Following social media hysteria and queues at the international chain's new outlets in Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg, the Sunday Times Food Weekly team arranged a testing of four burger brands last week.
Award-winning steakhouse owner and beef aficionado Steve Maresch joined South African Chefs Academy president Stephen Billingham, actress Florence Masebe and South African Junior Olympic culinary team member Gontse Moyane in a blind tasting.
Steers's King Steer burger was pitted against Burger King's Double Whopper with cheese, McDonald's Big Mac and Wimpy's Double Cheese Burger. The burgers were rated on aroma, taste, texture and beefiness.
The choice of the winner was unanimous - the generous and tasty Burger King Double Whopper came first with 29 points out of 40, eight points ahead of its closest competitor, local flame-griller Steers.
The McDonald's "tiny" Big Mac came in last with 12 points. Wimpy's R48 cheeseburger fell short with its "synthetic" taste, garnering 19 points.
The judges said the Whopper was substantial, flavourful and made of good-quality beef. It was also moderately priced for its weight at R36.50. "This smells and tastes like a beef burger. It is heavy, the biggest of the lot and easiest to hold. Yum. Ja, that is good. I am also tasting the different layers of garnish, bun and burger," said Billingham.
Moyane said: "The aroma makes you want to delve into it. I am excited to taste it. Wow, those are quality ingredients. You can tell it wasn't just thrown together."
Maresch, who is following a no-carb Paleo diet, said: "This is worth me breaking my diet after two weeks. It is well balanced, there is a crunch to it, the bun doesn't taste preserved. It is a pure beef patty."
The judges also voted to pay more for the burger than it cost - which was not the case with the other three burgers, particularly Wimpy's Double Cheese Burger.
"It triggers a bad memory of awful, cheap viennas. Too porky and the tomato sauce is terrible," said Moyane.
Maresch said: "No. No, this is not beef."
Billingham: "This does not taste of beef. There is some essence of cow, but it tastes of binding and artificial ingredients. I can't eat this."
Masebe: "I have to eat the salad to get the taste out of my mouth."
The Steers burger was better received.
"This is good beef. There is a binding agent in there, but the beefy taste is great. It is killed a little with the mushy fillings," said Maresch.
Masebe said: "Now this smells like a burger. I know what I'm getting here. If I was hungry, this would be very satisfying."
This was not the case with the McDonald's Big Mac, which the judges agreed was minuscule. "There isn't much in this one. Lots of gherkins - that flavour is overwhelming. There is no beefy taste," said Moyane.
Masebe said: "If I had to buy these for my crew, they would probably ask for another. It is very skinny. And it tastes like those grey, frozen burgers we got at boarding school."
"There is zero beef in here. I would rather eat my serviette," said Maresch.
Source: Sunday Times via I-Net Bridge
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