Replica Burger King Cheeseburger

April 26, 2014 6:25 PM

Some time ago, Burger King replaced the yellowish cheese used in their cheeseburgers to remove cost from the burger. This changed my all-time favorite cheeseburger into a bland me-too shadow of its former flavorful self. Who can tell me what flavorsome cheese Burger King used before the low melt point plastic that they now put into the new "cheeseburger"
posted by Raybun to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

This may be a non-answer but I know McDonald's has, for decades, used made only for them American cheese in most markets. So my guess is that Burger King is similar and they changed their custom cheese for cost or flavor tweaks. The original cheese may be lost to normal people if they really changed it.
posted by skynxnex at 7:00 PM on April 26, 2014

I'll tell you my experience with American Cheese. The crap that's individually wrapped in cellophane is nasty.

It's the Deluxe American Cheese or Deli American, that's the tasty stuff. Firm, fatty and has flavor.

The higher you go on the quality chain, the better. Boar's Head is really, really good.

Good luck!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 7:09 PM on April 26, 2014 [2 favorites]

I spent puberty within walking distance of a Burger King. This was in the late 90s; I'm unsure if they changed their cheese in the past twelve years because I haven't really eaten fast food cheeseburgers at all since about 2002. The Boar's Head yellow American cheese is the only sort that actually tastes like American cheese to me, and I'm pretty sure that my brain locked down that flavor pattern because of the Burger King cheese. It's definitely worth bugging your local deli counter for a taste, although if you're looking to make a Whopper-alike at home keep in mind that the flavor profile of the cheese will change when mixed with all the other burger ingredients. (And you can find numerous copycat recipes for the Whopper online. It appears that the secret is in proper layering.)
posted by Mizu at 8:08 PM on April 26, 2014

Yeah, I worked at BK in the mid 80s and the cheese came in non-descript 18" stacks. I assume it was custom cheese.
posted by rhizome at 8:43 PM on April 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

For a more traditional non-cost-cutting taste in cheeseburgers, use sliced Colby cheese. It is the taste McDonalds had in the early 60's, at least. As a kid, I would only accept those with nothing on them at all, the cheese was so tasty.
posted by Goofyy at 7:06 AM on April 27, 2014