite slow - but they'll get you out the door with a full stomach and a damn tasty burger. One of the most popular menu items is the Frisco Melt, a double burger sandwiched between two pieces of sourdough bread, with two different cheeses and a flavorful sauce that will keep you coming back for more. That is, of course, unless you want to make your own at home. It's easier to do than you think.

Here's what you need to prepare a perfect Steak 'n Shake Frisco Melt. Ground Round, Ground Sirloin, Ground T-Bone, Sourdough Bread, American Cheese, Swiss Cheese, Thousand Island Dressing, French Dressing, Ketchup, Worcestershire Sauce. You can find the full ingredient list and step-by-step instructions at the end of this article.

Steak’n Shakeoriginally ground their fleshRight in the store, in front of the customers. They don't do that anymore (phew!), but the meat is still fresh - so to get the right flavor, buy meat while you're cooking and don't freeze it. The unique flavor of a "steakburger" is the mixture of meat. They use three cuts - ground round beef, ground sirloin and ground sirloin...T-Bone. Your local grocery store probably doesn't sell ground T-Bone, so you'll have to grab a T-Bone and ask the butcher to grind it for you. After the butcher looks at you in confusion, just say, "I know, trust me..." and hopefully he'll saunter away without questioning your mental state out loud.

If that sounds demeaning, you could just buy a frozen box of Steak 'n Shake Burgers - but please don't.

The "frisco" part of the Frisco melt applies to the bread. Steak 'n Shake uses a sourdough bread - which got its startin San Francisco. I won't burden you with a lesson in the history of sourdough, but the bread is synonymous with "Frisco" and now you know why they call it that instead of "Pittsburgh of the SouthMelt. The sourdough bread isn't fancy, so you can buy any sourdough you want at your local grocery store.

The Frisco Melt uses two types of cheese - Swiss and American. The two cheeses give the dish a ying and yang; Swiss is a silky hard cheese with anutty taste, while American is oneprocessed cheesewhich has the magical ability to melt and not turn into orange cottage cheese. The order of these cheeses is key to the dish. The one that doesn't fall apart with heat gets the most exposure to heat, with the Swiss getting just warm enough to become the perfect texture in the dish.

There is a butterThe tasteto the Frisco Melt, but that's not butter. Steak 'n Shake uses margarine - you can use any kind you like. Take that for a ride in your microwave oven for about 35-45 seconds depending on the power of your microwave. This doesn't need to be boiling hot, just melted when we use it.

If you've ever dipped your finger in a little Frisco sauce that spilled onto your plate, chances are you can instantly pick two flavors — Thousand Island Dressing and French. Those are the dominant flavors, but there's something else - a salty touch of depth. And there's ketchup, because there's always that.

To make this, combine Thousand Isles with ketchup and French dressing and whip it up with two dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Stir it up and let it chill in your fridge for 30 minutes to bring the flavor together.

Exactly how many burgers do you get? A cooked patty weighed about 2.5 ounces. A burger loses about25 percentof its weight during cooking, so we need to start with about three ounces of meat to get us close to our goal. Obviously the cheapest meat will make up the bulk of it, with the very expensive T-Bone bringing up the rear. Aiming for about four patties, we'll use 9.5 ounces of ground round, 4 ounces of sirloin, and 2 ounces of T-Bone. That should bring us the right mix of flavors. Bring it all together by hand and refrigerate for 10 minutes just to set it up.

Having a hockey puck as a hamburger is usually a bad thing, but what else would you call the shape that steak 'n shake emanates from? There are two different ways to really get the shape right. First, you can make 3-ounce balls and then wrap them around a small, round bowl - I happen to have a crème brûlée bowl that isn't ruffled around the edges, and this worked great. Just flip it over to flatten both sides, make two full circles around the little shell, and you're in hockey heaven.

Of course, you can channel your inner Eddie Shore and just hand mold a "puck" - just try your best to shape it into a puck shape.

The Steak 'n Shake Flat-Top sits at 375 degrees Fahrenheit — that's about a six on your stovetop knob setting. I've found Steak 'n Shake doesn't grease their flat top, but if you're not comfortable with that you can drip down a little margarine before dropping the puck - literally. So how do you get the puck into a flat, flavorful hamburger? That's right, smashy-smashy. The in-shop technique is to gently touch the top of the "puck" once with a spatula, and then about 15 to 30 seconds later, return to it, flip it over, and smash it with a spatula and long prong. Steak 'n Shake has one advantage - their spatula is a solid piece with no holes. If you don't have any of these, wrap a piece of aluminum foil around your spatula to keep burger bits from escaping.

