Wisconsin, which used to boast that it was “America’s Dairyland” on license plates, banned sales of margarine in 1925. Although the law was repealed two years later, Wisconsin remained the last state in the Union to maintain strict rules designed to make sure no one mistook margarine for the real thing. Among these restrictions was a color ban that forbade the sale of margarine in any way tinted to disguise its chemical white hue. Well into the mid-twentieth century, Wisconsinites who craved margarine that looked edible had to sneak over the Illinois border and smuggle it in. Either that or buy the white stuff and mix in food coloring until it resembled butter.
There is no better demonstration of the state’s passion than the butter burger, which is so popular that many restaurants where it is served don’t even bother to call it that. Order a hamburger and it automatically comes soaked with melted butter. Not margarine, not flavored oil: pure, dairy-rich butter. Words cannot describe the wanton opulence of hoisting one of these big boys from plate to mouth and feeling commingled butter and beef juices running hot rivers down one’s chin, fingers, and wrist. Similarly, most of the charcoal-cooked brats served in Wisconsin sandwiches come glistening not only with their own fat, but with that of a few melting butter pats as well.
A Dairy State double butter burger with cheese.