Handmade Burger Co. Dirty Burgers Fried Onion

Review of Handmade Burger Co. D.B Fried Onion (New Handmade Dirty Burgers range)

Website: http://handmadeburger.co.uk/

What they say:

Beef patty, American cheese, lettuce, onion, ketchup, fried onion, HBC sauce, served on a fresh buttermilk bun with jalapeño slaw & a gherkin.

Price: £7.65.

Calories: Unknown.

Back at high street chain Handmade. If you recall from previous reviews, they use 100% scotch beef shaped daily in the branch into a 7oz patty.

They’ve recently added a number of new lines to the already burgeoning menu and it was the Yorkies that originally grabbed my attention.

These are a small range of burgers using Yorkshire puddings instead of buns. A gimmick, yes of course, but one that initially looked interesting.

But on closer inspection I must say they looked rather dry. Yes, all three do include sauce in the blurb but it didn’t show much in the marketing photos and that put me off. So I went to completely the other end of the spectrum – the dirty burgers and picked the one with fried onions.

Handmade Dirty Burgers
Space age dirty food…

You’ll see from the ingredients above that there’s plenty of mess on these and as I know what proper street-food dirty burgers are supposed to be like, it’ll be interesting to see how the chain matches up.

This small range is served on a buttermilk bun – something different – and looking through the ingredients, the beef and lettuce are about the only dry things in there.

It looks promising so far. Arriving on a tray, wrapped in foil, it was immediately obvious that the slaw wasn’t on the burger, but on the side.

That is a bit disappointing first of all, but I can understand why – the burger itself isn’t huge and there is a lot going on in there already. I imagine they decided the slaw would overwhelm it – personally I’d have chucked it in, but I’m not the chef.

Handmade Dirty Burgers
Ticks the boxes on presentation…

The other annoyance right off was the cooking. However delicious and “traceable” the beef is here, it’s well-done which wastes any great flavour it might have had. I’m annoyed at myself for forgetting this and not asking if it could be done medium. Next time.

Anyway, in terms of pure dirtiness, it’s not Almost Famous. Never going to be. But it is a pretty decent stab at a nationwide dirty burger.

There’s loads in here but it’s the HBC sauce and the fried onions that stand out for me. The onions are long and stringy and hanging out around my chin, adding to the dirty burger / fairground appeal of this burger.

Handmade Dirty Burgers
Lots of ingredients to enjoy…

The house sauce – HBC (handmade burger co, I guess) is a pretty well-developed burger sauce with the right amount of pep to it, and the classic orangey-beige colour. It worked with the ketchup and oodles of melted cheese to give that dirty sloppy feel.

The buttermilk bun did its job admirably – holding everything in until the end. However, it’s not the most exciting burger out there, but I can’t really fault it except for the overcooking.

You simply cannot go to a high street chain and expect the same product as from an independent street trader. It’s a different market, and with that in mind, I think HBC has hit on something – knowing its market and providing the widest possible choice of products within in.

As the website that got KFC to bring the Zinger Stacker to Britain, if we can influence HBC in any constructive way, it would be to suggest they start asking how customers want their beef cooked.

Handmade Dirty Burgers
House sauce stands out…

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