Aussie venues go head-to-head in first ever national burger comp
Move over beetroot and pineapple – a Sydney burger joint has an “insane” new topping that could soon be crowned Australia’s favourite.
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Aussies take their love of burgers very seriously.
So much so, there’s now a competition to crown the best burger in the country – and cafes have stopped at nothing to create what they hope will earn them the title of Australia’s ‘best burger ever’.
There’s a total of 17 burger joints who will battle it out for the ‘LITT Burger of Origin’ trophy, including Sydney’s popular Bar Luca.
The city-based cafe has created a ‘Smoke & Candy’ burger – and if you think they added lollies to it, you’re not entirely wrong.
It’s definitely still a sweet addition, but this unique topping is called ‘candied jalapeños’.
It’s a caramelised sauced poured over the chilli pepper that gives the burger its “insane” flavour, co-owner Sarah Robbins explains.
The Bar Luca head chef who created the burger with her husband said she saw it on an American barbecue show and thought she had to make it for their entry burger.
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“We’ve done candied bacon before but never candied jalapeños. I’ve not seen in done in an Aussie burger before,” Ms Robbins told news.com.au.
The burger has already clocked more than 500 ‘likes’ and comments after Bar Luca shared the entry burger on Instagram.
“Oh boy! That thing looks incredible!” one person wrote.
“Oh this looks the goods!” added another.
Ms Robbins said the candied jalapeños is made with white sugar and apple cider vinegar.
“You have to boil it until it caramelises and then pour it over the jalapeños,” she said.
“I just pop the jalapeños in a bowl and pour the caramel over it and let it sit there for a day, so it absorbs it all.”
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Ms Robbins said customers are loving the sweet and spicy burger after adding it to their specials – it also includes a beef patty, American cheese, onion rings and smoked beef brisket.
Chief judge of the competition, Cal Stubbs, who is ranked Australia’s No. 1 professional competitive eater, is currently touring the country judging the 17 competition burgers.
He will then pick one winner from each state who will advance to the grand final.
“These aren’t your average run of the mill burgers. Each burger has reached limits common folk could only ever dream of eating,” Mr Stubbs said.
“I’ve travelled the world as a professional eater and can confidently say I’ve eaten as many burgers as any Aussie.
“I’ve been to nearly every one of these burger joints up for contention, so I know the calibre we are dealing with.”
How to score free burgers
Each of the 17 business will be giving away 10 free burgers for a limited time through the LITT app via a Pokemon Go-styled augmented reality treasure hunt.
The hunt will be orchestrated using world first technology by the Aussie born and bred social media app that exploded in popularity during Facebook’s ban on Australian news content in February 2021.
To get one for free, punters will need to download the LITT app and hunt down the augmented reality burgers in their community. (They will literally be floating in the air ready to be captured.)
Their exact locations will be revealed via the in-built map function on the app.
Once the burger is captured, LITT’s built-in map will show where the augmented reality version can be swapped for a real life burger.
Australia’s ‘best burger’ will be announced on June 5 in Melbourne.
Originally published as Aussie venues go head-to-head in first ever national burger comp
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