A Food Scientist Has Calculated A Formula For The Perfect Burger

We always thought the secret to a great burger was meat with a high fat percentage cooked fairly quickly to get that medium-rare, juicy pink center. But apparently the whole process is a lot more exact than we previously believed. Food scientist Stu Farrimond has calculated the formula for a perfect burger, coming up with a complex ratio of ingredients, cooking times, and patty thickness that comes to 4x = 13.5l + 6.0t + 8.8c + 21.0k, according to The Daily Mail.

If you're having intense flashbacks of high school algebra, don't worry: We'll break this formula down for you. X is the uncooked weight of the burger, T is the mass of the tomatoes, C is the cheese, L is the lettuce, and K are the sauces.

After extensive research, Farrimond has discovered that the burger should be cooked for 9.5 minutes, with the composite non-beef ingredients weighing 60 percent of the total creation. The patty itself should be 1.5 centimeters (.6 inches) thick, and the burger should be cooked between 300 and 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

"The most challenging part being how long it should be cooked for," Farrimond told The Daily Mail. "The 'perfect' burger formula should help to make tasteless, dry, and shrunken burgers that are all too often served on the nation's barbecues a thing of the past."