Some Jargon, before we begin.
- Single
- A 4 inch bun and burger that have been toasted/cooked respectively, put together and placed in the steamer.
- Double
- A 4 inch bun and 2 burgers that have been toasted/cooked respectively, put together and placed in the steamer.
- Whopper
- A 5 inch bun and burger that have been toasted/cooked respectively, put together and placed in the steamer.
- Nuke
- Microwave
- Burger Meat
- A 4 inch diameter beef patty (uncooked).
- Whopper Meat
- A 5 inch diameter beef patty (uncooked).
- Chute
- The heated area where constructed burgers are placed whilst waiting to be sold.
- Whopper Jnr.
- Essentially a Whopper, but using the 4 single sized burger as a base.
In any Burger King 'restaurant', there are three burger constructing areas known as boards. Burger Board, Whopper Board and Specials Board. Burger board is where the 4 inch diameter burgers are constructed, Whopper board is for the 5-inchers and specials is mainly chicken. In this node, I'm not going to tell you exactly how to make every single burger, as Burger King's menu changes frequently as well as having regional variations. What I am going to try and do is give you some of the hard and fast rules for making these burgers in the required time of less than 10 seconds.
We will assume for all these instructions that the burgers have already been cooked and are sitting in the steamer.
Take a burger wrap (for the burger you are making) out of the slot and lay it design side up on the board in front of you. Grab yourself a grease pencil (writes on grease proof paper) and look at the clock. Note where the minute hand is. Now, on the wrap, you must put a line through the number coressponding to the number the minute hand will be pointing at in ten minutes time. If it is twenty past for example, you must cross off the number six. At half past, if the burger has not been sold, it should be thrown away. Now you can mark any special ingredients. The symbols below the numbers correspond to these ingredients:
- - means minus that ingredient.
- + is and extra ingredient.
- -O- only that ingredient.
- H is double.
- A line throught everything means plain.
If you have a generic burger wrap, such as the BK Double wrap, you must mark which kind of burger it is:
- B or BD for Bacon Double
- DC for Double Cheesburger
- CW for Chicken Whopper
- CL For Chicken Lite
- etc etc.
Now you are done with marking up your wrap, we can get on with putting together some burgers. Flip over your wrap so the design is facing down and the side for the burger you are making is furthest away from you.
The Whopper
Open the steamer and take out a Whopper. Take off the crown of the bun and place the lower half of the bun and the burger in the microwave on red 1. If there is any cheese (two slices slightly seperated)or bacon (3-4 pieces), put this on the burger before nuking.
A quick note on microwaving burgers
Salad should not be microwaved. This does not include pickles.
Chicken should not be microwaved.
Burgers are nuked in the wraps if there is no salad.
Small burgers are nuked with the blue buttons, Whoppers with the red buttons.
The number pressed should correspond to the number of burgers in the microwave.
End note.
Whilst the Whopper is microwaving, you have 5 seconds to spread the top crown with mayonnaise. Add lettuce and two slices of tomato, which should be arranged perfectly. Place the crown back on the greaseproof paper.
5 seconds left to finish the burger...
As the microwave door pops open take out the burger and place it on the greaseproof paper. (WARNING: it will be hot).
Add 3 swirls of ketchup in spiral from the outside edge to the inside edge of the burger to prevent spillage. Four pieces of pickle arranged evenly on top and a handful of onion.
Pick up the crown using your thumbs to hold the lettuce and tomato on top and flip it onto the bottom half of the burger.
You have constructed a Whopper!
It better have been in under ten seconds or you are fired.
Another note on wrapping burgers
To wrap a burger, place it in the centre of the wrap. Lift up the near side and fold it on top of the burger. Repeat with the far side.Now, twist the side flaps away from you and fold under the burger. Jam that baby in the chute and cancel it off the order screen!
End another note.
Now that we have what is probably the most complicated burger over and done with, let us move onto burger board.
Cheese Burger
I'm going to assume you've done your wrap marking now and are ready to go.
Take a single out of the steamer and place it on the wrap. Remove the crown and place a slice of cheese on top of the burger, neatly. Add two slices of pickle, 3 swirls of ketchup and one swirl of mustard. Microwave according to the guidlines and jam in the chute.
You see, after the first time it's much easier!
25 seconds, not bad...
Bacon Double Cheese Burger
Take a double out of the steamer. Remove the crown. Place a slice of cheese on the top burger, then use the cheese to guard your fingertips whilst you lift up the top burger.
Here's where it gets complicated...
Place a slice of cheese on top of the bottom burger at 45 degrees to the top slice of cheese. Place the top burger back on top, add 3-4 pieces of bacon. Wrap that burnt piece of cow up, nuke it, and get it in the chute.
Hey 19 seconds!
Breakfast
Breakfast burgers are a little more annoying to describe. These delights are made on burger board, but the ingredients are all different to those of a regular burger.
A breakfast burger can have any of the following layers:
As a note, they should be in that order if featured. Virtually any combination can be found, so I will not describe how to make one other than you put all the ingredients in and blast it in the microwave on Blue 1. Hey, it's early morning, you don't want anything difficult!
The Veggie Whopper
The final burger to feature on burger board is the Veggie Whopper. These are very infrequently ordered, so they are usually made fresh(ish)!
To make a Veggie Whopper, first shout at someone to get a Veggie Whopper patty out of the fridge. This patty should be placed in the microwave and nuked for 60 seconds! It should also be placed in a dedicated Veggie Whopper tray so as not to contaminate it with evil animal goo that occcaisionally spills onto the microwave. Whilst the 'burger' is cooking, a veggie whopper bun should be in the toaster on specials board.
When this 'cooking' is done, you can assemble the burger. Exactly the same as a whopper except there is a slice of cheese and half all the other ingerients. Easy!
Now you're speeding up, 15 seconds per burger...
Royale
Well here we are on specials board, get ready to deal with some burning, greasy chicken flesh.
When a Royale comes up on the screen, grab yourself a 7 inch bun and place it in the toaster. While it's toasting, mark up you wrap and flip it over. As soon as the bun pops out, put mayonnaise on both halves and lettuce on the top half. Chuck a Royale patty on top of the lettuce, flip it over, wrap it up and see if you can throw it into the chute from where you're standing. Done! Now go spit in the milkshake mix.
12 seconds! Personal best! Reward yourself with a stolen chicken nugget.
The Chicken Whopper
This is actually a lie, as pointed out in another node. The chicken Whopper actually consists of a chicken Whopper patty, tomato, lettuce and mayonnaise. Pick up the ingredients, smash them into a vague order, cover in greaseproof paper and throw in the bin.
Ten seconds, you should be proud. You have now been promoted to service expert and get a 15p pay rise!
Last Words
Just a couple of final things. If a burger has Jnr. after its name, that means it is the same as the larger sized burger, but with half the ingredients and a smaller burger. If it says XL then it is the same as the small version but with twice the ingredients and on a Whopper scale.
Now you know how to make most basic BK burgers, go and demand a job. They're not fussy and the pay is ok as long as you are still a pimply youth with no special skills at anything in particular.
Seriously though, I worked at BK for two years and it was good fun as a Saturday job. It didn't take a lot to please the boss so it was easy to get a glowing reference that helped me get better temporary Saturday jobs. If you've got no experience, working in fast food can teach you how to work hard and fast for little reward. I'm addicted to burgers now though, it makes you fat.