There's no argument to be had that the burger is a culinary versatile genious and whilst I have experimented on occasion with various additions such as pulled pork, onion rings and eggs, nothing can quite beat your classic bacon cheese burger cooked to perfection.

Now whilst this post is predominantly about bread, I cannot miss this opportunity in my endeavour to save the Great British Barbecue to urge the UK BBQ chef of the pitfalls of flattening your burgers down during the cooking process with your spatuala.  The amount of times where I have seen this happen is countless and it brings tears to my eyes every time.  Squeezing and excessive of your patty will force just the juices out, leaving you with a dry cardboard tasting burger.

Back to bread, your burger’s trusty companion.  Not much thought is really given to the burger bun even though this is essentially the vehicle for carrying your meaty goodness.

Case and point let me tell you about the absolute King of Burgers- In and Outs double double.  Unfortunately only available in the US of A, read any online review of In and Out and you'll get where I'm going with this.  Trying to explain the double double is like trying to explain Game of Thrones to someone who's never watched it- You need to experience it to understand it's greatness and there's just no other way.  In and Out have a limited menu but what they do do they do to perfection.

I finally convinced my carb conscious wife to try the infamous double double on a trip to Cailfornia and she opted for animal style lettuce wrap.  She didn't understand the fuss and I was perplexed.  How could she not acknowledge this food is undeniably fit for the Gods... and it was then that I realised the importance of it's brioche bun.

So since then I’ve never scrimped out on the bread and played around with the best delivery for the perfect burger.

Lightly toast the bun before throwing it all together.  When you toast bread, a chemical reaction  takes place, expelling moisture from the bread changing its chemical structure preventing it from taking on a sponge-like consistency.  That's just science people.

For further soggy bun prevention create a shield by using a fat source such as mayonnaise, butter oil or even a layer of cheese on the bun before adding your meat protecting the bread surface.

The last tip I'll give is whilst there are a range of ready made burgers available in your local supermarket nothing quite wows your guests as something which has been made by your own fair hands as well as being quick, easy and ridiculously satisfying to make.  Check out the JMS Murder Burger on the recipes page and hit me back with your triumphs.

Peace.