The memphis store claims to have been frying its famous burgers in the same oil for more than a century, and that's the secret to their taste.
Elmer "Doc" Dyer founded his now famous burger restaurant in Memphis in 1912, relying on his secret spice mix to make burgers irresistible. It worked, people loved Dyer's burgers, but it wasn't just one critical night, when one of the chefs in the kitchen forgot to change the oil in the pan, that they just got delicious.
Kendall Robertson, the current owner, says the oil pan has never changed since, so all burgers are still cooked with the original oil that made the restaurant famous more than a century ago.
The burgers are of round meatballs whipped with a wooden hammer and then set in large cast-iron bowls filled with the restaurant's legendary century-old fat. Thin burgers tend to shrink when they are blunted, so most people usually require a double serve, sometimes three, "because one portion is not enough."
Many would think most people would be disgusted by burgers made in lifelong oil, but Kendall Robertson says they know the secret ingredient and not only don't bother, but some even dip it twice in oil. They demand that their entire burger -- buns and everything else -- be soaked in fragrant oil before packing.
If you're worried that special oil will run out, don't worry. Specially spiced ground beef always creates extra fat during cooking, meaning the amount of oil increases with each new batch of burgers. The facility processes between 750 and 1000 pounds of ground beef each week, and about 10 buckets of this product are in stock in case something happens to the fat in the pan.
Using the same gravy or fat for years, even decades, is not uncommon. For example, a Thai restaurant has been making nodes in the same gravy for more than 50 years, and Otafuku, one of Japan's oldest patties restaurants, has been serving the same gravy since 1945.