Burger to the power of Jeff
These two burgers are dedicated to all the people out there named Jeff. This is my deep dive into how I create the Jeff Squared burger and Jeff Cubed burger, and also the three other sandwiches I made along the way.
Read Time: 15 minutes
It’s officially time to drop a shout-out to all the Jeffs in the chat, and I’ll be making two different burgers in their honor. This is the story of how I created the Jeff Squared and the Jeff Cubed cheeseburgers and what inspired this whole sandwiched ordeal.
What is this sandwich?
The Jeff Squared burger is a combination of the favorite sandwiches of two famous people named Jeff. That’s where my mind started with this sandwich adventure. Then I decided I could go further, so I took those two sandwiches and incorporated another sandwich from a third equally well-known Jeff to create the Jeff Cubed burger. This is one of those sandwich blog posts that actually turns out to be an adventure.
A Jeff Adventure™
The three Jeffs in question are all actors of the same generation who should be known to most American sandwich blog readers due to their prominence in movies and TV shows. It just so happens that these three very famous Jeffs have all been asked the question “What is the best sandwich?” by a guy named Stephen Colbert during their individual appearances on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. So we have specific and direct answers and insight into the sandwich preferences of these Jeffs.
The three Jeffs in question are listed and discussed in order of how I was exposed to their favorite sandwich and how I ended up tackling each sandwich and component. The #number I have assigned to each Jeff is not a popularity or ranking number, so don’t get upset if your favorite Jeff is assigned #3. If you’d like to post which Jeff you think is best, you can do that in the comments.
Note: I had a lot going on with making three sandwiches plus two burgers this week, so I bought most of the ingredients for this blog post instead of making them. If you have a bit more time than I did and you like making things from scratch, I will be sharing my recipes that you can use when possible.
Jeff #1 – Jeff Daniels
The first Jeff who had his favorite sandwich come into my consciousness was Jeff Daniels, who inspired this whole sandwiching escapade with his now-famous favorite sandwich that he unveiled on one of his CBS Late Show appearances. The Late Show’s YouTube channel released a video in February 2026, and that’s when his sandwich went a little bit viral among the online food community.
I’m going to go with a personal favorite which is pita bread … a quarter inch of creamy peanut butter … you’re only doing half of it and then you’re getting Ruffles cheddar and sour cream potato chips … and you’re crunching them up and then you’re sprinkling them on the peanut butter then you’re getting your favorite brand of barbecue sauce … [mimes drizzling motion] … fold it over yeah … it’s like visiting three countries at once.
Jeff Daniels on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert – Instagram link
From my perspective, there are two reasons why that sandwich was covered by so many food content creators so quickly. One, it had some ingredients that might not really go together very well, which could shock viewers. And the second reason was that the ingredients are so easy to source, and there’s literally no cooking or skill involved in putting the sandwich together. That’s the perfect storm for easy and quick content creation: it’s going to get comments ranging across the spectrum from “ugh gross” to “I think that might be good,” and the content creator should be able to put the sandwich together and edit the video in practically one take.
Jeff Daniels was born in 1955 and is best known for his movie roles in Dumb and Dumber, Terms of Endearment, Arachnophobia, Speed, and he also won an Emmy for his role in the television show The Newsroom. Daniels is also a singer/songwriter who has recorded 6 full-length albums.
Jeff Daniels’ favorite sandwich
This is a simple one to make and talk about. The ingredients require no actual cooking, but you could make some of the components from scratch if that’s how you roll.
Otherwise, hit the store and pick up some round pita, peanut butter, barbecue sauce, and Ruffles cheddar and sour cream chips and get to sandwiching. Spread a generously thick layer of creamy peanut butter on half of the pita. Crumble a handful of chips on top of the peanut butter and then drizzle on some BBQ sauce. Fold the pita over on top of itself, and you’re in business.
Is this sandwich any good? Yes. I think it is.
The textures are good with the contrasting soft pita and crunchy chips. There’s an aggressive amount of peanut butter, but it’s balanced with the tang and sweetness in the BBQ sauce. I personally think this just works, but I can see how some people might be turned off by the barbecue sauce mixed into the peanut butter. Keep an open mind and give it a try; it’s actually a quick and pretty tasty sandwich. It’s a lot, though. A quarter inch of peanut butter on a 7- or 8-inch pita is about a quarter of the jar, which will fill you up through the rest of the day.
