Brilliant burgers

I’m not really a great fan of supermarket burgers, having a severe gut-churning reaction to gristle – ick.

So if we’re having a BBQ or a lazy burger supper I like to take a trip to my local butchers (Andrews in Hadleigh) for their delicious versions, or I make them myself.

The secrets to a great burger are as follows:

1. Choose top quality meat for the best flavour and texture

2. Choose meat with some fat content otherwise you’ll end-up with a grey, rubbery shot-put to eat.

3. To use plenty of seasoning – nothing’s worse than a bland burger.

4. To not overwork the mixture. I used to make these in the food processor but they were way too heavy. Now I mix the mince very lightly and pack the burger patties loosely. This way when you bite into the burger it melts in your mouth.


Here is my recipe for what I think are some pretty damn tasty burgers that to slide into a bun with relish and salad. I love serving mine with Waitrose Spicy Onion Relish or Stokes Spicy Tomato Ketchup.



Ingredients

450g/1lb minced beef or minced steak

1tbsp unsalted butter melted (if using minced steak)

Fine breadcrumbs from 1 slice of white bread

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 onion, very finely chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1tsp English mustard

Dash Worcester sauce

A few grinds of black pepper

1 beaten egg

½ beef stock cube or 1tbsp gravy granules (I use Kallos Organic) finely crumbled



Do it:

1. Heat about 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan and sweat the onions and garlic for about five minutes until lightly golden.

2. Mix the egg, mustard, stock cube, pepper, salt, and Worcester sauce together to combine.

3. Place the mince in a bowl – add the butter now if you are using steak mince, it creates richness and helps to add moisture to the meat.

4. Add the egg and spices mixture and the breadcrumbs to this. And mix lightly until just combined – do not crush too much.

5. Lightly form the mixture into burger shapes, without pressing too much.

6. Cook the burgers for 3 minutes per side under a hot grill, in the oven at 220c for 10 minutes or in a frying pan. If cooking on the barbecue I would pack the burgers tighter and start them off in the oven to prevent them from falling apart. A quick and delicious way I’ve found to cook these is in my panini press, which takes about 3 minutes in total for burgers that are about 1.5cm thick.