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

Can a cheeseburger on an airplane ever be nearly as good as one on the bottom? Or will it solely ever be “fairly good, for one thing on an airplane”?

Whilst inflight meals have largely vanished from home coach, they’ve remained fixtures up in first-class (not less than, on longer flights). Whereas the menus have different over time, there are a number of frequent standbys, together with a shocking one: the standard hamburger.

When you may assume a burger would get soggy or gross, it truly works pretty effectively on a aircraft, so long as you do not count on 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 aircraft in specialised convection ovens earlier than they’re served. It is simple to warmth a burger patty in these ovens, and even when they get slightly extra completely 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 highly regarded griddle, searing the surface and conserving the within juicy whereas making the burger thinner and totally cooked by.

That is most likely what Delta Air Traces had in thoughts when it determined to supply Shake Shake’s well-known burgers as a meal choice on board. In what the airline dubbed a “first-of-its-kind” collaboration, the airline started providing Shake Shack-branded entrees in first-class this month on flights over 900 miles departing from Boston Logan Worldwide Airport (BOS). It plans to develop the partnership to different airports all through 2025.

As TPG’s resident “beef within the sky” beat reporter (critically — it is kind of my factor) who occurs to be primarily based in Boston, I used to be assigned to hop on a flight to see whether or not Delta and Shake Shack can truly pull this off, or whether or not the advertising and marketing 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 distinct task. I made certain that the flight was lengthy sufficient to have the complete meal service in first-class — BOS-MSP is available in at 1,124 miles, in accordance with Nice Circle Mapper — late sufficient within the day that I might make certain that lunch could be supplied, relatively than breakfast.

There’s one essential element to remember should you’re hoping to get the Shake Shack burger in your subsequent flight: It is solely accessible should you order it prematurely. This was a element that I might 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 try this, however I did not get a notification or reminder that I might do this. It is potential that if I hadn’t gone and chosen a meal alone, I’d have gotten the notification later.

So: I had my flight, and I had my burger ordered. Wouldn’t it be definitely worth the journey? Here is the way it went.

Delta Shake Shack burger presentation and sides

In home first-class, Delta affords a drink service shortly after takeoff, and flight attendants supply passengers a selection from the snack basket whereas the meals heat up.

First-class meals on Delta are served on a tray, with the entire programs without delay. The burger is served on a ceramic plate on a branded Shake Shack paper liner.

You may 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 principle meal is served with potato chips and a Caesar salad (with dressing on the facet).

I am truly OK with lacking the fries — a burger is one factor, but it surely’s robust to make french fries edible in any respect on a aircraft, not to mention nearly as good as those straight from the fryer on the restaurant.

You may 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 appeared glorious (except for a few stray drops of cheese), in some methods higher than it might 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 understand how they did it, however one way or the other, Delta and Shake Shack nailed it.

The burger tasted just about precisely like it might on the bottom, as if I might 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 calmly toasted on the interior sides whereas staying heat, mild and fluffy on the outsides. The cheese is melted as if it had been on a sizzling griddle (aside from these little bits of extra you could see within the pictures), and the patty was steaming sizzling with the very same style and texture that you just’d discover on the bottom. It is virtually spooky.

Holding the toppings on the facet 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 the entire 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 had 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 surface is seared, it is cooked totally by within the smash burger model, and it is juicy and engaging. You’ll be able to’t actually ask for extra.

All the things else was tasty as effectively, even with the sandwich as the principle 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

One way or the other, 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 large within the 2000s. Even because it began to develop inside and outdoors of New York Metropolis, it might be exhausting to get one of many burgers, because of lengthy strains pushed by plenty of (comprehensible) hype. Even when it opened places in New York’s Grand Central Terminal, JFK and Citi Discipline, lengthy waits had been inevitable.

That makes it much more wild that now, you may have one of many well-known burgers delivered proper to your seat aboard your subsequent flight.

Some might scoff on the thought of getting excited for a fast-casual dish in first-class — what occurred to the positive eating of yesteryear? — it is price noting that this can be a match for what first-class is at the moment. It is much less an opportunity to take pleasure in positive eating, and extra a possibility to be served any meal in any respect. So it would as effectively be an entree you may take pleasure in. And should you’re a fan of burgers or Shake Shack, it is protected to say you may take pleasure in this one.

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