Inspired by Thomo’s take on the Angeles Burgers, he and I set about creating a burger rating system. As a starting point we used the measure he had been applying, we just codified it a bit:

The burgers being sampled will be a standard cheeseburger – be that a menu item or a request for a burger with cheese added. Nothing special or additional and no comment on the chips or fries that come with it, or indeed if it is served with no fries.

The construction will be assessed (from the bottom up, bun, lettuce, tomato, beef patty (if it ain’t beef, it’s a sandwich), onion if caramelised, cheese, onion if raw, bun. That is a standard Mark I Cheeseburger. Pickles are an add-on, beetroot is mandatory* … however, as I am not in Australia I will give that a miss. The bun should be robust enough to hold together until the last mouthful, retaining as much burger juice as possible and while the burger may be delivered to the table deconstructed, it should not require deconstructing or the use of utensils other than fingers for eating. Lastly, accompaniment should be a cold beer.

* Given that I too am Australian and yet hate beetroot, I will give this a miss on principle. I also feel for each burger to be fairly judged it needs to be built with the same items. Thomo concurred with this, but the guy did love his beetroot.

Following in the comments of the above post I asked quite a few questions and Thomo responded with:

Hey mate, at the end of the day, it is the total flavour that counts. So, for example, the Envy burger has a great taste, even though one has to deconstruct it to eat the damned thing. I guess we could adopt a more scientific approach, say, starting at 5/10 then:

+1 seasoning in the patty
+1 construction (including height, i.e., can you get it in your gob in one go)
+1 juicy – is the burger meat moist, if you squeeze do you see a little flavour leaking out (OK, oil)
+1 the bun – is it dense enough to hold together until the end of the burger but at the same time, light and fluffy enough to be enjoyable eating
-1 cucumber or other unwanted items (I’ll forgive pickles but not cucumber)
-1 undercooked … read – burger tartar
-1 overcooked
+1 just a great eating experience – you know you will be back for another in a week or two’s time!

We decided Sauce or Mayo was optional…Thomo felt that if it came with sauce it was judged as such, and if it didn’t then it should stand on its own. The conversation then moved away from the Blog to Whatsapp, but we really only talked about how to use the above scale.

I do note that Thomo himself rarely gave a burger more than 7 or 8/10 and yet starting at 5/10 and using the above scale would easily see many burgers rated a 9 or even 10, which I think is not what he had in mind when he started this, but it is the scale I am going to run with and to quote the big fella,

“…at the end of the day, it is the total flavour that counts.”

Burgers of Singapore coming soon.