Ted gets clucky

… and a bit saucy all at the same time … but isn’t that the way it usually works? A gazillion years ago I went to Honest Burgers and forced myself to eat lots of their delicious burgers in a bid to ensure that my assessment of their fodder was fair and backed up by solid research before I told you about them.

So … it was clearly past time to venture back into the world of the small burger chains and I decided (on impulse as I walked past and a bit of sushi fatigue tbh) to try out Byron who market themselves as “proper hamburgers” and do a bit of charity work as well. I suspect my Mother would have regarded her Friday night “self-assembly burger” extravaganza as “proper burgers” as well … even if our version of the hamburger patty was called a rissole and that the whole thing usually descended into a bun fight … but I digress …

Normally I would have come over completely red meat carnivorous but I had noticed their somewhat amusing advertising for their latest creation “Clucky Balboa” … a witty take of course on the million Rocky movies and yeah who knew his surname eh? Billed as “a new challenger in town for the title of featherweight burger champion” I was beginning to be swayed and then I read the ingredients – fried chicken breast, guacamole, sriracha mayonnaise and pickled red onions … how could I resist. Mayonnaise made with sriracha chilli sauce … fantastic ... and the story of sriracha chilli sauce is a great one in its own right. But before we go there it’s worth noting that the hot sauce industry is amongst the top 10 fastest growing products in the USA and its annual global market sales are in excess of one billion dollars … that’s a lot of hot sauce and interesting “morning afters” …

Its highly likely that if you’ve eaten in a south east Asian restaurant that you may well have had a bottle of Sriracha sauce on your table, in its plastic squeeze top bottle, with chicken icon, and Huy Fong foods producer clearly visible.

The guy who owns the multi-million dollar business is a differently wrapped kinda chap called David Tran who started making his version of this essentially Thai sauce in Los Angeles using local Jalapeno chillies in his bid to “provide Vietnamese immigrants with a sauce worthy of their Pho’s”.

So Ted … how was your burger? Very enjoyable actually - the chicken was moist, it worked as a whole thing, and the magic ingredient that bought it all together was of course … yes you guessed it … Heinz Ketchup … and yes I am srirachaly jesting …