M&S Wagyu Burger Tried, Tested, and Rated
As much as I love eating out at some of the country’s best burger joints, I also enjoy cooking up a storm. I have tried a number of burger patties from various supermarkets and have always been disappointed. After heading to Marks and Spencers to grab some fruit, if you know you know, I came across a surprising addition to the meat section. M&S Wagyu Burger patties! They were two for 5.50 which could be seen as a little steep in comparison to the 4 quarter pounders for 4 quid. But, I figured this would be a pretty decent weekend test.
M&S joins in the Burger Hype with nice-looking meat!
To be honest, I have a little bit of a thing about Wagyu meat. I ate in a Korean BBQ spot in Hampton Court that charged me an arm and a leg for a wagyu steak some months back. The flavour was immense. The short cook time, combined with a ridiculous fat content just gave crispy explosions of flavour to the tongue. I wouldn’t have expected M&S to recreate the culinary delight I had that evening, but anywhere close and I would be happy.
The two patties looked pretty good in the pack. The fat content clearly visible, and the meat took on a more red appearance in contrast. To be honest, the meat always looks better under the lighting in a supermarket. But, a little inspection outside of the supermarket meant that I could be in for a pretty rich, beefy evening.
Tesco vs Marks and Spencer Bread Section
For some reason M&S didn’t have the brioche buns I wanted for this burger. I pictured myself fully loading the stack with crispy onions, brioche bun, smoked bacon, ketchup, mayo, mustard and a nice slice of cheddar. M&S had pretty much everything required but the brioche buns. So, I was forced to select a pretty dense feeling brioche from Tesco!
As it happened, once I had toasted the brioche a little it softened up. I have to admit that the packaging is a little reminiscent of Kwik-Save, the cheapest supermarket known to man in the 90’s. But, as taste goes, the bun had a slight sweetness and also held the stack really well without breaking.
The Wagyu Burger from M&S
My biggest gripe with M&S is their instructions to cook the meat. If you were trying Wagyu for the first time, and you followed these instructions, you would have incinerated this burger to nothingness. 13-16 mins in a pan! I have watched pretty much every video possible on YouTube about cooking Wagyu meat and 1-2 mins as a maximum seems the rule of thumb. Understandably, the Wagyu content in this burger is probably a tiny percentage, enough to use the name. But, if you cook any burger for that amount of time you end up with a dry, grainy chunk of beef in your mouth no?
So, I decided to take on my own version and cook for 2 minutes on one side and then a quick 1 minute on the other side. The results, a Wagyu patty on the brink of drying out. I should have listened to my own instincts and run a two minute total cook! Can you imagine if I had used a 13 minute cook?
As it happens, the meat was really nice. Not quite what I would expect from a real wagyu burger patty but definitely better than I expected from a supermarket. There is a ton of nice fat in the patties that made the pan full of oil by the end of the cook. I think a shorter cook time, and a better chef could do wonders with the M&S wagyu burger.
Who’s the Wagyu Burger for?
I can imagine that on a BBQ, cooked on an exceptionally high heat and a little bit of smoke, this burger could be really good. If you fancy a slightly better burger than normal homemade supermarket patties then the M&S Wagyu Burger could be for you. Are you going to wow your friends and family with this high price point burger? No. In comparison with a basic, dried out cheap patty, it is a little better but certainly not worth the additional 3 quid! Quite exciting to stack up a “wagyu burger” but in all honesty, I would have preferred two quarter pounders from Tesco stacked to high heaven with additional ingredients!
