America's Fattiest Foods
Famous pound-packing dishes from across the USA.
July 14, 2010 -- With the explosion of popularity in the sport of competitive eating and the cult following of TV shows like the Travel Channel's "Man vs. Food," America's greatest artery-clogging cuisine is at the trendy forefront of gastro vogue these days. But few realize just how calorically dense many of these famed comfort foods are.
The experts at Health.com scoured the country, traversing legendary local food spots in search of America's fattiest foods, and below are seven dishes that made the list of infamous heavy-weights.
West Virginia has one of the highest rates of obesity in the United States, with 31 percent of all adults in the state falling under the federal obesity guidelines. With that in mind it should not come as a shock that Hillbilly Hot Dogs 10-pound burger calls Huntington, W. Va., home. Everything about this burger is big, from the 10-pound beef patty, two heads of lettuce, two pounds of pickles, three tomatoes, three onions, 25 slices of cheese and insanely sized roll that make up this Hillbilly specialty. The nutritional stats are equally as mindboggling as the 10 pounds of hamburger meat alone clock in at around 800 grams of fat. That's an entire day's worth of fat for more than 12 women, without even counting the cheese.
Next up is a contender that calls another state that recently made the 10-healthiest states list home, as the sandwich lovingly known as the Fat Darrell at New Jersey's Grease Trucks takes center stage. The sandwich -- a staple of famous Grease Trucks on the campus of Rutgers University -- is named after then-sophomore Darrell W. Butler, who wanted to combine all of his favorite ingredients into one terrifying sandwich. The Fat Darrell is chockful of fried delights such as chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, marinara sauce, French fries, lettuce, tomato all encased inside a giant roll. Not surprising that all told, the ingredients are worth an estimated 45 grams of fat.
While Colorado routinely tops lists as one of America's overall healthiest states, the 7-pound breakfast burrito at Centennial State's Jack-N-Grill restaurant certainly won't be mistaken for health food. The burritos legend grew even further when Adam Richman, host of the Travel Channel's "Man vs. Food" recently stopped by to partake in the challenge presented by this breakfast behemoth. The ingredients list reads like a recipe to feed an army, and includes seven potatoes, 12 eggs, a pound of ham, a whole onion, cheese, and chili. The burrito packs quite a punch, with the pound of ham and 12 eggs alone packing nearly 100 grams of fat, which is almost twice a woman's upper daily limit for fat.
Hot Dogs have long been targeted as a bane of those looking to cut fat out of their diets, so the stakes get even more serious when you're looking at a full 2 feet of hot dog from the legendary Doogie's of Hartford, Conn. This 2-foot-long pork and beef hot dog comes on a bed of three rolls and is topped off with an array of toppings that include onions, peppers, chili, cheddar cheese sauce and, of course, bacon. The average foot-long hot dog will set you back about 24 grams of fat, 10 grams of which are saturated. But this is double that, plus it has bacon, chili, and cheddar cheese.
This traditional dessert has been made in Alaska for centuries and encompasses a list of ingredients that ensures that this certainly isn't your old-fashioned ice cream. Rather, ice cream of the Eskimo variety, also known akutaq, has historically gotten its creamy consistency from the meat and fat of caribou, moose, bears, seals and fish. Modern variations of the dish today usually substitute Crisco for the animal fat, and because recipes differ, it's somewhat hard to gather a complete nutritional picture. However, a traditional version of this frosty treat that uses reindeer fat can serve up an astounding 91 grams of fat in a single serving.
Origins of this Georgia staple are somewhat unclear, but most agree that the Luther Burger is named in honor of local R&B crooner Luther Vandross. The Luther is built on "buns" that are actually two glazed Krispy Kreme doughnuts on which two ground-beef patties, cheese and bacon and a fried egg are elegantly stacked. The two Krispy Kreme glazed doughnuts are worth 24 grams of fat, and the patty is another 16, so perhaps this dish wouldn't be the ideal choice for whom it was named after, as Luther Vandross himself suffered from hypertension and diabetes.
This offering from the Empire State was conceived at the beloved local greasy spoon Nick Tahou Hots back in 1918. The dish, which more than lives up to its name, is a culinary conglomeration of ingredients that start with a foundation of home fries, macaroni salad, baked beans and French fries. From there, customers have the option of selecting a meat of their choice (hamburger, cheeseburger, hot dog, sausage, chicken tender, fish, fried ham). To make the garbage plate complete, the whole thing is slathered in mustard, onions and hot sauce -- and tips the scales at an alarming three pounds of food.
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