Kitchen Product Review: The Big City Slider Station

I love White Castles, Crystal Burgers, Steak-n-Shake Sliders, Dave and Buster's Bar Burgers, and all manner of little burgers. I was intrigued and excited when I first saw the infomercial for the Big City Slider Station. When the Big City Slider Station finally made it to my local grocery store for around $20, I snatched it up and brought it home. While I was eager to test and review the Big City Slider and share my opinions with the culinary world, I was even more eager to eat some good sliders. I also bought a 1/2 pound of low fat ground beef, pickles, onion, tomato, bakery section dinner rolls, and a variety pack of deli cheese.

Of course, this Big City Slider Station review is more about the pan than the burger. The Big City Slider Station comes in a deceptively large box. But, the Big City Slider Station actually measures about 7 1/8" by 7 1/8" which is just slightly larger than the large burner on a typical electric stove. The nonstick pan provides five 2 and 3/4 inch circles for cooking the miniature hamburgers and what appears to be the lid is actually a press intended to flatten your ground beef into the traditional slider shape. While the infomercial implies that you cook with the lid on, the instructions provided say nothing about cooking with the lid on. Everything prepared in the Big City Slider Station is actually cooked uncovered. At least, I opted not to cook "as seen on TV."

Made in China, the Big City Slider Station appears to be made of aluminum and is a nonstick pan. The Big City Slider Station is hand washable and like all nonstick pans it should be used with plastic or wooden utensils. The Press and the Pan both have sturdy plastic grips on the handles to help protect slider chefs from being burned. The Big City Slider Station seems to be sturdily made with inexpensive materials. While I am no expert, the non-stick material seems to be a powder coat over all metal surfaces of the Big City Slider Station and does not seem to be likely to flake off. The Big City Slider Station also comes with a plastic spoon for measuring out the proper amount of ground beef for sliders. A very short cookbook provides recipes for various sliders and tips for cooking eggs for fast-food style breakfast sandwiches.

Cooking with the Big City Slider Station was fun. I made simple bar burgers with 97% fat free ground beef, a few oats for a little filler, Worcestershire sauce, and a dash of Montreal Steak Seasoning. After mixing up the ingredients, I spooned out five medium meatballs using the provided plastic spoon, flattened them with the Big City Slider Station press, and cooked them on medium heat. After about 2/3 of the cooking time had passed, I flipped the burgers. Flipping burgers in the Big City Slider station was a little challenging because I did not have a suitable plastic utensil. I improvised using a large plastic spoon and a then a metal fork. The non-stick material on the Big City Slider Station worked well, but it was difficult to get a large utensil to flip a 2 and 3/4-inch diameter burger. A suitable plastic flipping utensil would be a nice addition to this product. Once flipped, I topped my cute little bar burgers with cheese and they cooked to completion without drama.

The Big City Slider Station helped me make five perfect bar burgers with a minimum of fuss. Using quality components like bakery dinner rolls, fresh onions, fresh tomatoes, and A1 Sauce helped me perfect my culinary adventure. A couple of days later, I used the Big City Slider Station to make egg biscuits for breakfast. I followed the instructions in the Big City Slider Station cook book, melted butter in each of slider circles, and then spooned in a scrambled egg mixture. While I cooked the eggs in the Big City Slider Station, I baked Grands brand flaky biscuits in the oven. Once again, the Big City Slider Station helped me make a perfect meal easily.

Of course, at only $20, the Big City Slider Station isn't perfect. While it was easy to basically clean, each cooking circle started taking on the patina of a 20-year old Waffle House grill after the first use. In addition, the bottom of my Big City Slider Station got circular marks on the bottom where it came into contact with the electric burner on my range. Overall, I think these issues are minor and simply come from frying things in a piece of inexpensive aluminum cookware. The Big City Slider Station is simply not a high end product. However, in my opinion, the Big City Slider Station provides a good value and a fun cooking experience. I might have to buy an extra Big City Slider Station so that I can cook ten mini-burgers at a time.