Recipe for Burgers’0’d00m!!
[Level - Public]
Recipe for Burgers’0’d00m!!
(I’m sure that karohemd won’t object to that title if he makes these!)
I’m trying to get my freezer emptied so I can defrost the thing (due to door being slightly ajar a few times and getting all arctic wasteland on me… I hasten to add, food left in there at the time was rapidly chucked but it filled up again quickly before I got the chance to defrost!).
As a result of this, I’ve started using up what is in there. And there have subsequently been a few interesting meals! We’ve had (we being myself and my very brave man, metalganjey who is a test subject when it comes to my cooking) Salmon and Prawn creamy tomato pasta (using what was in the fridge, freezer and a small pot of cream), toad-in-the-hole Alex style (using up some freezer sausages, only thing to buy was onion and pancetta), and last night was burger night.
Now, I like cooking. I generally don’t follow a recipe; I just see what I’ve got and sort of make it up as I go, baking cakes aside. I’m very much a ‘dab of this, splash of that, sprinkle of that, does it smell right yet… no, right, well, bit of this, how’s it now… taste… yum’ and so on. When it works, which it so far generally has with Alex there thankfully, it’s great. When it doesn’t work, you learn why and know not to do it again. That sort of experimenting is perfect for ‘leftovers’ or things you want to use up because otherwise it’s going to get thrown anyway so if it fails, you’ve lost nothing. 'Lex describes my cooking as watching an artist create, whereas his cooking is more like assembling a nuclear warhead. I like to play around, he likes instructions.
Anyway, back to burgers. We had mince defrosted, half for enchiladas tonight, half for burgers last night. I’d grabbed a couple of recipes so I knew what to base my experiment on, and Alex had opted for ‘inverted cheeseburgers’. They were hands down the tastiest burgers I have ever tasted. So I’m sharing the approximate amounts and mixture here. You could easily swap out for herbs and spices you liked instead, or different meat (pork would work well, as would veggie/quorn mince for instance, but instead of onion with pork you could go with leek… I’m really looking forward to experimenting lots with different versions of this!). You could also easily experiment with the ‘inverted’ burger filling, depending on your meat and seasonal flavours. But I would recommend this as a starting point.
Burger mix:
500g mince
1 to 2 tsp American mustard / Dijon mustard (I didn’t have American so substituted)
Freshly ground salt and pepper
Half a red onion very finely chopped - use about 2/3 of it, the rest is for the stuffing
2 cloves crushed garlic / 2 tsps lazy garlic
Fresh basil, shredded very finely
Fresh coriander, shredded very finely
Burger filling:
Grated cheddar - as much as you think you’ll use! It’s great as cheese and onion sandwich filling or as a base for cheese savoury if you don’t use it all.
1 tsp Paprika
½ tsp chilli flakes
The rest of the onion
Mix all your burger ingredients together. The mustard will act as a binding agent, other recipes use oil or egg yolk or beaten eggs or a combo. You want it to be coming away from the bowl ‘clean’ and forming into a ball but equally, you don’t want it too dry or too sticky. If you need more binding agent, add in more mustard OR use a little egg yolk etc. Leave it to one side to get all those flavours penetrating the meat.
Mix all your stuffing ingredients. You can leave the onion out but if so, but chives or something in. You could always use stilton or maybe mozzarella and sun-blushed tomato etc, and you don’t NEED to have the paprika or chilli in there but it gives it a tiny kick.
Get some plain flour ready to dust your burgers with, and make sure your hands are nice and clean. Separate your burger mix into equal portions (4 is ideal but make more if there’s enough or fewer, however large you’d like them!). Turn them into ‘balls’ and make a hollow in the top of each one. Now, add some of your cheese mix into the hollows. Cover it up and turn each ball into a flatter, traditional burger shape. They’ll still be quite ‘fat’ though.
Now, dust each burger on each side with the flour and season with a little more black pepper.
You can put them in the fridge until you’re ready to cook them.
As for cooking them, a little oil in a pan, on a high heat initially to get it warmed but then medium heat to cook. 8 to 9 minutes on each side for medium-well done, 6 minutes on each side for medium (no pink, but still very juicy), 4 minutes on each side if you’re braver!
The quality of the mince isn’t hugely important because of all the flavours but as ever, the better, the better. You do want some with a bit of fat in it however.
Serve as you’d like to. The recipes suggested in toasted sesame buns with streaky bacon, lettuce, tomato, rings of onion and fries on the side. I honestly don’t think you need much else, but make them and see what you think.
