PHOTOS: HEY! My Jack In The Box BLT Bacon Cheeseburger didn't look that way in the AD.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Reality Check: BLT Cheeseburger at Jack in the Box

Posted by Adam Lindsley, February 16, 2012 at 3:45 PM



http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2012/02/reality-check-blt-cheeseburger-at-jack-in-the-box.html

Fast-food establishments are always looking for ways to repurpose items in their arsenal of preformed menu components into something they can market as brand new. As part of the company's "Love Bacon? Marry It." advertising campaign, Jack in the Box recently released the BLT Bacon Cheeseburger in conjunction with its thoroughly heinous Bacon Shake. The result? Exactly what you would expect a burger from Jack in the Box to taste like.



As I said, there's nothing new whatsoever about Jack in the Box's BLT Cheeseburger, as it is barely different from the chain's Jumbo Jack with Cheese. It just swaps out the Jumbo Jack's ketchup and onions for hickory-smoked bacon, which of course you can already add to any sandwich. Everything else is the same: one beef patty, shredded iceberg lettuce, two slices of tomato, two slices of (unmelted) American cheese, and mayo-onion sauce.



Unlike the aforementioned bacon shake, the BLT Cheeseburger is at least edible (by no means anything for Jack in the Box to brag about). That doesn't make it something to recommend. Both the patty and the sesame bun on the burger we ordered were incredibly dry, with the thick breadiness of the two halves of the bun disproportionate to the total mass of the items held between them.

As you might expect, the burger is also very, very salty, so have a beverage close at hand. In terms of what hits the palate, the saltiness and smokiness of the bacon come through strongest, followed by the salt on the beef patty and the salt in the mayo-onion sauce. The wan tomato and lettuce may as well not even be there, as they're devoid of flavor and form a sort of green, red, and white mush between the top bun and the first slice of cheese.

[RZM]

1. No surprise there

Food modeling has long been known to be quite misleading. I remember seeing a show about this years ago. Quite often the model dishes are not even made out of the same ingredients as the actual product, because some of those ingredients can't stand up to the heat generated by the lighting you need to get the right shot.

Also they use pins and such to arrange the components in ways that they never would when serving the food.

[Auggie]

4. Some companies -- McDonalds is one --

have very rigourous standards in the accurate portrayal of the ingredients and quantity of food shown.

But as far as the use of pins and glycerin and Fruit Fresh and Photoshop, well, it's anything goes most of the time. A team of three to four -- foodstylist, an assistant, the art director, and photographer -- will work hours just to get the right hamburger photo. They'll go through jars of pickles and dozens of hamburger buns to find just the right one.

After the photo is completed, the retoucher will clean up imperfections, darken and lighten certain elements so they are more identifiable, and strengthen the colors to give more appetite appeal. They'll even rearrange the sesame seeds on the buns to create a more balanced design.

You'd never want to eat the food. A lot of meat is only seared on the outside, then grill marks are added by heating up a skewer over an open flame. You use a kitchen torch to melt the cheese and cut up several tomatoes and onions for the perfect slice. It goes on and on.

Oh, and the amount of waste can be really disturbing. After picking through jars of pickles there's no way you can donate them to food banks.

[Bladian]

2. The writer sounds like they have a vendetta.

Jack in the Box isn't THAT bad.

[Brother Buzz]

3. Talk about disappointed, when I opened this can my jaw hit the floor

[csziggy]

5. Enquiring minds want to know - were you expecting the cherry pie or the "all vegetable" ingredient?

I'd be hoping for the pie.

[Brother Buzz]

6. That's a trick question; cherry pie is a fruit, not a vegetable.

I'm not as think as you dumb I am.

[csziggy]

9. You're too smart for me!

[Curmudgeoness]

11. I can only imagine the look on your face!

Thanks for the good laugh!

[Denninmi]

7. I like the garden-ripe red richness of the tomatoes on the "Hollywood" version of the burger.

We all know, in reality, we're going to get the barely-red, cardboard flavored, hard as rocks, ethylene-gassed version of a tomato on the actual mystery meat burger.

[JonLP24]

8. They never do--no matter the restuarant

With the tricks they use to make the food look better in the ads I'd rather have the food as it really looks. I don't want to eat undercooked burgers with painted (not actual paint-I forgot what they use) grill mark. That Dominoes commercial a year or two ago was honest in portraying the tricks that every restaurant company probably uses.

[nolabear]

10. And no bridal veil!! How can I be expected to love a bacon cheeseburger with no bridal veil?

Damn deceptive advertizing.

[Curmudgeoness]

12. Now, would you really expect them to have a picture

that looked like what you get to tempt people to buy one?

Actually, this isn't all that bad---comparatively. It does have all those things shown, well except for red tomatoes and nice big pieces of green lettuce. (That would be my biggest gripe, shredded lettuce!)

[jmowreader]

13. You of course know the difference between the picture and reality

The food stylist makes $75,000 per year and has a week to create a perfect-looking combo meal--she probably also put the ice on top of the soda with a pair of tweezers and went through 50 pounds of fries looking for ones that were exactly right.

The poor bastard at the restaurant makes minimum wage and has 45 seconds to assemble your burger and fries.

Jack in the Box is okay, I guess, but the reason I won't go to the one in town ever again is I went in there once, ordered a burger, then stood there for FIFTEEN fucking minutes while they moved the bag containing my order from place to place before deciding to give it to me. I can go to the grocery store, buy hamburger and buns, and make my own quicker than that.