Maybe cut the pita in half first, and then you won’t need a nap afterwards.
I bought my pita, but here’s the recipe I would use if I were going to make it from scratch.
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Simple pita (stovetop method) </a>
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<small class="text-muted"><i class="fa fa-clock-o"> </i> 1 hour and 55 minutes</small>
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And here’s my recipe that you could use to make honey roasted peanut butter.
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Honey roasted peanut butter </a>
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Jeff Daniels specifically mentions Sweet Baby James Ray BBQ sauce, so I think you should use that for the best and most exact sandwich experience, but if you want to try my recipe that’s sort of similar, here you go.
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Sweet and tangy barbecue sauce </a>
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<small class="text-muted"><i class="fa fa-clock-o"> </i> 20 minutes</small>
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That’s Jeff Daniels’ sandwich, and now it’s time to move on to the next Jeff.
Jeff #2 – Jeff Bridges
I was exposed to the first Jeff’s favorite sandwich virally, but I ended up searching online for the favorite sandwich of our second Jeff because I sometimes have gotten him confused with the first Jeff. Turns out the second Jeff has also answered the “favorite sandwich” question on The Late Show.
The second of our Jeffs is Jeff Bridges, and his appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert had him going rogue and selecting a burger as his favorite sandwich. Purists might get upset, but a burger is typically meat, cheese, and toppings sandwiched between buns, so I think it counts.
I think I have to go with a classic cheeseburger … raw onion on it … toasted bun … havarti … raw onion, red preferrably … what about some endive, is that how you pronounce it?
Jeff Bridges on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (video above)
Bridges’ favorite burger is a pretty simple one. He definitely leans into the raw red onion. When pressed about a cheese selection, he goes with Havarti because that’s what his wife likes. Colbert quizzes him about the addition of any condiments, and Bridges goes back to the red onion, so it seems that possibly he’s not really a sauce guy. Bridges does mention adding endive, and I must admit that I either forgot to put it on my list or simply missed it because it’s at the tail end of his response.
Jeff Bridges, born in 1949, is known for his appearances in The Big Lebowski, Tron, True Grit, and The Last Picture Show. Bridges is also a musician and a photographer. Jeff Bridges comes from a family of actors, including his father Lloyd, mother Dorothy, and brother Beau.
Other than that, it’s a pretty standard basic cheeseburger with a nuttier cheese than regular American, and it’s clear from Jeff Bridges’ response that he is a big fan of raw red onion.
Jeff Bridges’ favorite sandwich burger
If you know how to cook a burger, you can easily handle Jeff Bridges’ favorite sandwich. I weighed out 4.5 ounces of 75/25 ground beef and flattened it into a patty on parchment paper. Using paper is wasteful, but it’s helpful to me to get the meat formed into a patty and onto something that I can use with clean hands to transfer the meat directly onto the hot pan, griddle, or grill.
Wash your hands, season the exposed side of the uncooked patty, and then you should be able to flip the patty into the pan, peel the paper off, and dispose of it. This is especially useful to me when grilling because my grills are on our roof deck that is two floors above the kitchen. I do have water up on the roof in the form of a spigot, but I do not have a hand-washing sink, so I try to come up with tricks like this to keep my hands a bit cleaner throughout the meat handling process.
The Jeff Bridges burger requires raw red onion and Havarti cheese. When quizzed about condiments, Bridges doesn’t mention any. I tried two bites with just these two toppings and felt that the burger could use some mayonnaise or maybe Dijon or whole grain mustard, so I added a little of both. I’m a fan of raw red onion, but I imagine that everyone is not. So this might not be the best burger for everyone reading.
If you’re a raw onion hater, you can soak sliced onion in ice-cold water for 10 to 15 minutes, and it will remove some of its stinging harshness. Try that next time you want to make a Jeff Daniels burger, and it will be a milder experience overall while still retaining that crispy crunch of the raw red onion.
The second Jeff sandwich is pretty easy. How about that third one?
Jeff #3 – Jeff Goldblum
Our third Jeff is not one that I would ever get confused with the first two Jeffs. He has a unique style of his own, and the movie roles that he takes are much different than Jeff Daniels or Jeff Bridges.