Recipe for Burgers’0’d00m!!
(I’m sure that karohemd won’t object to that title if he makes these!)
I’m trying to get my freezer emptied so I can defrost the thing (due to door being slightly ajar a few times and getting all arctic wasteland on me… I hasten to add, food left in there at the time was rapidly chucked but it filled up again quickly before I got the chance to defrost!).
As a result of this, I’ve started using up what is in there. And there have subsequently been a few interesting meals! We’ve had (we being myself and my very brave man, metalganjey who is a test subject when it comes to my cooking) Salmon and Prawn creamy tomato pasta (using what was in the fridge, freezer and a small pot of cream), toad-in-the-hole Alex style (using up some freezer sausages, only thing to buy was onion and pancetta), and last night was burger night.
Now, I like cooking. I generally don’t follow a recipe; I just see what I’ve got and sort of make it up as I go, baking cakes aside. I’m very much a ‘dab of this, splash of that, sprinkle of that, does it smell right yet… no, right, well, bit of this, how’s it now… taste… yum’ and so on. When it works, which it so far generally has with Alex there thankfully, it’s great. When it doesn’t work, you learn why and know not to do it again. That sort of experimenting is perfect for ‘leftovers’ or things you want to use up because otherwise it’s going to get thrown anyway so if it fails, you’ve lost nothing. 'Lex describes my cooking as watching an artist create, whereas his cooking is more like assembling a nuclear warhead. I like to play around, he likes instructions.
Anyway, back to burgers. We had mince defrosted, half for enchiladas tonight, half for burgers last night. I’d grabbed a couple of recipes so I knew what to base my experiment on, and Alex had opted for ‘inverted cheeseburgers’. They were hands down the tastiest burgers I have ever tasted. So I’m sharing the approximate amounts and mixture here. You could easily swap out for herbs and spices you liked instead, or different meat (pork would work well, as would veggie/quorn mince for instance, but instead of onion with pork you could go with leek… I’m really looking forward to experimenting lots with different versions of this!). You could also easily experiment with the ‘inverted’ burger filling, depending on your meat and seasonal flavours. But I would recommend this as a starting point.
Burger mix:
500g mince
1 to 2 tsp American mustard / Dijon mustard (I didn’t have American so substituted)
Freshly ground salt and pepper
Half a red onion very finely chopped - use about 2/3 of it, the rest is for the stuffing
2 cloves crushed garlic / 2 tsps lazy garlic
Fresh basil, shredded very finely
Fresh coriander, shredded very finely
Burger filling:
Grated cheddar - as much as you think you’ll use! It’s great as cheese and onion sandwich filling or as a base for cheese savoury if you don’t use it all.
1 tsp Paprika
½ tsp chilli flakes
The rest of the onion
Mix all your burger ingredients together. The mustard will act as a binding agent, other recipes use oil or egg yolk or beaten eggs or a combo. You want it to be coming away from the bowl ‘clean’ and forming into a ball but equally, you don’t want it too dry or too sticky. If you need more binding agent, add in more mustard OR use a little egg yolk etc. Leave it to one side to get all those flavours penetrating the meat.
Mix all your stuffing ingredients. You can leave the onion out but if so, but chives or something in. You could always use stilton or maybe mozzarella and sun-blushed tomato etc, and you don’t NEED to have the paprika or chilli in there but it gives it a tiny kick.
Get some plain flour ready to dust your burgers with, and make sure your hands are nice and clean. Separate your burger mix into equal portions (4 is ideal but make more if there’s enough or fewer, however large you’d like them!). Turn them into ‘balls’ and make a hollow in the top of each one. Now, add some of your cheese mix into the hollows. Cover it up and turn each ball into a flatter, traditional burger shape. They’ll still be quite ‘fat’ though.
Now, dust each burger on each side with the flour and season with a little more black pepper.
You can put them in the fridge until you’re ready to cook them.
As for cooking them, a little oil in a pan, on a high heat initially to get it warmed but then medium heat to cook. 8 to 9 minutes on each side for medium-well done, 6 minutes on each side for medium (no pink, but still very juicy), 4 minutes on each side if you’re braver!
The quality of the mince isn’t hugely important because of all the flavours but as ever, the better, the better. You do want some with a bit of fat in it however.
Serve as you’d like to. The recipes suggested in toasted sesame buns with streaky bacon, lettuce, tomato, rings of onion and fries on the side. I honestly don’t think you need much else, but make them and see what you think.