When I think of the perfect burger I want a delicious patty which is juicy once cooked and is full of flavour, topped with cheese and an epic sauce, all in a bun which is the right size. My perfect burger is finger-licking good and ensures you will always need a napkin to wipe your mouth when you eat it!
I tasked myself with the difficult (obviously not) mission of finding the perfect DIY burger kit. Here are my top three picks . . .
This burger matches up to the best burger I have ever had in a UK restaurant! The kit arrived well-packaged with everything in individual containers. They even provide the seasoning and lots of fun extras including full-size bottles of mustard and ketchup, Libertine graffiti greaseproof sheets to serve your burger on and a Libertine sticker pack.
For the burgers we were supplied with seeded brioche buns, house cured smoked streaky bacon, American cheese slices, a pot of house pickles and the Libertine signature patties which are made in-house using their own blend of 50 per cent Chuck, 30 per cent Brisket and 20 per cent Flank from Aberdeenshire cattle, and dry-aged for a minimum of 28 days.
The burgers were a doddle to prepare. The bacon is already cooked so it is just a case of heating it up in the pan. We cooked the patties in a frying pan and topped with cheese when flipped so the cheese melted (cheese heaven!) – then it’s just a case of putting them together!
I can only describe this as one sexy burger. It was everything you could want from a burger – juicy, cheesy and so flavourful – Mr B and I were in burger heaven! And I can confirm napkins are definitely required!
To accompany our burgers we had a side of ‘Dirty Tater Tots’. We were expecting these to be a nice side to accompany our burgers, but these were an epic dish all in themselves! The tots were crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, smothered in the Libertine house cheese sauce which was like a bath of heavenly, rich, oozy cheese sauce, topped with crispy bacon bits which added saltiness and crunch, finished with the dirty mayo which had a great punch of spice.
Rudy’s Vegan – Rudy’s Dirty Burger
I am very clearly a meat eater, however, I do try to ensure I have two meat-free meals per week. After visiting vegan restaurant Redemption with Mr B on one of our previous foodie trips to London, it really opened our eyes to how delicious vegan food can be so we couldn’t wait to try our vegan burger!
Arriving well-packaged, our DIY kit contained Rudy’s secret burger sauce, baby gem lettuce, tomatoes, cheeze slices, pickles, caramelised onions, baycon rashers, plant-based burger buns and Rudy’s vegan original burgers.
We were really pleased with the quality of ingredients, the tomatoes especially were huge and everything arrived nice and fresh. Cooking the baycon in the frying pan was quick and, of course, we couldn’t resist a cheeky taste. Whilst I didn’t think it tasted like bacon, what it was very similar to for me was pastrami. It had those lovely spicy and herby flavours you would expect from a pastrami and to be completely honest, if I would have tried this without knowing what it was I would definitely have said it was meat, so big thumbs up for the baycon!
The burger just needed cooking in the frying pan and once flipped, we sat the cheeze on top to melt.
Once constructed, this burger did indeed look like one impressive dirty burger! Could I tell this burger wasn’t a traditional beef burger? Yes, but that doesn’t change the fact it was bloody delicious! Fresh, tasty and filling! The baycon added a great texture against the soft texture of the pattie, the cheeze probably lacked a little in flavour for my liking, but with the rest of the ingredients and that yummy tangy burger sauce on, I couldn’t even tell to be honest.
For a meat-free dinner or if you are having friends round for tea who are vegan, this kit will be a winner.
Restaurant Kits, The Ribinator by Flank
Always on the lookout for something a bit different, this kit provided just that, a fun twist on the traditional burger.
To make up ‘The Ribinator’, our kit included smoky ketchup, BBQ Glaze, T100 crispy onions, pickles, brioche buns and, of course, two Ribinator meat patties.
With the greaseproof paper provided, we followed the instructions by searing the Ribinator on both sides and then just popped it in the oven on a baking tray for 14 minutes.
After toasting the buns (in the pan with all the lovely juice in it), we layered them up with the accompaniments.
This messy, but oh so delicious, creation was full of flavour and the meat was so soft and juicy. The texture was completely different to burger patties as the rib meat is a lot chunkier and extra moist, especially when drizzled with the fantastic and super tasty BBQ glaze! Adorned with the other accompaniments, they all added a great mix of textures and flavours, some crunch from the onions and sharpness from the pickles. The Ribinator gets full marks from me!
All the tableware I used for my burger kits is from UTOPIA who have a huge range of designs made specifically for the hospitality industry. I especially loved the cactus glasses!
I’m not a burger fan but you could convert me with any of these, they sound delicious (and very messy) xx