Whether it’s a summer barbecue or a fakeaway family supper you can’t beat home-made burgers. All you need is good quality beef mince and seasoning to make these delicious classics. Griddle or barbeque then stack them up in toasted buns with your favourite extras and a dollop of tangy burger sauce for the ultimate crowd pleaser.
Ingredients
FOR THE BURGER SAUCE
- 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoons tomato ketchup
- 1 tablespoon American mustard
- 4 gherkin slices (approx. 30g), drained, patted dry and finely chopped
- 1/2 tablespoon freshly chopped dill
- Large pinch garlic salt or powder (optional)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
FOR THE BURGERS
- 500g good quality beef mince with 15-20% fat content
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 cheese slices
- 4 rashers streaky bacon
- 4 burger buns of your choice, split
- A few lettuce leaves and tomato, red onion and gherkin slices, to serve
Method
- To make the burger sauce, mix all the ingredients in a bowl and season lightly with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover and chill in the fridge until required.
To make the burgers, place the beef mince in a bowl and season lightly with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Using clean hands squeeze the mince until the pepper is thoroughly incorporated. - Divide the mixture into four equal portions. Shape each portion into a ball and place between two sheets of baking paper, pressing down firmly to make a round burger 10-12cm in diameter (each burger needs to be a little large than the burger bun as they will shrink on cooking). You can use a saucer as a guide for a neat and even shape. Cover and chill in the fridge for 2 hours (or overnight).
- Remove the burgers from the fridge about 30 minutes before cooking and make an indentation in the centre of each burger with your thumb – this will help to stop the burgers puffing up and cook more evenly. Season both sides of each burger with a little more salt and a freshly ground black pepper.
- Heat a cast iron griddle pan over a medium-high heat until almost smoking. Add the burgers (only two at a time if the pan is small), reduce the heat to medium and cook for 3-5 minutes on each side until the burgers are seared and cooked to your liking. Alternatively, cook on a preheated gas or coal barbeque, turning occasionally.
- Top each cooked burger with a slice of cheese – the heat of the cooked burger should slowly melt the cheese, but you can place a saucepan lid over the top of the burgers to speed up the melting process, if needed.
- While the burgers are cooking, grill, air-fry or barbeque the bacon rashers until crisp. Lightly toast the split burger buns (you can do this on another griddle pan, around the edges of the barbecue or under a preheated grill).
- To assemble, spread a spoonful of burger sauce on each burger bun base, top with lettuce, tomato and red onion slices then the cheeseburger. Top with sliced gherkins and the bacon rasher.
TIPS
- Choose good quality beef mince and ensure that it has at least 15% fat content. This gives the burgers plenty of flavour and keeps them moist during cooking – leaner beef mince will result in tough, dry burgers.
- You can add extra flavourings to the beef mince, if liked, try some grated onion or shallot, dried mixed herbs, chilli flakes or steak seasoning.
- Don’t add to much salt to the beef mince before shaping as it can make the texture of the mince a bit spongy. Seasoning after shaping and just before cooking will give a flavoursome crispy crust to the burgers.
- Don’t turn the burgers too soon when cooking, make sure they are seared and lightly charred on the underside first, then flip over and cook for a further few minutes, pressing down firmly with a fish slice.
- The burger sauce can be made a few hours in advance, keep covered and chilled in the fridge until required.
- For the classic cheeseburger go for American-style processed cheese slices which melt quickly. But the choice is yours - Cheddar, mozzarella, Edam or gruyere slices are all great alternatives.
