We tried Delta’s Shake Shack burger within the sky. Is it good?

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”?

At the same time as inflight meals have largely vanished from home coach, they’ve remained fixtures up in top quality (no less than, on longer flights). Whereas the menus have various through the years, there are just a few frequent standbys, together with a stunning one: the common-or-garden hamburger.

When you may assume a burger would get soggy or gross, it really works pretty nicely on a airplane, so long as you do not anticipate to get it medium-rare.

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Many of the prep and cooking for inflight meals is finished on the bottom, whereas dishes are heated on the airplane in specialised convection ovens earlier than they’re served. It is easy to warmth a burger patty in these ovens, and even when they get a bit extra totally cooked than one would favor 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, during which the patty is pressed down on a extremely popular griddle, searing the skin and maintaining the within juicy whereas making the burger thinner and absolutely cooked via.

That is in all probability what Delta Air Strains had in thoughts when it determined to provide Shake Shake’s well-known burgers as a meal possibility on board. In what the airline dubbed a “first-of-its-kind” collaboration, the airline started providing Shake Shack-branded entrees in top quality 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 (significantly — it is type of my factor) who occurs to be based mostly in Boston, I used to be assigned to hop on a flight to see whether or not Delta and Shake Shack can really pull this off, or whether or not the advertising 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 quality — BOS-MSP is available in at 1,124 miles, in accordance with Nice Circle Mapper — late sufficient within the day that I may ensure that lunch could be supplied, fairly than breakfast.

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There’s one essential element to bear in mind should you’re hoping to get the Shake Shack burger in your subsequent flight: It is solely obtainable should you order it upfront. This was a element that I would seen within the press launch however forgotten about. I used to be checking my reservation within the Delta app after I observed the choice to order my meal and determined to do this, however I did not get a notification or reminder that I may try this. It is potential that if I hadn’t gone and chosen a meal by myself, I’d have gotten the notification later.

So: I had my flight, and I had my burger ordered. Would it not be well worth the journey? Here is the way it went.

Delta Shake Shack burger presentation and sides

In home top quality, Delta affords a drink service shortly after takeoff, and flight attendants provide passengers a alternative 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 aspect).

I am really OK with lacking the fries — a burger is one factor, however it’s robust to make french fries edible in any respect on a airplane, 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 a substitute, Delta serves a Shake Shack brownie for dessert.

The burger, in the meantime, is served with melted American cheese on a toasted potato bun, similar to on the restaurant. When the flight attendant positioned it on my tray desk, it seemed wonderful (apart from a few stray drops of cheese), in some methods higher than it will 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 will on the bottom, as if I would 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 evenly toasted on the inside sides whereas staying heat, mild and fluffy on the outsides. The cheese is melted as if it have been on a sizzling griddle (aside from these little bits of extra you can see within the pictures), and the patty was steaming sizzling with the very same style and texture that you simply’d discover on the bottom. It is nearly spooky.

Protecting the toppings on the aspect 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 have been all recent, crisp and flavorful, and the sauce was similar to on the bottom.

As for the patty itself, it tastes like a Shake Shack patty. The skin is seared, it is cooked absolutely via within the smash burger fashion, and it is juicy and engaging. You may’t actually ask for extra.

The whole lot else was tasty as nicely, even with the sandwich as the primary star. The Miss Vickie’s chips are good and salty, and the whole lot within the salad tasted recent and flavorful.

Lastly, the brownie was scrumptious, even when it jogged my memory of — and made me crave — a decadent shake.

Backside line

By some means, 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 the perfect burger I’ve had on an airplane.

I bear in mind when Shake Shack first began getting massive within the 2000s. Even because it began to increase inside and outdoors of New York Metropolis, it might be exhausting to get one of many burgers, because of lengthy strains pushed by a whole lot of (comprehensible) hype. Even when it opened places in New York’s Grand Central Terminal, JFK and Citi Area, lengthy waits have 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 thought of getting excited for a fast-casual dish in top quality — what occurred to the effective eating of yesteryear? — it is value noting that it is a match for what top quality is immediately. It is much less an opportunity to take pleasure in effective eating, and extra a possibility to be served any meal in any respect. So it’d as nicely be an entree you will take pleasure in. And should you’re a fan of burgers or Shake Shack, it is protected to say you will take pleasure in this one.

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