As some of you know, I'm toothless and have been for over a year waiting for a gum problem to be sorted before I can get a set of choppers. But I can't help thinking about FOOD! So I thought I'd propose this recipe anyway so that you lucky devils with teeth can enjoy it.
I've picked up a few tricks over the years about making a burger. One is to fry chopped onion and garlic in butter before adding it to the beef mince to get that lovely caramelized flavor. Then use the same pan to fry the burgers.
I make burgers with lean mince (500g for about 4 patties), 1 egg, pinch of mixed herbs, salt and pepper, and chopped onion and garlic fried. Hand mix until all ingredients are well combined, shape into patties.
Before frying the patties, slice a white bun in half and fry the halves face down in the pan. Then fry the patties.
Spread the toasted buns with mayonnaise. On the bottom bun, place thin slices of pickled cucumber. When the patties are cooked, place a pattie on top of the cucumber slices, top pattie with salsa sauce, then slice of cheese, then sliced tomato, then shredded lettuce. Place other half of bun on top and open wide.
Ingredients are in bold so you'll know what you need before you start. Extras like a fried egg are up to you but I like to keep pretty close to the Maccas' taste.
I love beetroot too Gerty (in fact I love it on buttered fresh bread just by itself), but I've provided the basic recipe. Embellishments are up to each individual.
ABC presenter was asking for burger recipe ideas the other afternoon. There was a new one for every listener I'd say. Someone even said a shop organised his local bakery to cook him 7" buns to make his burgers outdo the competition of others. And it worked. At least you'd have no trouble with the contents slipping out of a 7" bun.
You can keep your "pickled cucumber" aka gerkin.
I'd have tomato sauce instead of "salsa sauce".
Like Gerty, have to have beetroot.
For a real celebration though, I add fried egg, bacon and a ring of pineapple.
After shaping the patty which I throw back and forth in each hand, roll to a ball then shape I leave in fridge uncovered for at least 1hr then bring to room temp before cooking on the Webber Q. This keeps the shape while cooking. No need for the egg in the mix but it does get cooked then goes with all of the other goodies before putting the top of the bun on. A bit of beetroot paste is nice instead of tom sauce.
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For the salad component of the burger - take a medium sized leaf of iceberg lettuce and shape it like a wide cup. Inside put some grated carrot, thin sliced tomato, thin sliced cucumber (or pickled cucumber of some sort), some thin sliced red capsicum rings, some thin sliced red onion rings, beetroot slices if wished. After assembling meat, whatever on the bun base, pick up the lettuce cup and invert it over the lot, then put bun lid on quick.
This is the easiest way to add the salad stuff - and it tends to stay in place. Learned it when I was cooking them in a cafe. Can stick a wooden skewer through the whole lot, too, to keep it from sliding apart.
Nifty idea, Wendy. Nothing worse than taking a bite and firing salad in all directions like a scatter gun. Another idea is to roll up the lettuce leaf and eat the salad component separately.
Gary that sounds great except the bit where you say "but I like to keep pretty close to the Maccas' taste.".....however I like the bit about frying up chopped onion and garlic to get the flavour which is certainly not Maccas!. Next burger I make I'll try that.
Love a great burger but not Maccas style with gherkin .....yuk.