Jeff number three is Jeff Goldblum, and he does answer the question on The Colbert Report, but it turns out his answer is something I can not replicate. He says that he was seated at a fashion show in Milan, Italy, between Claudia Cardinale and Sophia Loren, two beautiful Italian actresses, and he points out that he was “sandwiched” between them.
Unfortunately, I can’t buy either of them at the grocery store, so I had to pivot.
So we didn’t really get any answer from The Colbert Questionert, but if you search “Jeff Goldblum’s favorite sandwich,” you’ll find a Reddit Ask Me Anything post from 13 years ago that he participated in, and he does write about his love for sandwiches there.
Comment
by u/_JeffGoldblum from discussion
in IAmA
So now we know that at least at one point in his life Jeff Goldblum’s sandwich of choice was basically a Rachel sandwich minus the coleslaw. Back in 2024, I wrote and shared a blog post about a Rachel sandwich, which, if you’re not familiar, is a Reuben sandwich with turkey instead of corned beef or pastrami. It’s not clear from Goldblum’s simple comment as to whether his sandwich would be served warm or cold, but I decided to treat it like a Rachel/Reuben and griddle it with some butter on the exterior of the bread.
Jeff Goldblum was born in 1952 and is probably best known for his appearances in the movies Jurassic Park, The Fly, and Independence Day. He is also a musician and has released several albums under the band name of Jeff Goldblum & the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra.
Jeff Goldblum’s favorite sandwich
This is a solid sandwich in my opinion. I do think it would be a better sandwich with a creamy and slightly vinegary slaw adding crunch and texture, but overall, turkey, Swiss, and Russian dressing work great.
I treated it as I would a Reuben and spread some butter on the exterior of the rye slice and griddled the sandwich at a fairly low temperature to give the internal ingredients some time to get warm and melty.
I bought the rye bread that I used in this sandwich because I didn’t have a ton of extra time this week, but if you want, you can use the rye sandwich loaf recipe that I have shared several times on this blog.
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Rye sandwich loaf </a>
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Recipe
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<small class="text-muted"><i class="fa fa-clock-o"> </i> 2 hours and 55 minutes</small>
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<p class="card-text">This rye loaf is sturdy and flavorful. Perfect for your next patty melt or chicken schnitzel sandwich.</p>
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I did make the Russian dressing that I used this week because Russian dressing isn’t sold at either of the grocery stores that I visited recently. But that’s ok, because this recipe is easy to put together and get into the fridge, and that’s what I did.
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Russian dressing </a>
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And those are the three Jeff-focused sandwiches that I chose to work with to create two different (but similar) burgers. Jeff Daniels, Jeff Bridges, and Jeff Goldblum all put forth very different sandwiches that at first do not appear as they would work in a mash-up recipe, but spoiler alert: they do.
Other famous Jeffs
There are lots of other famous Jeffs, but due to time and ingredient cost issues, I stopped at focusing on the combination of 3 Jeff sandwiches. Here are 4 other Jeffs that might possibly have interesting sandwich favorites, but we may never know.
How many Jeffs can you name?
We’ve already discussed all three Jeff sandwiches and the components of each one, but now we need to get into how I decided to combine them into the Jeff Squared burger and the Jeff Cubed burger. First we need some soft burger buns.
Super soft potato buns
I have written about this recipe so many times, and as I’ve said before, it’s practically perfect for cheeseburgers. And I’m a guy that you should be able to trust when it comes to burgers.
Normally this recipe makes 6 buns, but because we were headed into the world of complicated burger testing, I figured I might end up needing an extra bun or two. I used my bun calculator, which converts my normal recipes into *math* and allows you to adjust how many buns, rolls, or loaves you might want to make.
This does require you to use a scale, though, but if you’re planning to be a baker, you’re going to need one of those anyway.
The buns bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until you think they’re brown enough on the exterior. The browning comes fairly quickly near the end, and they do brown pretty well due to the sugar in the recipe. I do not paint on an egg wash before baking because I like to paint on butter after the buns come out.
The melted butter will soften the exterior of the buns and also give the tops a buttery flavor. Buns like this require time to cool off, and during that cooling time the liquid from the butter will evaporate, and the outside of the buns will go from super shiny to a more matte finish.
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