A traditional burger — hamburger, or beef sandwich — is a sliced bun around a steak of minced beef, with lettuce, onion (raw or fried), tomato, pickled cucumber, mustard and ketchup. A bought one comes with a long list of additives; a homemade one is only what is on the card below.
This is an almost-traditional version: a beef patty and a bun, 20 minutes from start to finish. If you have the time, bake your own buns.
Recipe
Burger
Ingredients
Method
- Form the meat to four flat, even steaks – the thinner, the better they are getting smaller in the perimeter and bigger in height.
- Chop the steaks on both sides with a knife – just so they get a checkered pattern. It gives a good, even surface and a better cropping.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Turn on the oven at 175 ° C.
- Brown, and stir the steaks either in fat or on grill pan.
- Flip the steaks until they are cooked through – 3-4 minutes on each side – with no pink left in the centre.
- Put a slice of cheese on top of the steaks when desired.
- Place the burger buns in the oven – if they are not freshly baked.
- Rinse the lettuce and tear or cut it in smaller pieces if you feel like it.
- Peel the onion and cut it into thin rings.
- Rinse the tomatoes and cut them into thin slices.
- Cut the pickled cucumbers in slices.
- Cut the burger bun across or horizontally.
- Grease one half with ketchup and the other with mustard.
- Put the lettuce on the bottom, a steak middle, a pair of onion rings, a pair of sliced tomatoes, a pickled cucumber and finally bun on top and the base.
- Press lightly together.
Step by step, in pictures
Six drawings for the six moves in the card: shape, score, fry, cheese, prepare the toppings, build.
Shape four flat, even patties.- Score a criss-cross pattern, then season.
- Fry, turning the patties.
- Lay cheese on top, if you like.
- Prepare lettuce, onion, tomato and pickles.
- Build the burger and press lightly.
Cook the patties all the way through
A homemade burger should not be pink in the middle. The UK Food Standards Agency’s guidance on burgers says to cook them thoroughly and to check, before serving, that they are steaming hot all the way through, that none of the meat is pink when you cut into the centre, and that any juices run clear.
The reason it gives is the mincing itself: bacteria that sit on the surface of a whole piece of meat are spread right through a burger when the meat is minced, so they are not killed by browning the outside the way they are on a steak. Cut into one patty to check before you build the burgers.
What goes into the patty: beef, salt and pepper
Nothing else. There is no egg, breadcrumb or onion mixed into the meat in this recipe: 400 g of minced beef makes four patties, and the salt and pepper go on the outside after shaping.
Two details in the card do the work instead. Shape the patties thin, because they shrink round the edge and rise in the middle as they cook. Then press a criss-cross pattern into both sides with a knife, which gives an even surface that browns well. Fry them in oil or butter, or on a grill pan, for 3–4 minutes a side.
Toppings and swaps
The card keeps to lettuce, onion rings, tomato, pickled cucumber, ketchup and mustard — Dijon is the card’s choice. Beyond that, mayonnaise, bacon, an extra slice of cheese, brown sauce or a spoonful of béarnaise sauce all belong on a burger.
The beef patty can go too: a fish or chicken fillet, ribs or meatballs all work in the same bun with the same toppings.
What to serve with a burger
French fries, a green salad, or both. A cola is the usual drink; for guests with more grown-up tastes, a red such as a Bordeaux or a Barbera d’Alba goes well.
And there is no need for a knife and fork. Eat it however you like — it tastes the same.
