Burgers

[orinoco77]

I have finally perfected my burger recipe, so I think it's about time to at least write it down somewhere so I don't forget it. These burgers rock.

Inside-out Cheeseburgers:
Large tray of minced beef
American Mustard (the squeezy, yellow kind that goes on hot dogs)
Garlic paste
Mixed Herb paste (both of the above come in little tubes you can buy at Tesco, I think they're made by Schwartz)
Branston Gherkin relish (found it in the seasonal section with the barbeque stuff)
6 mini Babybel cheeses (a crazy idea I had. It works brilliantly. If you're feeling fussy you can also use mozzarella)

Put the mince in a bowl and add the mustard, herbs, garlic and relish. Big squeezes of the mustard and relish, somewhat smaller squeezes of the pastes (especially the garlic). Squish it all together with your hands. Keep squishing until everything is mixed in and the mince is a uniform texture and can be picked up in one lump. Take a burger sized lump of the mixed mince and form it into a reasonably chunky patty. Form a round hole in the top of the patty and put one little cheese in. Carefully mould the patty back into burger shape with the cheese inside. Repeat until you have as many burgers as your definition of "burger sized" allows for, then grill, barbeque or fry the patties until they are cooked throughout. You should end up with tasty cheeseburgers with the cheese in the middle, all melty and yummy. This recipe has been approved by actual teenagers.

Comments

[orinoco77.livejournal.com]

It's based on a recipe from the BBC website. I ended up cooking for the girls one night and decided to do something a bit different. We had the original version of the above burgers and spiced potato wedges. The original was deemed very nice indeed, but I wasn't quite happy, so I've been tweaking it ever since. What I made last night is as close to burger perfection as I'm likely to get, I reckon. The nice thing about it is that once you've got the basic ingredients (essentially mince and cheese), you can do what you want with it and come up with your own unique burger. If you want a chilli burger, sling some chilli in there. If you want to try it with something posh instead of babybel (stilton may possibly work very well, though I haven't tested it), go for it.

As you can probably tell from the recipe, I don't measure anything when I'm making them. It's not any claim to superior or instinctive cooking ability, I'm just lazy. As long as the quantities are within reasonable parameters, you'll get a tasty burger.

Two things I do suggest you keep are the mustard and the mixed herbs. Garlic isn't strictly necessary, though it does add something to the flavour, and the gherkin relish was just something I spotted and thought might work nicely (and by god does it work nicely). The mustard and herbs give the beef more flavour and stop it just being brown clumps of mince.

I've actually got a few ideas for more recipes in this vein, so I might post them when they've passed the teen test. Is it wrong that I like to cook what teenagers like to eat?

[tea-cantata.livejournal.com]

Nothing wrong at all - and indeed, teenagers are fussy buggers about food sometimes :-)

[orinoco77.livejournal.com]

This lot are oddly tolerant, actually, but they have been known to *enthuse* about these burgers, which is a whole different kettle of banananananas...

[pteppic.livejournal.com]

Orinoco, head chef?

Maybe you could take on Jamie Oliver at revolutionising school canteens?

about:

[orinoco77.livejournal.com]

Hardly. We have a head chef. She's called Suzanne. She brooks very little interference in her kitchen, save to suffer her mother to cook roasts and stuff, and me to dabble occasionally. My official rank is "kitchen porter", though I hope one day to become "sous chef". I suppose Livi's rank is sort of what you'd get if a chef from a posh restaurant came to cook in your little local place. Her methods are unquestioned, where I'm more likely to get "What the hell are you doing in *my* kitchen?"