Who's bright idea was this anyways?

From great ideas comes the hard work to follow.

At first when I thought of doing some kind of burger review thing, it all seemed so easy. Go into a place, order a burger, and rate it. Then I actually started to think about it. How many different types of burgers are there? How many places that I don’t know about or never thought of to go for a burger are there? Do I include fast food places? What qualities should I be looking for when I am rating? The mind swirled with different scenarios and what ifs. Never mind how I would spread the word of my findings. Twitter, Facebook and blogger are all relatively new for me, but I shall try and use each to their full potential.

I’ve decided that I will order the same type of burger from each establishment that I visit. I am looking for a ‘plain’ burger, one that comes with at least lettuce and tomato, some form of onion and pickles. I think this will work for many reasons. It stops me having to compare a $1 hamburger from McDonalds or Burger King to a $10 burger from a roadhouse type of place. It will help to equal the playing field as everyone offers some sort sandwich that meets these criteria. It also helps make sure that I am comparing apples with apples. Many places offer burgers with toppings that could boggle the mind. I myself love western burgers, bacon, cheese BBQ sauce and onion ring. It wouldn’t be fair to judge one of those to a place that doesn’t offer the same. When I visit a place the lets me choose my toppings, I will keep it to the same standards.

Here is what I can promise. I will take a picture of the burger when I receive it and am sitting at a table. I will grade on bun to meat ratio, meat taste, overall taste and appearance. Too much bun and the burger becomes too chewy and mealy. A freezer burnt meat patty is the quickest way to turn my stomach. The way everything works together is very important. And finally, a sloppy mess presented in front of you is not a good way to start a meal.

I hope this helps explain a bit what I am trying to do here. Burgers are and easy thing to make, and an easy thing to do wrong. I look forward to trying a variety of sandwiches and finally critiquing them to find my future burger heaven.