The one downside of the undying Steamed Hams meme—aside from the worry that one good Simpsons scene from a long time ago is occupying the creative energies of our generation’s best and brightest—is that it reminds us, always, that we cannot just order some steamed hams in real life. Principal Skinner may not be much of a chef, but the plate of hamburgers he serves Supernintendo Chalmers looks way tastier than you’d expect anything from Krusty Burger to be.
Luckily, we now have a collaboration between Binging With Babish’s Andrew Rea and Alvin Cailan of First We Feast’s The Burger Show that demonstrates how to make our very own steamed hams from the comfort of home.
“We’re steaming hamburgers like a couple of true sociopaths,” Rea says after explaining that the video is him finally answering one of the most common requests the channel receives. He and Cailan, faced with the daunting task of trying to make cartoon food, decide to follow the example of a restaurant in Connecticut famous for its steamed cheeseburgers, but make a few changes to compensate for the fact that neither of them own a dedicated steaming machine.
Former Simpsons writer and showrunner Bill Oakley shows up to comment on his creation being turned into a real burger along the way. (He says he’s never eaten a steamed burger, which is a real shame.) By the time the video is done, two different real-life steamed hams have been created. Rea says his isn’t great, but burger-expert Cailan’s more liberal approach to the recipe gives him a ham worthy of its reputation.
Now we just need Jughead’s piles of hamburgers to be turned into a persistent enough meme that Cailan and Rea are forced to turn those into real, delicious-looking food, too.
Send Great Job, Internet tips to [email protected]