Top chef's burgers inspired by McDonald's

28 Jun 2010

When trying to create the perfect burger, French chef Eric Ripert took his inspiration from fast food restaurants such as McDonald's and Burger King. The chef, known for his success at the award-winning Le Bernardin in New York and Westend Bistro in Washington, admired the shape and size of fast food burgers and their ingredients and stated, "All the elements are carefully controlled. The way they cut the pickles, the way they cut the tomatoes, the way they slice the salad, and the size, obviously make those burgers perfect."

To create his "Westend bistro burger", Ripert uses much higher quality ingredients - a fresh challah bun and sirloin meat. "So what we did was we looked at their burgers carefully and studied the proportions, and then of course did the same thing, but with great meat," he says.

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