£150 to spend... on what?

[TexRex]

Is there a £150 cheeseburger?

Undoubtedly, but I once had a $70 burger (okay, so that's about a third of the cost at the current rate...and I did not pay for it) and it really wasn't a special experience. It was basically a good restaurant burger that had expensive toppings. It had caviar on it. There's no good reason to put caviar on a burger. You could literally pick a different tin of caviar to justify tripling the price.

Now...I can reasonably justify spending $20 on a burger for a special occasion, provided it's not the same burger I can get for $10 elsewhere but it's marked up even more because there's a guy spitting fire at the other end of the dining room, or something stupid like that. If the cost comes from quality ingredients that still belong on a burger, I'm all for it.

 

[Rallywagon]

Undoubtedly, but I once had a $70 burger (okay, so that's about a third of the cost at the current rate...and I did not pay for it) and it really wasn't a special experience. It was basically a good restaurant burger that had expensive toppings. It had caviar on it. There's no good reason to put caviar on a burger. You could literally pick a different tin of caviar to justify tripling the price.

Now...I can reasonably justify spending $20 on a burger for a special occasion, provided it's not the same burger I can get for $10 elsewhere but it's marked up even more because there's a guy spitting fire at the other end of the dining room, or something stupid like that. If the cost comes from quality ingredients that still belong on a burger, I'm all for it.

I'd be interested in a wagyu, or even a dry aged burger, but I am nost sure I could bring myself to spend more than 20 bucks either. Hell, I'd be hard pressed to spend much more than that on a steak.

 

[TheCracker]

Any expensive burger is likely to have plenty of toppings too as part of the reasoning behind price hike. Surely any improvement in meat taste is going to be overshadowed by the flavour of the toppings anyway?

 

[TexRex]

I'd be interested in a wagyu, or even a dry aged burger, but I am nost sure I could bring myself to spend more than 20 bucks either. Hell, I'd be hard pressed to spend much more than that on a steak.

I could get down with dry age, but if I'm honest, something like Wagyu seems like a gimmick to me.

Wagyu is prized for its intramuscular fat marbling, which is something that's pretty fixed on an animal-by-animal basis when it comes to steaks and roasts, but consider that grinding lets you tailor the composition of your meat.

Grinding isn't perfect, however. Added fat has a tendency to render off than intramuscular fat. If you were to take 70% extra lean round and 30% fat trimmings and grind them together into a relatively loose mix for a burger patty, the resulting burger is going to lose a lot of that fat to the cooking surface or cause flare-ups on the grill. That's why I like to combine chuck, which does a lot of work and is therefore intensely flavorful while still having decent fat content, with short rib for its richness by way of high intramuscular fat content, and then rely on trimmings to bring up the total fat content if necessary; I make it easy to remember with 70/30 chuck to short rib ratio and 30% fat.

Louis' Law holds that every forum thread, if given enough time, will at some point include discussion of hamburgers.

 

[Rallywagon]

I could get down with dry age, but if I'm honest, something like Wagyu seems like a gimmick to me.

Wagyu is prized for its intramuscular fat marbling, which is something that's pretty fixed on an animal-by-animal basis when it comes to steaks and roasts, but consider that grinding lets you tailor the composition of your meat.

Grinding isn't perfect, however. Added fat has a tendency to render off than intramuscular fat. If you were to take 70% extra lean round and 30% fat trimmings and grind them together into a relatively loose mix for a burger patty, the resulting burger is going to lose a lot of that fat to the cooking surface or cause flare-ups on the grill. That's why I like to combine chuck, which does a lot of work and is therefore intensely flavorful while still having decent fat content, with short rib for its richness by way of high intramuscular fat content, and then rely on trimmings to bring up the total fat content if necessary; I make it easy to remember with 70/30 chuck to short rib ratio and 30% fat.

Louis' Law holds that every forum thread, if given enough time, will at some point include discussion of hamburgers.

I think the quality of the fat in wagyu is the big difference. Though, honestly, that may work against it as a burger as it tends to melt. But, then, a good, thick burger patty would hold onto that fat a bit better than just brown loose meat.
That said, I think wagyu burgers tend to be made with a proper steak rather than ground beef.

 

[BigJimmy]

Have you decided yet what you are going to spend your £150 on @BigJimmy?

I have a huge apology to give here... I'm putting the cash towards the spending for my wife's 40th Birthday (and a new Table Tennis Bat).

(Hoping it pays dividends though!)

 

[opelgt1969]

Glad to see the money going to something that might end up being reproductive (more kids).

 

[MatskiMonk]

I have a huge apology to give here... I'm putting the cash towards the spending for my wife's 40th Birthday (and a new Table Tennis Bat).

(Hoping it pays dividends though!)

And to think, you could have spent that money on half a tube hand sanitiser from eBay.. pffft..

 

[Mr Grumpy]

And to think, you could have spent that money on half a tube hand sanitiser from eBay.. pffft..

Or used it to try & win some toilet roll

 

[gtfrick]

Saw a used 5-door wagon Mk4 Ford Escort once for 145 euros on AutoVit. Can't remember what trim but even if it's the 1.1, has quite the dents in it, and is also a rust bucket and also a salvage, it's still worth it if you want to brag about the fact you do in fact have a car. Converted to pounds that's £134.

With £150, you could get an Escort, 16litres worth of Coca Cola (assuming the price as £1.90 for a 2liter bottle) and still have 80 cents left. Perhaps 1-2 baguettes depending on where you find them and their price? This truly is a way to live life...

EDIT: Never mind, I'm an idiot who can't read threads. Good luck with the present and the tennis bat!

 

[BigJimmy]

I cant use my table tennis bat.

 

[kikie]

I cant use my table tennis bat.

You forgot to buy a ping-pong table?

 

[BigJimmy]

You forgot to buy a ping-pong table?

haha yes. The sports centers are opening soon so this wont be a problem hopefully. I was keeping an eye out for cheap tables but didnt see any.

 

[Michael88]

Personally, I would have spent it on a bunch of really high quality cigars. If smoking is your thing, you might want to try it out. That's what I do whenever I have a small amount of leftover cash.