Smash Burgers and Homemade American Cheese

A title tells a thousand words...no, hold on, that's not right.

Actually in this case it is.

I've been doing some home burger experimentation in preparation for Burger Off!, a big BBQ I'm holding in the summer for some of the members of #TeamBurger, London's ace, crime fighting* burger eating elite.

And the menu today is smash burgers with homemade American Cheese.
*they don't fight crime.

Pitt Cue Co: Is it a burger or a meat sandwich?

Pitt Cue Co is a BBQ joint. 

You've probably heard about it from people much more BBQ-y than me. I was here for one sole purpose - to get my chops around the monster that is The Big Ode.

Ad Cod - The NEW Chilli Cheeseburger

[This is a guest post from a very good friend, Mr Joel Gershinson, a fellow burger lover and author of the, frankly hilarious, My Outer Monologue blog]

In recent weeks my burger-to-exercise ratio has escalated in favour of the former, so I was congratulating myself more than usual for nailing a decent bike ride on Saturday, and for having no foodie-nonsense scheduled until the Thursday. Then I got an email. Would I and some others like to pop to the Admiral Codrington on Tuesday to try something new? My heart contracted painfully in fat-related protest, then relaxed into a little jump-for-joy: when Fred Smith says ‘I’ve got something new’, one has to get involved.

Meat Market: Best Burgers in Covent Garden

MEATMarket is MeatLiquor's fast-food spin off, set on the edge of Covent Garden on the mezzanine floor in Jubilee Market.

If MeatLiquor is the cool older sibling, MEATMarket is the bubbly, happy-go-lucky little sister. It's small, much smaller than the Welbeck Street mothership, and long and thin, and light, and open-kitchened, and you get your burgers in 5 minutes rather than 45 minutes. I love it.

Black Palace Burger and Poppaz from MEATMarket, Covent Garden

Riding House Cafe WWF Burger Smackdown

Riding House Cafe is an achingly cool canteen-style restaurant situated halfway between Regent's Park and Oxford Circus, and it was the scene for a tense burger-off between the underweight challenger cheeseburger versus their overweight champion longhorn burger.

The occasion was an inpromptu work dinner with a colleague, hereafter known as 'The Aussie', and as my first visit to Riding House, we settled on covering off the both burger options on the menu. We had a couple of small plates to start, just to whet our appetites before the oncoming burger onslaught, hot and sour buttermilk chicken wings with celery blue cheese dip, and seared scallops, both were excellent and had us whipped our taste buds up into a frenzy before the main show.

Advance Preview: The Chilli Queen from Byron

Byron's founder, Tom Byng, knows his burger shit. 

I'll explain.

I was invited to join a preview of the upcoming 'Byron Chilli Queen', a special collaboration burger between Byron and Fred Smith - famed for his burgers at the Admiral Codrington in South Kensington, in celebration of the Queen's Jubilee this summer. 

Byron have a history of producing excellent special burgers on their menus - the Uncle Sam was so popular Byron almost added it to their menu. And Fred Smith...well Fred Smith can do no wrong in my eyes when it comes to burgers, so to say I was pretty excited about this one, would be an serious understatement...

Brand New Limited Edition Burger Tshirt

I'm really blooming excited about my latest Limited Edition Burger Tshirt. 

Following the successful sell-out of the 'Exploded Burger' Tee, I've worked with a very talented designer to come up with some fantastic Burger Maths designs, the first of which is available now.

Look out for more in the Burger Maths range, coming soon!