Nothing finer than making your own burgers. You get to choose your own flavours, how much chilli you want to add in, the meat you want to use – and given the range of stuff that’s become available in my local butchers it could be anything from Buffalo to Zebra!
Anyway, this is a great one for getting your hands dirty. Squidging the mix between your fingers is very, very satisfying. and it makes the kids happy!
So, for the burgers, you’ll need…
- Meat. About half a kilo of whatever meat you like should make enough burgers for your average family.
- Onion. 1, large, finely chopped (okay, put it in the Magimix and blitz the damn thing. How’s that for finely chopped?)
- Flavourings. This is where you get to have some real fun…
- If you’re using lamb, then mint is essential.
- If you’re using pork, you can try apple, chilli, or apple and chilli…
- Beef goes with just about everything. Chuck some spring onion chunks in, maybe some ‘shrooms,
- Egg, 1
- Breadcrumbs, about 1:5 with the meat, so 100g breadcrumbs for 500g meat.
- Philadelphia or similar brand of soft cheese.
Instructions.
- If it’s a coarse mince, blitz it a bit to make it finer.
- Chop your flavourings finely
- Mix everything except the Philadelphia evenly, really working everything together with your fingers (or your kid’s fingers). Treat it like Christmas cake and get everyone to get their (washed and clean) hands in and make a wish!
- Grab a handful a bit bigger than a golf ball and flatten it.
- Place a teaspoon of the Philadelphia into the middle of the flat bit, grab a handful a bit smaller than a golf ball and make a lid
- Squeeze the edges together to make sure there are no gaps that the Philadelphia can ooze out of. It will happen while you’re cooking, but if you minimise the problem now you’ll save a lot of fuss.
- Dust with a little plain flour on both sides. My local butcher makes some excellent burgers, they roll the edges of lamb burgers in a mix of mint and chilli, the edges of pork burgers get breadcrumbed.
- Leave to chill for half an hour before cooking.
Cooking
- Put a little oil into a heavy-based frying pan, medium-high heat
- Cook until done. This obviously depends on the size and thickness of your burgers. Turn them regularly while cooking to stop one side from burning too much.
- When the Philadelphia starts to ooze out (that’s when, not if), they’re pretty much done. When it’s starting to ooze, that means it’s hot right through to the centre.
- Serve with bread rolls and suitable condiments. My kids swear by tomato ketchup, I prefer a strong mustard or chilli sauce.
- If you’re a fan of unnecessary garden, serve with a salad of your choice.
There’ll be one more Cookalong Friday next week, then I’m off for 2 weeks and you’ll be left to your own devices. Unless, of course, anyone’s wanting to step up to the plate and write me a guest recipe?