Will a cheeseburger you eat on a plane be as good as one on the ground, or will it just be “pretty good on a plane”?
In-flight meals have largely disappeared from domestic coaches, but they continue to be provided in first class (at least on long-haul flights). The menu has changed over the years, but there are often a few standby menus with some surprising selections. It’s a humble hamburger.
You might think that the burger would be soggy or disgusting, but it actually works pretty well on a plane, as long as you don’t expect it to be medium-rare.
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Most of the food preparation and cooking on board takes place on the ground, but the food is heated on board in a dedicated convection oven before being served. It’s easy to heat up a burger patty in these ovens, and a well-cooked burger is better than an overcooked steak, even if it’s a little more fully cooked than you’d prefer on the ground.
This is especially true for “Smash Burger” style burgers like those from Shake Shack. The patty is pressed onto a very hot griddle to sear the outside and keep the inside juicy while keeping the burger thin and perfectly cooked.
That’s probably what Delta Airlines had in mind when they made this decision. Shake Shake’s famous burgers available as an in-flight meal option. In what the company calls a “first-of-its-kind” collaboration, the company this month will begin offering Shake Shack-branded entrees in first class on flights over 900 miles out of Boston Logan International Airport (BOS). did. We plan to expand our partnership to other airports throughout 2025.
As a resident of TPG “Beef in the Sky” Beat Reporter (Seriously – It’s about me in a way) He happens to be based in Boston, so I’ll see if Delta Air Lines and Shake Shack can actually pull this off, or if the marketing push is just a meatless patchwork. I was assigned to hop on a plane for.
I booked a one-way ticket from Minneapolis to St. Paul to Denver International Airport (DEN). Paul International Airport (MSP) as I had to go to United’s hub for another assignment. We made sure the flight was long enough to receive full meal service in first class. According to , BOS-MSP is equivalent to 1,124 miles. great circle mapper — It was late enough that I was sure lunch would be served instead of breakfast.
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If you want to get a Shake Shack burger on your next flight, there’s one important detail to keep in mind. It is only available if ordered in advance. This was a detail I had seen in the press release but had forgotten about. While checking my reservation on the Delta app, I noticed there was an option to order food and decided to do so, but I received no notification or reminder that I could do so. Maybe if I hadn’t gone to choose my meal myself, I might have received a notification later.
So, I got on the plane, and I also ordered a burger. Is it worth the trip?Here’s what it looks like.
Delta Shake Shack Burger Presentation and Sides
In domestic First Class, Delta offers beverage service immediately after takeoff, and flight attendants offer passengers a selection from a snack basket while their meal is heated up.
Delta’s first class meals are served with all courses served on a tray at once. The burgers are served on a ceramic plate lined with a Shake Shack-branded paper liner.
It comes with a small plastic plate of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, and the restaurant’s signature Shaq sauce. For those who prefer ketchup and mustard, there are also ketchup and mustard packs.
Shake Shack’s fries are famous for being delicious, but they don’t come next to their burgers. Instead, the main dish is served with potato chips and Caesar salad (with dressing).
In fact, I can do without fries. Burgers are one thing, but it’s hard to make fries available at all on a plane. Not to mention that they taste just as good as fries straight out of a restaurant fryer.
You will also have to wait until you land to satisfy your milkshake craving. Instead, Delta offers Shake Shack brownies for dessert.
The burgers, on the other hand, are served on a toasted potato bun with melted American cheese, just like in the restaurant. When the flight attendant placed it on my tray table, it looked great (aside from a few drops of cheese falling on it), and in a way it was wrapped in paper foil, which is better than eating it in a restaurant. It was excellent. I didn’t notice any scent coming from the cooking chamber while it was heating, but when it came out, there was definitely that unique scent.
How did you like the Delta Shake Shack burger?
I’m not really sure how they pulled it off, but somehow Delta and Shake Shack made it work.
The burgers tasted about the same as they would have on the ground, as if you had gone to a chain restaurant in a city across the country, or an airport like MSP, DEN, or New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). .
The inside of the bun is lightly toasted and the outside is warm, light, and fluffy. The cheese was melting as if it had been placed on a hot griddle (minus the extra bits you can see in the photo) and the patty was piping hot and had exactly the same taste and texture as the one you’re eating on the ground . . It’s almost creepy.
Keeping the toppings on the side serves two purposes. That prevents the toppings from getting soggy and allows passengers to assemble their burgers with what they like and leave out what they don’t need.
I piled all the toppings, including lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and pickles, on top of the burger and used a cutlery knife to spread the Shaq sauce on the inside of the top bun. The vegetables were all fresh, crunchy and flavorful, and the sauce was right on the ground.
The patty itself tastes similar to a Shake Shack patty. The outside is seared and the inside is cooked like a smash burger, making it juicy and delicious. I couldn’t ask for more.
Even though the sandwich was the star, everything else was delicious. Miss Vicky’s chips were salty and delicious, and the salads were all fresh and flavorful.
Finally, the brownie was delicious, even though it reminded me of a decadent shake and made me want to eat it.
conclusion
Somehow, Delta Air Lines and Shake Shack have managed to create an in-flight burger that tastes exactly like the one prepared at one of the chains on the ground. Definitely the best burger I’ve had on a plane.
I remember when Shake Shack first started getting big in the 2000s. Even though it has started expanding in and around New York City, getting a burger can sometimes be difficult as the (understandable) hype has led to long lines. Even when it opened stores in New York’s Grand Central Terminal, JFK Airport and Citi Field, long wait times were inevitable.
That makes it even wilder to have one of their famous burgers delivered right to your seat on your next flight.
Some may scoff at the idea of getting excited about fast-casual food in first class, but what happened to the fine dining restaurants of old? — It’s worth noting that this fits in with today’s first class. It’s not an opportunity to enjoy haute cuisine, but an opportunity to be served any meal. Therefore, it may also be an appetizer that you enjoy. If you’re a burger or Shake Shack fan, it’s safe to say you’ll enjoy this.
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