Why You Should Never Order A 'Kitchen Sink' Burger

Choosing the right burger for you isn't an easy process, especially given that your meaty desires can suddenly change depending on how you are feeling. Sometimes you might crave a fat, juicy beef burger, but other times the crunchy bite of chicken is the only thing that will do. Perhaps a meat-free patty could satisfy salivating taste buds.

Then you have to consider the toppings — a complicated business considering how many potential options there are. You've got the traditional options of onions, cheese, and ketchup, but anything edible could in theory end up mashed inside a burger, regardless of how exclusive or expensive it is.

Toppings can come in vast quantities in some establishments, which might actually cause a problem (particularly if you happen to be a staunch burger connoisseur). If you've chosen to dine on a thick cut of perfectly flame-grilled meat, the last thing you want is for the experience to be ruined by unnecessarily over-bearing extra ingredients. Eat This, Not That! reports that such a complex creation is called a 'kitchen sink' burger, and experts have several reasons why overburdened burgers must be avoided.

Being a burger expert seems like a pretty spectacular job, but it clearly comes with important responsibilities, including offering crucial consumer advice on why 'kitchen sink' burgers should be treated with skepticism. The Guardian describes one such burger — a concoction layered with pork rinds, salami, and white barbecue sauce — as "pointless" and "overkill" given its masking of a supposedly quality beef patty.

Eat This, Not That! recommends ignoring burgers that focus on huge amounts of toppings. In restaurants, the signature burger without any modifications is the best bet for a quality bite because the chefs will have perfected their recipe. The advice to take away is that extra ingredients and sauces should enhance the burger's flavor, not seek to mask it.

Yahoo Life explains that adding fancy ingredients to a burger does not guarantee flavor improvement either. Reporting the views of food supplier Ariane Daguin, toppings such as foie gras, pancetta, and caviar are probably best excluded from burgers, with four or five ingredients being the maximum any burger should require.