Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Favourite Food. What's yours?

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...Sausages

Noodles with egg and pak choi.

Reply 22

Lemur14

Volunteer Section Leader

Original post by NotNotBatman

Pasta and lamb samosas, not together though.

Yes, wouldn't have those together lol

Original post by Ishax

Pizza 🍕

Already on the order :smile:

Can't go a week without pizza in our house without a war breaking out!

Original post by Rhaenys10

chicken nuggets
filet mignon (duuuh)

Nuggets in the freezer already :smile:

Yum for fillet mignon, but we had beef overload last week, hence asking this :frown:

Original post by BobSausage

...Sausages

lol

On the order :smile:

Original post by TimidPhoenix

Noodles with egg and pak choi.

Thanks for the suggestion :smile:

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 23

username612415

Proper gourmet burgers have been my obsession for the last few years, a good quality burger is about as glorious a meal as you can get outside of fine dining.

tuna pasta

A well seasoned steak, samosas and potatoes omg its like the only vegetable that i will never say no to eat

Reply 26

IrinaUrsu

Pizza (Super supreme from pizza hut), biryani (from https://www.chefonline.co.uk/), pasta (any kind made by my cousin) and vegi soup.

lamb phaal

I've seen you mention this before. Can you post a recipe please.

Reply 29

username612415

Original post by Wilfred Little

I've seen you mention this before. Can you post a recipe please.

This is a long post, but if you want to cook top notch burgers at home. It's worth it. Despite all my nattering it's actually a vert simple basic recipe with onto a few ingredients required for great results.

---

*After trying a few dozen variants of different burger patty recipes, this is the one I've found to be my favourite. As a loose rule with (beef) burger patties there's two ways you can go, either for a thicker patty that you cook pink in the middle, or thinner "smashed" patties which go for maximum crispy exterior and more flavour. Both have advantages and I'd say overall I prefer a larger, juicier patty, but for home cooking I tend to favour the latter- It's easier to achieve good results this way compared to cooking fatter patties on conventional stovetops, it's consistent, it's faster and requires no resting time, and it's a bit more forgiving of the lower quality minced beef you typically find in UK supermarkets. The seasoning blend I came up with myself, it's fairly simple but boosts the savoury tastes of meat without becoming an overbearing flavour in of itself- beef should be the star here.

So yeah per burger;
*120g minced beef, preferably steak mince. If you're buying from the supermarket, get the best pack you can (or off their fresh meat counter) with the highest fat content you can- an ideal burger has an 80%/20% ratio of meat to fat, because fat's where the flavour is. However ideally, make your way to a proper butcher and ask for a ribeye steak for them to mince on their coarsest grind setting. Ribeye has flavour and fat, and a coarse grind means more texture. The beef will be divided in two for a double patty burger with slightly more meat than a quarter-pounder.

*Seasoning blend: Equal quantities of sea salt, pepper, onion powder, mustard powder and garlic powder. If you can't find onion powder or garlic powder, use onion salt or garlic salt and half the amount of sea salt you add to the blend (garlic/onion salt are literally a combination of galic/onion powder and salt), but you should be able to find both powders at a large tesco or asda. Do not use garlic or onion*granules though, they're a completely different thing.

Equipment required:
*Flat bottomed pan (not a ridged griddle), ideally cast iron but it's not essential.
*Burger press/turner, basically something broad, flat and (ideally) heavy you can use to press down on the top of the burger with with a thin edge for sliding under the burger to flip. They should cost less than a fiver on Amazon if you don't already have something suitable.

1. Prepare the seasoning blend by mixing all the ingredients together.
2. Place the pan over a high heat while you prepare the patties.
3. Handling the beef as little as possible (this keeps the meat fibres looser and stops the burgers becoming too dense after the following steps), form it into 60g balls, and keep in the fridge until ready to cook.
4. When the pan is smoking hot, take one of the balls and using the burger press/turner, flatten the ball until it's about the thickness of a pound coin. Season generously with the spice mix on one side, then place the patty seasoned side down in the pan.
5. While in the pan, *season the top side of the patty with the mix, then apply pressure with the press/turner across the whole top of the burger.
6. After about 40 seconds, flip the patty and continue applying pressure to the top. The exterior of the burger should be browned and crispy.
7. After another 40 seconds, remove the patty from the pan and place on a warmed plate. Repeat the process with the other patties.

