Burgers

Recipes… Toppings… What you got?

I like a simple burger of the smash variety. About 100g mince per burger, 2 burgers per roll.

400g mince and a really finely diced onion mixed together with soy sauce. Nothing else.

Hot pan, squish em down. Leave them for 3 minutes and then flip them. Cover with grated cheese and a plastic cheese slice. While they’re cooking, buttered rolls go into a hot pan to crisp them up. Lettuce, onion, gherkins, bbq sauce and mustard.

Generally requires a shower afterwards.

I made burgers last night. As well as the finely diced onion I added to the mince, breadcrumbs, garlic, Dijon mustard and a beaten egg

Cooked on a griddle and served with a couple of melted plastic cheese slices, onion, tomato and lettuce, but I’ve also discovered this stuff from Aldi, which is as close to a Maccy D’s Big Mac sauce as you’ll get. Bloody lovely!

Saltimbocca-burgers.

Make a burger patty with minced pork instead of beef, wrap a piece of parma ham around it, tucking a sage leaf in as you wrap it. Dust with a little flour then cook like a regular burger. If you have any wine on the go then when the burger’s pretty much ready put a little splash in the pan and let it deglaze the pan and then reduce and coat the burger

Chicken burgers are underrated

@airvent – Mrs Binners bought this book last week. It’s got a good chicken burger recipe in that I’ve got lined up for next week. Any pointers or recipe tips?

I am a venison burger aficionado

Normal burger patty made from venison, topped with cheese and sliced lidl cornichons.

Splash of sweet chili sauce,

Mayo mixed with mustard to make a relish, tastes amazing

The twist is a home made flatbread to put it in. Easy to make and then you fold it around so the burger and massive stack of toppings can’t fall out. Basically a burger calzone.

Oklahoma style onion burger FTW – best if you’ve got a mandoline to get the onions super thin. Finished with plastic cheese and some M&S burger sauce and served in a toasted brioche bun. Drool.

@binners we like to butterfly a chicken breast so it’s just thicker than a pound coin, egg wash/flour dip then egg wash again then breadcrumb with panko and shallow fry. Goes amazing with some baconaise (mayo mixed with finely diced crispy streaky bacon).

bit messy to do but really good.

Cheers @airvent. I’m loving the sound of baconaise! That sounds like a dream combination!

Make your burgers in two thin halves then crumble some Roquefort in before joining them together and cooking

@binners we like to butterfly a chicken breast so it’s just thicker than a pound coin, egg wash/flour dip then egg wash again then breadcrumb with panko and shallow fry.

there’s a Jamie Oliver quick/cheat method where you put the chicken breast in a bag with bread crumbs and wack the crap out of fit with a rolling pin – pressing it flat and sort of smushing the breadcrumbs in at the same time.

Much less mess and also a relieves any pent up frustration

Much less mess and also a relieves any pent up frustration

Such a burger is known as a lorry drivers sock in our house

Lean mince bound together weigh sweet chilli sauce and torn basil leaves makes a great patty.

Such a burger is known as a lorry drivers sock in our house

Makes me want to get to know lorry drivers better 🙂

Pork mixed with harissa works nicely too

If you want to be lazy, quarter pounder, split in two and squish back to shape. Cook as per preference then make up the burger, wrap in tinfoil and fling in the oven/air fryer for a minute to fast-foodise it.

Similarly take lamb burgers or meatballs, add cumin and roll into koftas.

Such a burger is known as a lorry drivers sock in our house

That is **** grim. 😀

Burger relish of your choice, then melted cheddar, fried thinly sliced red onion until almost crispy… then a pineapple ring caramelised in the pan with the burgers.

Cheese and onion – classic combo

Cheese and pineapple – classic combo

Cheese + onion + pineapple – that’s a tasty burger

Burger – decent beef mince with a bit of fat. Salt and pepper, roll into a ball then pop it on a hot frying pan. I then use a small cooking pot to mash it down. Fry both sides til done.

Sauce – home-made spicy big Mac sauce: mustard, mayo, ketchup, franks, finely diced gherkins and  onion.

Toppings – cheese, bacon, gherkins, baby gem, decent tomato. Sometimes a griddled pineapple.

Bun – prefer a pretzel bun to a brioche one as I find they hold together better.

Sage leaves? Venison? Have a word with yourselves. ferchrissakes !!

Pineapple? PINEAPPLE?!!

+1 on pineapple but with some sort of chilli relish/jam or sriracha

With the usual cheese, gherkins etc of course

Basic is best. Steak mince none of your low fat nonsense, season well, roll into balls and then squish. Cover in oil just before frying to your liking.

Your choice of topping I like cheese and some candied jalapeños.

I can’t see a single mention of lettuce or tomato in the burgers above, a travesty I tell yers.

I prefer 2 burgers rather than one.

So. 250grams of slightly fatty ground beef. -If the meat is too lean, the finished burger will be too dry.

A good squeeze of tomato puree

desert spoon of Dijon mustard

1-2 cloves of finely crushed garlic(crushed without salt)

1 small onion very finely diced

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 teaspoon of onion powder(hard to find – Tesco sells it)

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

pinch of salt (I like smoked salt) – If you crush garlic with salt, or other ingredients that have salt in them, beware you can over season it)

2 egg yokes

A splash of cold water

(Occasionally I’ll put in finely diced cheese or chorizo)

.

