Pineapple on pizza is always hotly debated, but do you think Pineapple belongs on a burger?
I'm Australian, and burger with the lot where I come from involves the following
Bun
Bacon
Egg
Lettuce
Tomato
Pineapple
Beetroot
Meat
Onion
Sauce maybe.
That's the minimum you expect anyway
Pineapple belongs on everything you like it on. No matter what others say. Life’s too short to rob yourself of things food you like, simply because other people think so.
Who cares. Eat what you like. If it's a pineapple burger, put it in... And let people eat what they want and like, as long as it is not harming others.
American here, living in the Seattle area. I have never had pineapple on pizza. I like it on pizza, but only if combined with other toppings that are spicy and salty. I would try it on a burger, but I already have issue with burgers being too fucking tall (ridiculous and pretentious) and melting from too much grease, so adding more toppings that are liquid prone seems, logistically, the wrong direction. But as always, I am always happy to be proven wrong.
I love pineapple on both pizza and burgers. The flavor and bite quality is very appealing on a hot, meaty piece of food. Even better if the burger has soy sauce on it. The contrast brings out the best in both flavors.
Yeah, it’s a very common thing here in Northern Europe too! At least my corner of it. Even growing up in a very remote and small village in the Lappish wilderness a burger with pineapple was one of the more common ones at the local (and the only) grill-kiosk.
However, for whatever reason, pineapple in a burger seems to be almost always paired with a fried egg. I think it’s great but not really sure why exactly that’s so common a combo.
I think that people should be allowed to like what they like and there's no debate. And anyone that wants to debate someone else's tastes can fuck off.
Burgers and pizza (and omelettes) are the perfect "blank canvas" foods. You can be boring with few/no toppings, you can be traditional with the expected combinations, or you can flex your creativity with whatever else your heart comes up with.
Either way, it's an ingredient with plenty of potential, but it needs to be countered somehow. Canadian bacon doesn't do it for me, in pizza but pepperoni and jalapeno does! For burgers... I like the comment mentioning soy sauce, but if I had to think of something on my own... Hmmm, maybe grilled with grilled jalapeno, crispy onion, and some cream cheese? Basically a jalapeno popper burger with the pineapple shaking things up and the crispy onion adds some crunch?
Enjoy a burger how you want, or not, I could hardly care any less as long as you're not hurting anybody with your lifestyle choice.
Personally, I just don't like cooked pineapple very much. It's a pale imitation of fresh in both taste and texture. Pure disappointment, and I've got enough disappointment in my life already, don't need anymore on my pizza or burger or tacos or spaghetti or upside down cake or colada.
Condensing a rant I had on another comm with this question here: fruit belongs with meat. fullstop. Idk why we're still having this discussion when medieval peasants were able to figure it out in like the 12th century.
Whether it's a roast pig, or a burger, or a pizza, there's a reason pineapple is always brought up.
Controversial or not, the concept of something being both savory and sweet at the same time is popular (and frankly...delicious) Heck, it's the whole reason Chocolate Covered Peanuts exist.
Pineapple is easily the best for that kind of combination. Apple comes in a close second (hence having an apple butter pork tenderloin, or apple sauce with pork chops, etc...
Why pineapple gets singled out and derided over every other fruit that does the same thing is just weird.
They're pretty good, they definitely improve an otherwise pretty average burger. I've rarely had them on actual good burgers but on those occasions they were also good, but I think the trouble is that in that context it's kind of a distraction and just a bit too much added water weight if it's an otherwise nice hefty and generous burger. They definitely need to be cooked themselves a bit to caramelise them though otherwise not really worth bothering with.
I haven’t tried pineapple on a burger, but I wouldn’t rule it out. I think Ray Kroc wanted to introduce something called the “Hula Burger” at McDonalds.
Wouldn't be my choice, but the thing about burgers is that you can basically do anything to them and no one will care.
Something about pizza is sacred; people get very defensive about regional varieties and makeup. Burgers are profane in comparison. I'm sure there's a line to be drawn at some point for what a "wrong" burger is, but it's a pretty far and blurry line.
Funnily enough, I had a burger with pineapple on it when I was in Australia. It was great, I really liked the juiciness and taste the pineapple brought to the burger.
Granted, it was at an Oporto (which is kinda like upscale McDonald's with a Portuguese theme to it for the uninitiated), but it was pretty good nonetheless; I'd have it again.
The juiciness of burgers & pineapples allow for better texture/mixture & flavour distribution/experience imho compared to pizzas that are usually relatively drier.
In the UK I'd say it's rare. Only a select few restaurants put pineapple slices in a burger, and they are mostly homegrown family-run businesses and, rarely, chains like Beefeater.
I'd love to try one. Here the standard quality burger is (bottom to top): bun, lettuce, tomato, meat, onion, bacon if any, pickled gherkin slices, sauce, cheese slice. If that sounds bland by comparison it's because this is England.
The fancy ones can have egg, hash brown, chilli peppers and/or mushrooms, but I've not yet seen beetroot in a burger
Grilled pineapple or pineapple tossed in a crawfish boil is excellent and would be a great burger addition. But it can’t just be a slice of pineapple. Too sweet. It would mess up the cheese flavor. You need to get rid of some of the sugar.
What's the debate? Whether it tastes nice or not? Seeing the popularity of both pineapple pizza and pineapple/cheese and honey burgers (at least in Europe), I guess it's tasty enough for a bunch of people.
I swear, some people will take a stand for anything besides important things, lol. God? Morals? Imperialism? Nah, I'm gonna spend my limited time and even more limited brainpower on cuisine debates... 🙄🤷
The only time I've ever had it was at a Disneyland resort, and that was not at all a good burger. I assume it would be nice on a higher quality burger.
Why can’t we just let people eat what they want and how they want? We have bigger things to worry about…like fascists in the White House. Or war between Israel and Iran. Or people with a foot fetish.
I like pineapple pizza (as long as the pineapple pieces aren't too big), but that burger sounds annoying. Not saying the flavors don't combine well, but the amount of toppings makes it sound way too tall unless the slices are razor thin.
I don't like "belong" here. Pineapple is food. People like it, or like it in certain combinations, or they don't. Highly concentrated uranium or arsenic really don't belong in food. Pineapple is not the same as uranium.
If you've ever been a student or cash strapped you've eaten various uncommon combinations of food. You didn't care what belonged together or not. And neither should anyone care in this regard. Outside of poison and allergies, we don't need to be paternalistic about telling people what to eat or not. People who get internet mad about pineapple on pizza need to reevaluate their life choices.
I do like pineapple in Asian chicken/rice dishes, but I was raised on beef burgers topped with pickle, ketchup, cheese, lettuce, tomato and bacon and that's my burger comfort zone.