Using your wrapped spatula, turn the patty over, then begin pressing down using the spatula and an implement to assist the press - I used a large spoon. Bring the puck as flat as possible.

Steak 'n Shake has this awesome little butter wheel that they roll a piece of sourdough bread on and butter it all up. Just remember, they don't use butter, they use margarine. I'm guessing you don't have such a wheel, so use a brush to apply your melted margarine to two pieces of sourdough and place them on a 325-degree Fahrenheit surface — that's a setting ofabout fouron your stovetop burner. Steak 'n Shake cooks the bread for about 3-4 minutes so the temperature seems about right.

A chunk of Swiss cheese goes almost instantly on a slice of sourdough. Just leave it there and let them roll a little. The heat will soften the Swiss, but it won't break apart.

For our burgers, we only need one more flip - so after you've cooked your smashed burger for 1-2 minutes, flip it. I've watched a chef squeeze the burgers after flipping them and not the burgers after flipping them - so your choice is to go medieval or kindly flip them.

If your burger falls apart when you flip it, it can be for two reasons. You had your heat too high causing the burger to break apart, or you flattened your burger too thin.

After the burgers are ready, Steak 'n Shake begins the building process with the bread on the grill, so start by layering one of your cooked patties on the Swiss cheese. Place a piece of American cheese on this burger and gently touch the top of the cheese with the spatula. I don't know why either, but they do. Some burger spinners even tap the cheese in so it doesn't roll off the sides of the burger, if you're so prone, do it. After you've really fiddled with the cheese, stack the other burger on top so the cheese rests between the two pieces of meat.

Don't finish this batch yet. Put everything on a plate because it's time to apply the Frisco sauce. If you pay attention to how they serve you a Frisco Melt at Steak 'n Shake, they always bring you extra napkins - or at least they're supposed to. That's because you're applying sauceBoth the bread and the meat. Apply the sauce to the entire top of the bread and a healthy portion to the top of the meat. The sauce should practically drip off the bread when you cut it in half.

It's worth noting that I've watched a Frisco Melt be built twice—two days in a row by two different steak 'n shake sandwich technicians, but in the same restaurant. One put gravy on both burgers and meat and the other only put gravy on the bread, albeit a heaping amount. In any case, make sure you apply "a lot" of sauce; and let's face it, youwantlots of sauce. Place the sauce-covered disc on top and cut the sandwich from corner to corner.

How about dead on? This burger tastes just like steak 'n shake. The frisco sauce is perfect and the bread has the exact amount of toast. It looks the same, it tastes the same - and I dare say even a little bit better than the original.

Ingredients

• ½ cup Thousand Island Dressing
• ¼ cup French dressing
• ¼ Tasse Ketchup
• Two dashes (about ⅛ teaspoon) Worcestershire
• 9.5 ounces ground round
• 4 ounces ground sirloin
• 2 ounces ground T-bone steak
• 2 tablespoons of margarine
• 4 slices of sourdough bread
• 2 slices of American cheese
• 2 slices of Swiss cheese

directions

1. Combine dressings, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce in a medium bowl. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Mix the meat together by hand and refrigerate for 10-30 minutes.
3. Create four approximately 3-ounce patties shaped in the shape of a hockey puck.
4. Spread two pieces of sourdough bread with margarine.
5. Place two pieces of sourdough bread, margarine side down, on a 325 degree Fahrenheit surface (4 on your stovetop).
6. Place a slice of Swiss cheese on a piece of bread in the pan.
7. Cook two meat patties on a 375 degree Fahrenheit flat plate or skillet (6 on your stovetop). Gently press the top of each, cook for 30 seconds, flip and press with a tight spatula, cook for 1-2 minutes, then flip again.
8. Stack a cooked burger on top of each piece of melted Swiss, followed by a piece of American cheese and the second patty.
9. Place everything on a plate, top the stack of burgers with toasted bread with lots of Frisco sauce.
10. Top with gravy bread, cut diagonally, enjoy!