Thame chef aims to serve the best burgers in the land

A Thame Chef has made it into the finals of the 2016 National Burger Awards, a nationwide competition to find the UK’s ultimate burger champions.

Jack Bull, Chef at The James Figg

Tasty hand-made burgers are turned out daily by The James figg pub’s young head chef, Jack Bull, and the top notch, 28 day dry aged beef used in his special recipe, helped earn Jack a place in the finals and the chance to be named winner. He’ll join 15 other chefs from across the country when they compete in a cook-off at the Islington Metal Works in London on Wednesday, February 24, 2016.

Jack, aged 25, became head chef of the popular Thame watering-hole in Spring of 2014. Since then he has carved out a reputation for the quality of his honest home-cooked food and his signature burgers whose fame has quickly spread – Jack’s burgers are the most popular thing on the pub’s menu outselling every other dish.

“I eat out a lot and eat a lot of burgers, too,” says Jack. “I honestly believe that ours are better than many I get served in other pubs and restaurants and I think it’s down to the great ingredients and care that go into making them. We only use the best British beef from Royal Warrant Holders Aubrey Allen, and we even dedicate every Tuesday night to serving burgers.

“I’m really proud of my burgers so when I found out about this competition to find the country’s best burger, I decided to go for it. Entering was really exciting; being chosen as a finalist was thrilling and now I can’t wait to cook for the judges in London next month to try to take the crown for best burger in the land,” he says.

Hundreds of pubs, bars and restaurants entered the competition online, submitting their signature burger recipes in the hope of reaching the grand final. Jack’s shortlisted recipe is an Aubrey Allen Burger served in a Brown Sugar Bakery brioche bun, with Monterey Jack Cheddar and Aubrey Allen smoked bacon, which he’ll be cooking for the judges.

He will also face a technical burger challenge using ingredients given to him on the day to be in with a shot at the title and come away with a £1,000 prize.

Tristan O’Hana, editor of Casual Dining Magazine, which hosts the awards, says: “The 2016 National Burger Awards finalists are an impressive group of chefs who clearly put a lot of time and effort into their burger recipes. To say it was difficult to choose a final 16 would be a huge understatement – who knows how our judges are going to decide the overall winners on the day.”

Follow the action live on Twitter @CasualDiningMag #NationalBurgerAwards and @figgthame