A friend of mine got the recipe from someone at the Maid-rite store in Greenville, Ohio years ago... I don't have it in fron of me but it is quite similar to the one on food.com. That place is a hoot. VERY tiny and there is a tradition of sticing your gum on the outside of the building which I thought odd.

I also lived in the Quad cities, Ill I love maid rites. my daughter says she has perfected it so I will ask her. I have one sometimes when we go to visit her and family. the best one ever was in Aledo Ill just south west of QC. they were one of the original ones... also anyone from Joliet area and remember the jet's hamburgers in little shop on jefferson street. they were the best similiar to a white castle so every once in a while when I find a white castle I have to have couple just to almost satisfy my taste...

I grew up in Quincy Il and the Maid Rite is still there I do have the recipe but it is at home and we are in Fla for the month of Feb. I will try to remember to look it up when I get back home and send it to you I wish I could remember it off the top of my head but I can't. There is nothing like the Maid Rite and when we go back to Quincy we always stop. There is also a Maid Rite in Hannibal MO.

Sandy,
I was raised in Waterloo, Iowa and the recipe for these wonderful hamburgers was given to me by one of the owners of a MaidRite restaurant when I left for the "big city". I hope this is what you are looking for.


1 lb hamburger
1/2 cup beef broth
chopped onion
dill pickle slices
salt and pepper to taste

How to make it

crumble and cook hamburger in pan (drain)
add broth.
boil until liquid reduces (10 15 minutes)
While broth is reducing,
chop onion for topping
gather pickles for topping.
spread hamburger buns with yellow mustard.
Spoon hamburger on to fresh hamburger buns
top with dill pickle and chopped onion.

I grew up 30 miles from Marshalltown and was always a treat to eat there and have a chocolate malt. Still stop in when visiting Iowa.

We had a shop here in our town a while back.. I stopped in for a sandwich and saw them using a portable elec. mixer to stir/mix the meat mixture. Perhaps that is the secret to getting it "loose."

I have lived in the mid west all my life and the only wayI have seen maid rite sandwiches cooked is they just steam the ground beef, put it on a bun and add pickles, onions, salt, pepper and hat ever you like . I take a kettle, boil some water and put a spatter screen on top . Put ground beef on top and keep crumbling and working it back and forth until cooked. VERY GOOD and VERY HEALTHY, no grease.

I have never heard of Maid Rite. It sounds interesting. Thanks Solstice I didn't realize theere was one near here. My quilt guild retreat is near Greenville,OH. I was planning on stopping there to go to the KItchen Aid outlet. Now I know where I will go for lunch. MMMM! I lok forward to trying it. White Castle hamburgers are Yummy once in a while. I also used to eat them in college after the bars closed. They do seem to taste the best when you are drunk. I am years past that but I do stop in about once a year.

sandyl....just moved from the Quad Cities last year and there are maid-rites still going strong, and I agree that the steamed crumbled hamburger is made with some coke syrup but I've never known the receipe....hope that recipe pops up here ..I usually resort to making sloppy joe's but it's not the same.

Oh I am glad you posted this. I had forgotten the great taste of Maid Rites. I was raised in MO. We ate there all the time when I was a kid. Yummy!!!! I will have to try the recipes you all have put on here. Thanks again! I am really hungry now...