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How to build a winning burger

The key ingredients include a fried egg, red-onion marmalade, and/or some kind of aioli

How do you make a burger that is over-the-top delicious, one that would not only wow your family but a panel of judges?

It's a question faced by backyard grillers who want to amp up their game beyond the familiar combo of ground beef, American cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion. Every year, local chefs conjure up a burger to enter in Burger Brawl, the grilling competition that is a fundraiser for the School District of Philadelphia.

Based on the 54 burgers judged by 30 people on Sunday at the 2015 Burger Brawl - as well as results from previous years - the key ingredients to many winning burgers include a fried egg, red-onion marmalade, and/or some kind of aioli, the mayonnaise spread.

Bacon was largely passé this year, and was found in limited quantities - almost as an afterthought - on only two of the eight semifinalists.

On the judges' winning burger, chef Dave Conn of Rittenhouse's Village Whiskey topped "the Frenchy" with sauce au poivre, cabernet grilled onions, and Gruyere cheese. The spread of black truffle aioli on the bun, the judges concurred, added an unctuous richness that had everyone grasping for napkins and the number of a cardiologist. (Village Whiskey's burger was the unanimous choice among every judge who tried it in the three rounds of bracket-style balloting. If you're trying to replicate the patty itself, good luck. Conn says most of it comes from Pineland Farms in Maine: sirloin top butt, chuck roll, and brisket. He then adds wagyu fat from Snake River Farms in Idaho.)

This year's popular vote went to the duck-and-beef burger from Northeast Philadelphia's Blue Duck. Chef/co-owner Kris Serviss opted for a topping of red onion jam, Maytag blue cheese, mesclun, and duck cracklins. For his win in the 2014 Burger Brawl, Serviss went the egg route, topping his burger (made with ground pork roll and chuck) with a fried quail egg, Cooper American and sriracha mayo (which is aioli by any other name). The 2014 judges' choice was chef Justin Bogle's lamb burger from the now-defunct Avance. Bogle layered sweet and salty - red onion marmalade and feta - on his brioche bun.

Including Village Whiskey's Frenchy, there were eight semifinalists this year:

The French Onion Burger from Chickie's & Pete's, a beef burger whose toppings were Swiss cheese, caramelized onions, and roasted garlic aioli on brioche.

Paesano's Burger, which was four parts chuck to pastrami, with a topping of American cheese, basil mayo and tomato agro dolce.

Harvest Seasonal Grill's bison burger, which was topped by shiitake mushrooms, black truffle aioli and Hope Springs Farm Swiss cheese on a Le Bus roll .

The Wass Burger from Steam Pub in Southampton, Bucks County, whose patty was topped with American cheese, crumbled bacon, fried egg, chipotle mayo, lettuce, tomato, and red onion on brioche bun.

A burger by chef Jenn Zavala, topped with truffle mayo, hickory-smoked bacon, bibb lettuce, and cherry pepper relish on a potato roll.

A "Paddy Melt" from Kildare's Pub in Manayunk, whose burger made of corned beef and chuck was topped with spicy mustard and beer-braised cabbage, pickles, and Swiss on rye.

The Land and Sea Burger from Smiths in Center City, which started with a ground beef and pork patty and was layered with grilled shrimp, avocado sauce and spring mix.

Steam Pub's and Village Whiskey's won their respective brackets, and squared off for the final.

In the end, the aioli stood alone.