CONOR POPElooks at burgers

Tesco Finest Irish Angus €2.49 for 227g. €10.96 per kg

These burgers were commendably simple and were seasoned with the merest hint of black pepper. They were also nice and lean and made with 90 per cent Irish beef, which gave them the edge over some of other products. They were absolutely fine, but by no means the finest burgers we have ever tried or even tried this week. They did not shrink when introduced to our frying pan, nor did they produce an excessive amount of grease. While there was much to be positive about, we did find them to be a little on the dry side and they were ever so slightly processed so, our chances of passing them off as homemade were remote.

Verdict: Pretty fine ***

Birds Eye Premium Burgers €3.65 for 454g, €8 per kg

Okay, so these were the only frozen burgers we tried and they were inevitably going to struggle against the freshly prepared options.

They were, however, a fairly high-end offering from a popular company, so we did not expect them to perform quite so badly. It was perhaps unfortunate that we found a tiny, but unmistakeable, piece of gristle in our first mouthful. It was made with 89 per cent meat, which is good. If only the meat tasted very good too. It had a very strong and not entirely pleasant taste that lingered long after we had finished our sample. It was also very dry and became a mere shadow of its frozen self after being fried.

Verdict: A bit grim **

Marks Spencer Rump Steak €7.29 for 340g, €21.44 per kg

These burgers were made with rump steak and you could tell from the very first mouthful. While they may not ahve been the nicest burgers we tried, the meat was probably the best quality and they ran the winners very close in terms of taste and texture. Made with 95 per cent British beef, they were thick and juicy. They shrank considerably in the frying, which is always a little alarming, and produced plenty of fat. There was still a whole lot of burger left – easily enough to feed one very hungry man. This is the kind of burger that needs few adornments and, while we would have liked some more seasoning, it probably didn’t need it.

Verdict: Almost the best ****

Fallon Byrne €5 for 500g, €10 per kg

These were absolutely massive and made the rest look seriously puny. They took longer to barbecue but by our reckoning, they were worth the wait. They were only gorgeous. They had a lovely herby flavour and that, coupled with little flecks of onion, added a dimension absent elsewhere. They were incredibly juicy and looked almost homemade – probably because they were made by hand in-store in the south Dublin deli. They will undoubtedly be the burger of choice for true aficionados. They will be hard for many people to get, and produce a lot of fat, but then again who said burgers were the healthy option?

Verdict: A damn fine burger *****