Dirty Bones – The MacDaddy Burger DIY

I was über excited to receive the Dirty Bones Mac Daddy kit having ordered on Wednesday for the Saturday delivery slot. Delivery was prompt at 2pm on a Saturday, perfect timing for an early evening dinner. The box was pretty well presented but, having been to Dirty Bones before, I did expect a little bit of a quirky, cool box of goodies with a bit of brand identity. Dirty Bones had actually advertised that each box bought this week would be sent out with a couple of free beers as a thank you, but nope, just the box of Burgers which was a little disappointing.

The Cook off Begins:

I had to read through the instructions a couple of times, supplied by Dirty Bones, because they were so basic and did not give much detail to work with. I actually had to message a friend to ask how they had heated the beef Short Rib as it did not say whether it needed to go into the oven, the microwave or a pan. The DIY Kit came with 8 Burger Patties, Cooked Macaroni Pasta, Mac and Cheese sauce, 4 American Cheese Slices, Pulled Beef Short Rib in Espresso spiked BBQ sauce and 4 Seeded Brioche Buns. It was a pretty robust line up which would require a lot of preparation in the kitchen and also a well constructed schedule for the heating and cooking of the different components. Having eaten a good few DIY kits now, I am very much a ‘scheduled’ person in terms of making sure things are cooked at the right time, making sure each component is able to give the best account of itself in the stack.

The Bun: 18/20

The Seeded Brioche was a delight. The Bun was grilled in the pan with a little bit of butter after adopting this style from the Burger and Beyond DIY Kit it has become the staple of heating buns in this house! The bun was soft at the top and had a nice crunch from the grilling. To be honest, although seeded buns are not my favourite buns this had a lightness that was really quite pleasant and added the correct synergy to the toppings. Sometimes with these seeded buns you can get seeds falling off of the bun and stuck between your teeth and this just didn’t do any of that, it was a well engineered bun so clap clap to the bread makers and the sourcing team at Dirty Bones!

The Toppings: 10/10

This combination of Mac and Cheese and the Beef Short Rib was a scarily amazing concoction. I have to combine the toppings with the Condiments in this category as there were no condiments due to the liquidity of both the Mac and Cheese and the Short Rib.

The Mac and Cheese was a bit strange. I honestly tasted the Mac and Cheese before it went into the Burger stack and I was actually angry. It tasted like something you would get at primary school in the 80s from the dinner lady with lunch smeared down her, now grey, whites. It flooded back memories of disgusting lunch breaks sitting in the school canteen looking at the slop of Mac and Cheese on my plastic plate with a gluey sauce that looked like it could take off wallpaper. True to the Mac Daddy DIY kit it had to be stacked onto the Burger so, regardless of whether I liked it or not, I added it to the stack.

The Short Rib was heated in the pan in the end, as advised by a friend that had already successfully constructed the MacDaddy at home. It had a nice BBQ red colour sitting in the pan and there was NOT much of it! I am definitely a fan of short rib so this was exciting but it did not look like there was enough of it for 4 Burgers. I heated it slowly for fear of any further reduction of the sauce and leaving the 4 Burgers with just a drizzle of BBQ sauce and not much-pulled meat either. The combination of these two mediocre-looking toppings was exceptional. I have no idea what happens to this Mac and Cheese when it is combined with the Short Rib but in this Burger it came into its own. The flavour of the Mac and Cheese blending with the Short Rib transformed itself into a mature, cheesy pasta that added texture and flavour to what, otherwise would have been, an average Burger. The Short Rib was fabulous, the texture was soft and meaty and the sauce that they have created at Dirty Bones can only be described as perfection. It was well marinated in this BBQ sauce that had a sweetness to it that was rich, yet not overpowering. I had to question whether it had some Bourbon in there combined with this ‘espresso’. The sweetness, although rich, had a sharpness for an aftertaste that could have been created by a Bourbon infusion. I have searched Google to try and find out more information about the Short Rib at Dirty Bones and seen they do have a Bourbon Short Rib on their menu but whether or not it is used in their Mac Daddy Burger remains a mystery.

The Condiments: 10/10 See Toppings

The Cheese: 2/10

Ok, so this American Cheese made no sense. A tiny slice of manufactured American Cheese that looked like it belonged on a croquet or something of that size, not a stacked Burger and sitting between two patties. The Burger patties are pretty thin (it actually looks like they have just sliced one in half horizontally) so I would assume that you would want a nice thick slice of cheese to combine the two patties and give it that visual ooze of cheese as you squeeze the bun? This cheese offered nothing in the schematics of this Burger other than a little cohesion to the two patties to stop sliding. If that is Dirty Bones goal then so be it, but with such thin patties I would surmise that the cheese actually has an opportunity to discover itself prominently in the hierarchy, even if only for the visuals.

The Patty: 10/20

Two patties, thin sliced, not great. The 3 min per side were definitely too long for the patties as individuals in this Burger stack. It had the nice sear that you look for in a Burger because they were so thin but they were dried out because of the cook time. They were not terrible, by any stretch of the imagination, but this Burger did not have quality meat. The meat was bland tasting and did not offer anything to the stack other than a little bit of texture. In hindsight, I wish I had disregarded the meal kits instructions and gone with 90s per side and a 3/4 minute rest time once stacked, that may yield better results and allow the patties to give a better account of themselves. Disappointing and unfortunate as I had read so many great things about the Mac Daddy Burger from Dirty Bones.

The Taste: 17/20

Arguably one of the best-tasting burgers that I have tried this year, no credit to the actual burger patties themselves. The Short Rib and Mac and Cheese elevate this Burger to the higher echelons of Burger joints in London. The synergy of the Burger is not great and the balance is disturbed, if you were to get a bite of just the bun and burger patty you would have a moment of disappointment but topping, patty and bun and the world seems a brighter place. The taste was great, really was but the dissection of the components makes you wonder how something can blend so well when, other than the short rib, everything else is pretty standard. Congratulate Dirty Bones on their taste profile for this Burger because they have got it right but, as a Burger fan, the levels of Shakeshack and Burger and Beyond are nowhere near reached with the Mac Daddy.

The Verdict: 67/100

The Mac Daddy is definitely a Burger that stands out with the eye-catching construction boasting the Mac and Cheese oozing from the bun. The Short Rib pushes the Mac and Cheese flavour and offers a twangy taste to the Burger that is pretty amazing. Toppings are brought together and harassed by a perfectly engineered bun that does not turn to mush in the strong liquidity texture of the two it is just the patties that are average. Barcelona comes to mind here with the orchestral duo of Xavi and Iniesta, just making things tick. Without Xavi (Mac and Cheese) and Iniesta (Short Rib) the quality drops and the direction and cohesion is lacking. If you fancy checking out some of our Top reviews you should check out our Hit List of top burgers.