The Evolution of Sliders

You probably know them as those little hamburgers, served in just about every restaurant that boasts a bar menu or Happy Hour special. They usually come three on a plate, maybe with a little coleslaw on the side or a sliced pickle.

Nobody is quite sure where the name comes from, but one presumes it must stem from the notion of sliding a tasty morsel into your mouth and gobbling it down. A treat delicious and small, that slides down so quickly and easily that you can never eat just one. Some say the term “slider” was coined in the U.S. Navy to mean a hamburger so greasy it just slid right down, no chewing necessary!

The idea of a slider being a mini hamburger originated with White Castle, an iconic American fast food chain that opened in 1916 and sold two-and-a-half-inch diameter hamburgers for five cents. The company copyrighted the name “Slyders” and their early slogan was “Buy ‘em by the sack.” In the 1940s the cost of the sliders increased to ten cents, then eventually to twenty-five cents. As late as 2006 their sliders sold for about 50 cents.

These days, when you see “sliders” on a menu you might still be served a simple mini burger. However, more and more restaurants are breaking the slider mold.

Trendy restaurants are designing their sliders to be more of an “amuse-bouche”: a small serving of finger food that can be consumed in just one or two bites, usually consisting of several ingredients with intense and complex flavors. The more sophisticated sliders might feature creative mixes such as sea bass and pickled vegetables, pork shoulder with ginger and chipotle, fried oysters with tartar sauce, sriracha-spiced chicken with bacon and blue cheese, short rib with kimchi on a pretzel roll, beef tongue with fried green tomatoes, duck pastrami with béchamel sauce…You get the idea. It’s a long way from White Castle.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA is a small seaside city known for having more than its fair share of excellent, hip restaurants. One of these restaurants is Block Six, a contemporary restaurant and bar that serves classic cocktails with a twist and unique and affordable food. One of the most popular dishes on the menu is pork belly sliders.

Executive chef Sam Ostrow, who attended culinary arts school in Cambridge, Massachusetts and later worked as sous chef in Wolfgang Puck’s Boston catering service, decided to put sliders on the appetizer menu because they are a perfect snack, just right for a big mouthful or two or three more polite bites. Instead of the more mundane beef burger, Ostrow uses pork belly “because, well, it’s pork belly! It is a perfect blend of fat and meat and pairs well with almost anything.”

The pork belly sliders are served on a scrumptious buttermilk biscuit with peach jam and slaw. Ostrow chose this combination because he loves food tinged with a Southern style, particularly in summer. “My mom is from the South and I worked at the Hungry Mother in Cambridge for a while and learned a great deal about Southern cookery. So the belly is rubbed, roasted, cooled, sliced, then reheated on a griddle and glazed with honey. Then we warm the buttermilk biscuits, slice them in half, place the belly on the bottom half, spoon over tart peach jam, top with cabbage slaw and put the biscuit top on.”

It’s a winning combination. The crumbly biscuit complements the succulent pork; the slaw adds crunchiness and the sweetness of the honey glaze and tartness of the peach jam bring it all sliding home.