Combine all the ingredients and very mix well.

Add that to the beef and mix very thoroughly (If you wet your hands the meat mix wont stick to your fingers)

.

Roll into balls between your palms, use pressure as it helps form it all together.

Important to use a burger press, as it stays together in the pan and doesnt fall apart.

Burgers are easy to make delicious, beef, pork, lamb, venison, chicken, even turkey, all are tasty. Just season well, fry until they’re developing a nice bit of char and then squeeze them between whatever bread/bun/bagel/flatbread/wrap/bun/cob/barn you have. Again add whatever condiments you have about the place like mustard/ketchup/Sriracha/sweet chili/mayonnaise/burger relish/ barbecue sauce etc. Add some cheese (again whatever you have, even Boursin) and some veg like: finally sliced onions, lettuce, tomato, lettuce or even baby spinach or rocket.

Now I never said that the burger had to fit in a normal person’s mouth, actually the bigger the better as getting messy with your burger is part of the fun.

@didnthurt – I mentioned both in the second post. Can’t have a burger without both. Essentials. Unlike pineapple. That’s just weird

Mind you,.. some people put fruit in cheese. That’s technically a crime against humanity IMHO

Important to use a burger press, as it stays together in the pan and doesnt fall apart

One of those things that Mrs Binners bought that I thought I’d never use but do. Burger press then it’s essential to leave them in the fridge for a couple of hours

Mind you,.. some people put fruit in cheese. That’s technically a crime against humanity IMHO

Now I have to disagree with this!!!

I love a bit of the below on an oatcake:

• Castello Pineapple cheese
• Cranberry Roule
• Wensleydale and cranberry/apricot

And sometimes have this as a mid-morning snack:

• Cottage cheese and pineapple

What do you think chutney and pickle is made of?

Keep it simple. 100 g 50% beef and pork mince. Flatten it on a sheet of cling wrap and put a teaspoon of dripping in the middle and sprinkle with salt. Use the clingwrap to squeeze it up into a ball as tightly as you can with the dripping squished into the middle. Put the ball into a medium-hot pan and fry for two minutes, do not flatten it yet. Turn it and flatten it and fry for two minutes, turning and frying for two minutes two more times (so cooked 4 minutes each side in total.) The dripping will melt out, but leave the patty moist and flavoursome.

Lettuce, tomato, and slice of cheese. A mix of ketchup and Caesar salad dressing. If you’re into fruit, a slice of avocado is acceptable. Pineapple etc. has no place in a burger, I feel nauseous just thinking about it.

A little bit of grated apple in with the onion and beef works well.

There’s a lot of recipes with a lot of ingredients coming up. I used to use eggs and breadcrumbs because that’s how I remember my mum making them but since giving up on the faff of adding anything, I seem to be getting better burgers.

For me, I think the key to getting a good flavour without adding stuff is to start with a loosely formed ball of mince and squash it down into a dry (hot) cast iron pan. Then just leave it to go all brown and crusty. I use a plastering trowel to get them properly flat and thin.

I always find that forming the burgers and then cooking them tends to make them fall apart and it harder to get a crust on them. Obviously, cooking over charcoal gets a crust on anything but can’t always do that.

One of the best burgers I’ve ever had was a chorizo burger from a pub locally. Wasn’t sure what to expect, I was thinking maybe some chorizo mixed into the mince but this was a 1/double 1/4lb burger with cheese and then 2 chorizo sausages (nornal sausage size) split lengthways, griddled until black and then shoved on top. It was amazing.

Really though… Pineapple?

Come on. We all know pineapple doesn’t belong in a burger. That’s what pizza is for right?

Pretty much anything you can put in a burger, I’d prefer it without the bun – burgers are just a bit, meh. :-/

Really though… Pineapple?

Come on. We all know pineapple doesn’t belong in a burger. That’s what pizza is for right?

The definitive comment on pineapple on pizza has to go to the Brighton fans on a European away day in Italy. Genius! 😀

Brighton fans respond to offensive message about Queen Elizabeth with hilarious Francesco Totti banner

@Binners this may be a stupid question given the subject matter but how many of the recipes in that book are veggie/fish based?

I think I’m with Drac on this one.

Decent minced steak from the butcher, with paprika, salt and pepper, hand formed into a burger shape. Cooked on the griddle for extra stripes then stuck into a nice bun (either a milk bun or sourdough roll, depending on which bakers we’ve been to) with a slice of American cheese, some jalapeños, ketchup and American mustard.

Wrong Burger. Beef burger, bacon and crunchy peanut butter. Optionally (but recommended) also add Sriracha

Tried it in a pub in Bristol. Bloody great.

@soundninjauk – there’s plenty of veggie and fish based recipes in there. It really is a cracking book. A good mix of worldwide stuff, not just stereotypical burgers and pizzas. Looking forward to trying a lot of them out

Cooking a burger rare is a really bad idea. Unless of course serious food poisoning is your thing.

For all you pineapple haters, Jules Winnfield is coming to get you.

Mmm… fried pineapple.

Cooking a burger rare is a really bad idea

Indeed it’s a tremendously bad idea. Its a pretty fundamental food hygiene error.

Less seriously but more importantly taking good steak and mincing it up sort of negates the point of buying good steak