That recipe and process, in my opinion, is the easiest and most consistent way of cooking burger patties at home. Of course what's equally important to the meat is the stuff you put around it, and this is largely up for personal tastes. I'm generally a traditionalist with burgers, partly because I try and visit loads of different burger places and like some sort of consistency in toppings to I can judge what I'm eating relative to other places, and partly because I think a relatively classic bacon cheeseburger is the pinnacle of burger variants. At home, I personally go for the following;

*Brioche buns. If you have a local baker or somewhere cooking them daily then awesome, but for shop bought buns I've found Aldi's brioche buns are pretty damn good.
*Smoked streaky bacon, American style if you can find it.
*Crappy american cheese. It might seem sacrilege after putting effort into everything else on the burger, but for me a key part of the taste of an archetypical cheeseburger is molten cheese slices that come wrapped in plastic. If you can find Kraft Singles, then they're the all time champs, but as far as I'm aware the only major UK retailer of Kraft Singles (Ocado) stopped selling them after a big recall last year. Failing that, the own-brand cheese slices from any supermarket for a quid are essentially made to an American Cheese "recipe"
*Onions, in whatever form you like them best. Whether that's onion rings, confit onions, roasted onions, caramelised onions or simply raw slices of onion, beef and onions are a winning combination and it's impossible to make a burger worse by adding onions to it. For me personally, standard fried onions work best with the other flavours I'm listing here.
*Heinz Ketchup and French's Mustard.

Slice the brioche buns and place them cut-side-up under a grill to toast (they're already full of butter so they don't need any extra oil or butter on them to toast nicely), and fry the bacon in the pan after the patties have been cooked until just bordering on crispy. When you're ready to assemble, return the patties to the pan, cover each with a slice of cheese, throw a shot of water into the pan (not onto the burgers themselves though) and cover with a lid for 5-10 seconds- this should melt the cheese nicely. Place ketchup and mustard onto the base bun and add the first patty, then a couple of slices of bacon, then the second patty, then the onions, more ketchup and mustard, then the top of the burger.

Reply 30

username917703

Nice one. Is leaving the burger pink in the middle not a risk though? Surface area is all over the shop with mince?

Will give this a go. I get my mince from the butcher, just normal beef mince. Would have thought a fine grind would be better than a coarse grind, either way I'll try this.

Reply 31

iThrow

Original post by Wilfred Little

@Gofre

Nice one. Is leaving the burger pink in the middle not a risk though? Surface area is all over the shop with mince?

yep it's a pretty significant risk especially since the bacteria present in livestock is often multi-drug resistant due to antibiotic over-exposure. always fully cook burgers made from ground beef.

Reply 32

username917703

Original post by iThrow

yep it's a pretty significant risk especially since the bacteria present in livestock is often multi-drug resistant due to antibiotic over-exposure. always fully cook burgers made from ground beef.

Cheers, thought as much. Always done this myself.

Reply 33

username612415

Original post by Wilfred Little

@Gofre

Nice one. Is leaving the burger pink in the middle not a risk though? Surface area is all over the shop with mince?

Will give this a go. I get my mince from the butcher, just normal beef mince. Would have thought a fine grind would be better than a coarse grind, either way I'll try this.

Original post by iThrow

yep it's a pretty significant risk especially since the bacteria present in livestock is often multi-drug resistant due to antibiotic over-exposure. always fully cook burgers made from ground beef.

If you're cooking on a high heat then the cooking time should be enough to raise the internal temperature to a point where bacteria is killed- cooking a burger all the way through isn't any safer once you're past that point. I exclusively eat larger burgers cooked pink and it's the way that any burger restaurant worth its salt would recommend eating it, it's common practice. Of course I'm not suggesting eating it "rare", but keeping it a bit pink in the centre is a sure sign you haven't overcooked it :yy:

If course with the method I mentioned, the patties are thin so pretty much cook through instantly with the combination of high heat and downward pressure. If you did want to try cooking larger parties without overdoing them, pick up a meat thermometer for a couple of quid and find the temperature guidelines online :smile:

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 34

Viva Emptiness

I actually work at a red meat producer and packer and this recipe and instruction is surprisingly spot on! Have you been to Bleecker St burger? Talking to their chefs their burger is 40% fat and totally rare in the middle and hands down the best (of MANY) I and my colleagues have ever had.

Reply 35

username612415

Original post by Viva Emptiness

I've not had a chance to try it yet, but intend to over the next few weeks :yep:

My friend and I are actually planning a weekend trip down to London to try five or six highly rated burger joints that we haven't visited yet, which I'm very much looking forward to :teeth: