On Leno, Paula Deen Says She Invented Doughnut Burgers

Friday night grease queen and alleged evil sex fiend succubus Paula Deen was a guest on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and like usual, unsexy antics went down (dick jokes, etc). Deen's diabetes diagnosis misinformation campaign continued. "You know Jay, for the longest time I was in denial about it," said Deen, who has a multi-million dollar diabetes drug endorsement deal. Most curious was Deen's possible attempt at revisionist history by claiming that she independently invented the doughnut burger. Telling Leno about her most "decadent recipe," Deen said:

It came by accident, it happened by accident y'all... Lemme tell you about that doughnut cheeseburger, and I think it had a egg and some bacon on it, too. I can't remember. I was shootin my show and the food stylist had everything ready over here for me. and I had a big platter of doughnuts. Well I went to put my burger together and I picked up that bun and it was just harder than my arteries and I felt up the doughtnuts and it was soft. So I said, "Screw that hard bread, I'll use the doughnuts."

And Michael was in the bedroom sleeping, because you know he works crazy hours, he's a corporate pilot. And I said, "Cut, y'all, cut." I had to run back to the bedroom and let Michael taste it, it was so good. And that was the first time I ever made one and I've not made one since.

Deen's infamous doughnut burger is called "The Lady's Brunch Burger" (see the recipe). It appeared in an episode of Paula's Home Cooking back in 2008 (video below). In the video Deen says, "I've never done this before, y'all, in my entire life."

Thing is, the doughnut burger dates back to at least 2003 (there are also claims that it was created in 2002). In the field of "burgerological anthropology," A Hamburger Today founder Adam Kuban — possibly the world's most foremost doughnut burger expert — aggressively tracked the doughnut burger during its inception and heyday.

A quick history: It was also known as the "Luther Burger" (a bacon cheeseburger served on a Krispy Kreme doughnut bun at the pub Mulligan's in Decatur, Georgia, named after R&B singer Luther Vandross in 2005) or a "Fatkreme" (developed allegedly back in 2003). The doughnut burger went from a relatively obscure early-era internet curiosity to a full-blown legitimized entity in 2006 when the "Grizzlie Burger" was served at the stadium of the Gateway Grizzlies, a Frontier League baseball team in Sauget, Illinois,

It's certainly possible that two years after the Grizzlie Burger, Paula Deen independently invented the doughnut burger while shooting her show in an "accident." It's also possible that Deen is failing to attribute her sources and is trying to rewrite the hamburger history books. Her memory is hazy: she tells Leno it's a "doughnut cheeseburger" when her original recipe never had cheese. "I think it had a egg and some bacon on it, too," says Deen of the egg and bacon-infused "Lady's Brunch Burger." Is Paula Deen taking credit for other people's ideas?

Video: Paula Deen on Leno, 1

Video: Paula Deen on Leno, 2

Video: The Lady's Brunch Burger

· All Paula Deen Coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All Jay Leno Coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All Novelty Burger Coverage on Eater [-E-]