Black Bear’s – Brisket Burger DIY

Black Bear has been one of my personal favourites. I watched them on Million Pound menu on Netflix and the programme had me craving one of their burgers from the get go. I have had the Black Bear Burger a good few times now and when they released the Brisket Burger during this lockdown it was a forgone conclusion that it would be ordered instantly. Knowing the quality of Black Bear’s meat I was intrigued to try the Brisket Burger and, well, I’ll let you have a read of how it went!

What we have in store

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The Bun: 16/20

Custom Demi-Brioche sounds like a super robotic, new aged, DNA altered creation! Regardless, the Bun at Black Bear has been one of my bug-bares if you would have read any of my reviews from previous. This was the same bun but it seemed to have a lot less density in this specific burger. I am not sure if the 3 types of onions moistened the bun a little more than the other stacks I have had at Black Bear, but this did a better job. It was not as bread(y) as I have had before, in fact, it was almost worn down to just dough on the heel under the pressure of an immense stack. Either way, it held up well, tasted good and did not fall apart under a load of moisture which impressed me. Not quite up there with the best in a high scoring category but a nice bun that did a good job.

The Toppings: 10/10

Where to start? Pink Pickled Onions, Pickled Onions and 12 Hour Beer Braised Brisket, with onions I found in there. Absolutely exceptional. I cannot fault Black Bear in this category, in fact, I don’t think I have ever been able to. The pink onions were just genius, adding a little sweetness but also great texture as they were just circled to perfection off the cut. The pickled onions that are placed on the patty under melting cheese, signature Black Bear, give a subtle acidity to the burger as you chomp through and the brisket… woah. The brisket was brilliant, encouraged the flavour of the patty but standalone was brilliant too. I am used to smoked brisket, which has ups and downs but the beer braised was moist and just sat brilliantly at the helm of this stack.

Condiments: 10/10

The Garlic Mayo that Black Bear have created is, by far, the best garlic mayo I have ever tasted. In the brisket burger you get a whole pot per bun and believe me I did not hesitate to use it. Smooth flavour with garlic taking the centre stage but by no means over powering. Combined with the pickled onions the mayo, for me, is probably the best condiment I have had from any burger joint. Unquestionable quality and ratio from mayo to garlic makes for an unbeatable condiment.

The Cheese: 18/20

American Cheese, a winner. Coerced the bottom pieces of brisket to hug to the patty making a sandwich inside of the stack and tastes brilliant. No special frills, no crazy added flavour just a really good American cheese that melts well over a brilliant patty and houses a delightful bunch of pickled onions underneath. Black Bear are consistently good, you should check out the original Black Bear Burger review here

The Patty: 19/20

Dry aged and grass fed patties. This is like music to my ears with my meat preferences. I scored the last patty 18/20 on the Black Bear DIY. For me, this was just one point better. I did a 2 min cook with a flip and another 2 min on a super high temp as instructed. I could see that they were a little unfinished when taking photos so let the meat rest inside the stack for around 3/4 mins. Taking the first bite of this burger the signature Black Bear meat shone through again. Super rich, moist yet chargrilled with a crisp texture on first bite – Black Bear patties are one of the best.

The Taste: 19/20

Balance is a key feature of this burger and the addition of the brisket did not disturb what I have come to know about Black Bear being a well balanced brilliant cheeseburger. The strangest possible thing to say right now but, there was a ton of brisket! I did not use all of it in the burger, just seemed a little too much that threatened to take away the brilliance of the cheese and patty. I had made the right decision as it was a little brisket heavy but, thank god, not enough to make a huge difference. Wise idea to stack so much garlic mayo in there too, really helped with segregating the flavours from each component. This was a heavy burger though, there is no way I could have done a double stack or two singles of this burger.

Our Verdict: 92/100

Black Bear score highly, again, on our “Hit List”. I have tried some amazing burgers in the last year but this was one of the greats. Brixton is lucky to have this situated at the heart and if I lived in Brixton I would struggle not to have a Black Bear burger a few times a week. The patty is brilliant, the garlic mayo is exceptional and the brisket enhanced the flavour of the stack throughout. Congratulations Black Bear! If you want to go check out Black Bear you should have a look at their website here