Can a cheeseburger on an airplane ever be pretty much as good as one on the bottom? Or will it solely ever be “fairly good, for one thing on an airplane”?
Whilst inflight meals have largely vanished from home coach, they’ve remained fixtures up in top notch (at the least, on longer flights). Whereas the menus have various over time, there are a couple of frequent standbys, together with a stunning one: the common-or-garden hamburger.
When you may assume a burger would get soggy or gross, it truly works pretty properly on a aircraft, so long as you do not count on to get it medium-rare.
Upgrades clearing much less? Airways say extra passengers are simply paying for these first-class seats
A lot of the prep and cooking for inflight meals is finished on the bottom, whereas dishes are heated on the aircraft in specialised convection ovens earlier than they’re served. It is simple to warmth a burger patty in these ovens, and even when they get a bit extra completely cooked than one would like on the bottom, a well-done burger works higher than an overcooked steak.
That is very true for “smash burger”-style burgers like Shake Shack’s, through which the patty is pressed down on a highly regarded griddle, searing the surface and preserving the within juicy whereas making the burger thinner and totally cooked by.
That is most likely what Delta Air Traces had in thoughts when it determined to supply Shake Shake’s well-known burgers as a meal choice on board. In what the airline dubbed a “first-of-its-kind” collaboration, the airline started providing Shake Shack-branded entrees in top notch this month on flights over 900 miles departing from Boston Logan Worldwide Airport (BOS). It plans to increase the partnership to different airports all through 2025.
As TPG’s resident “beef within the sky” beat reporter (critically — it is type of my factor) who occurs to be primarily based in Boston, I used to be assigned to hop on a flight to see whether or not Delta and Shake Shack can truly pull this off, or whether or not the advertising and marketing push is all filler with no meat.
I booked a one-way ticket to Denver Worldwide Airport (DEN) by way of Minneapolis–St. Paul Worldwide Airport (MSP), since I needed to get to a United hub for a unique task. I made certain that the flight was lengthy sufficient to have the total meal service in top notch — BOS-MSP is available in at 1,124 miles, in accordance with Nice Circle Mapper — late sufficient within the day that I might make certain that lunch could be supplied, reasonably than breakfast.
Day by day E-newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Day by day publication
Be part of over 700,000 readers for breaking information, in-depth guides and unique offers from TPG’s consultants
There’s one essential element to remember in case you’re hoping to get the Shake Shack burger in your subsequent flight: It is solely obtainable in case you order it upfront. This was a element that I might seen within the press launch however forgotten about. I used to be checking my reservation within the Delta app once I seen the choice to order my meal and determined to do this, however I did not get a notification or reminder that I might do this. It is attainable that if I hadn’t gone and chosen a meal alone, I’d have gotten the notification later.
So: I had my flight, and I had my burger ordered. Would it not be definitely worth the journey? Here is the way it went.
Delta Shake Shack burger presentation and sides
In home top notch, Delta presents a drink service shortly after takeoff, and flight attendants supply passengers a selection from the snack basket whereas the meals heat up.
First-class meals on Delta are served on a tray, with all the programs directly. The burger is served on a ceramic plate on a branded Shake Shack paper liner.
You will discover lettuce, tomatoes, onions and pickles on a smaller plate, together with a small plastic dish with the restaurant’s signature Shack Sauce. There are additionally packets of ketchup and mustard for anybody who prefers these.
Shake Shack’s fries are famously scrumptious, however you will not discover them subsequent to your burger. As an alternative, the primary meal is served with potato chips and a Caesar salad (with dressing on the facet).
I am truly OK with lacking the fries — a burger is one factor, but it surely’s robust to make french fries edible in any respect on a aircraft, not to mention pretty much as good as those straight from the fryer on the restaurant.
You will have to attend till you land to fulfill your milkshake cravings, too; as an alternative, Delta serves a Shake Shack brownie for dessert.
The burger, in the meantime, is served with melted American cheese on a toasted potato bun, identical to on the restaurant. When the flight attendant positioned it on my tray desk, it regarded wonderful (other than a few stray drops of cheese), in some methods higher than it might on the restaurant, since there, it is wrapped in paper foil. I hadn’t smelled it from the galley whereas it was being heated up, however that unmistakable aroma was positively there as soon as it got here out.
How was the Delta Shake Shack burger?
I do not fairly know the way they did it, however one way or the other, Delta and Shake Shack nailed it.
The burger tasted just about precisely like it might on the bottom, as if I might gone to any of the chain’s places in cities across the nation — or in airports like MSP, DEN and New York’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport (JFK).
The bun is flippantly toasted on the inside sides whereas staying heat, gentle and fluffy on the outsides. The cheese is melted as if it had been on a sizzling griddle (aside from these little bits of extra that you may see within the images), and the patty was steaming sizzling with the very same style and texture that you just’d discover on the bottom. It is virtually spooky.
Conserving the toppings on the facet serves a twin function: It retains them from getting soggy, and it permits passengers to assemble their burger with what they need and omit what they do not.
I piled all the fixings — lettuce, tomato, onions and pickles — on my burger and used the knife from my cutlery to unfold the Shack Sauce on the within of the highest bun. The greens had been all contemporary, crisp and flavorful, and the sauce was identical to on the bottom.
As for the patty itself, it tastes like a Shake Shack patty. The skin is seared, it is cooked totally by within the smash burger model, and it is juicy and attractive. You’ll be able to’t actually ask for extra.
Every little thing else was tasty as properly, even with the sandwich as the primary star. The Miss Vickie’s chips are good and salty, and every thing within the salad tasted contemporary and flavorful.
Lastly, the brownie was scrumptious, even when it jogged my memory of — and made me crave — a decadent shake.
Backside line
One way or the other, Delta and Shake Shack managed to make an airplane burger that tastes precisely the identical as a fresh-cooked one at one of many chain’s places on the bottom. It is simply one of the best burger I’ve had on an airplane.
I keep in mind when Shake Shack first began getting massive within the 2000s. Even because it began to increase inside and out of doors of New York Metropolis, it could possibly be exhausting to get one of many burgers, due to lengthy traces pushed by a variety of (comprehensible) hype. Even when it opened places in New York’s Grand Central Terminal, JFK and Citi Discipline, lengthy waits had been inevitable.
That makes it much more wild that now, you’ll be able to have one of many well-known burgers delivered proper to your seat aboard your subsequent flight.
Some could scoff on the concept of getting excited for a fast-casual dish in top notch — what occurred to the effective eating of yesteryear? — it is price noting that it is a match for what top notch is at present. It is much less an opportunity to take pleasure in effective eating, and extra a chance to be served any meal in any respect. So it’d as properly be an entree you will take pleasure in. And in case you’re a fan of burgers or Shake Shack, it is protected to say you will take pleasure in this one.
Associated studying: