Hands up anybody who thinks hamburgers are boring. Not in my house!
Not the same old burger
I’m not talking about the McDonald’s style burger you get in the freezer section of the grocery store on a cotton wool bun. I mean a home made burger with fresh ground beef (mince) properly seasoned, grilled to a perfect medium pink and sandwiched between a sturdy, tasty home made bun that absorbs the juices from the meat without falling apart in your hands. OK, if home made buns are a bit over the top for you, try to find a good quality bun and avoid the soft squishy kind if you can. But one of these days we will talk about bread baking and you can try your hand at home made buns.
Fat = juicy burger = flavor
In the US ground beef is sold with the % of fat on the label. Typically, 8%, 15% and 22% fat. Lean (8%) ground beef makes a dry burger while 22% fat is just too greasy so I always opt for 15%. However it is sold in the UK, I do not recommend using the leanest beef. I also don’t trust the pre-packed supermarket ground beef; you never know where it came from or how long it has been stored or what quality it is. Much better if you can find a butcher who grinds his own and can tell you something about the meat and how much fat it contains. As with all things food related, the better the quality of the ingredients, the better the quality of the finished dish. But, if supermarket beef is all you have to work with, try to make sure it is the best you can get.
The not so plain old burger
Now, if you want a good, simple burger, toss the ground beef with a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. Form the meat into a loosely packed patty, into a hot pan or on to the grill for 3-4 minutes a side and there you have it. Pop it on to the bun and dress it up with your favorite toppings, cheese, tomato, mayo, pickle or whatever else takes your fancy, et voila! Food of the gods. My personal preference follows the “less is more” rule and I usually don’t put more than two toppings on my burger so I can get the full flavor of the meat. But this is a very individual thing so make your burger how you like it. Do not be tempted to pack the patty tightly or the burger will tend to be a bit tough.
Variety is the spice of life
Now, a good old fashioned burger is delicious but I like to change things up a bit.
One time I mixed a spicy Andouille sausage into the beef and topped it with a red pepper aioli. Another time I made what I called the Simon and Garfunkel burger; I mixed some parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme into the meat. I will sometimes grate an onion on a box grater to get onion pulp and mix that into the burger for a subtle onion flavor. And so on.
Last night I made a leek and mushroom-mushroom burger. Here’s what I did:
I rehydrated some dried porcini mushrooms and when they were soft I drained and finely chopped them. I cut the white and pale green parts of the leek into small 1/4″ dice and sautéed them in a little oil. As they softened I added half the mushroom soaking liquid, covered the pan and simmered it until the liquid was almost gone. I added the chopped porcini and the rest of the soaking liquid and simmered it uncovered until the liquid was almost gone. I mixed in a small handful of fresh breadcrumbs to soak up the liquid, seasoned with S&P and let it cool. I mixed the leek/porcini into the ground beef, formed the patties and grilled them to medium pink. While the burger was grilling I also grilled a couple of portobello mushrooms and set the burgers on them and served them open faced rather than on a bun (good for all you GF folks), and topped with tomatoes and avocado and a spinach salad on the side. I will write the full recipe below for anybody who wants to try it.
Porcini mushrooms
I am very partial to porcinis. They have a very intense earthy flavor and in dried form, a little goes a long way. Porcini in Italian means little pig, or piglet and fresh, these mushrooms do resemble little pigs. Their growing season is very short so they are dried to extend their shelf life. Dried mushroom will last a very long time. Their soaking liquid is also very flavorful and I made use of that flavor in this recipe by cooking it down to concentrate it even more.
No porcinis? Not to worry there is a solution to that
If you can’t find porcinis you can make something called a mushroom duxelle. This is where you finely chop some button mushrooms (a food processor is ideal for this) squeeze the liquid out of the mushrooms and cook them in some butter and some thyme till they are soft. If anybody wants more information on this process, let me know.
So what’s with the breadcrumbs?
If you are making meatballs (for spaghetti and meatballs, for example) it is common practice to add something called a panade to the meat mixture. A Panade is a thick mush made with bread and milk and it helps to keep food made with ground meat tender. (For those who really want to know, starches from the bread coat some of the proteins in the meat and prevent it form releasing its juices as it heats up.) In this case the milk is replaced by the residual mushroom soaking liquid but the result is still the same.
When you mix the mushroom/leek mixture (or any of the other flavor additives mentioned) into the ground meat you have to be quite aggressive with it. You end up with a fairly homogenous mass rather than the loose mass you have with just meat and there is a risk of a tough burger. The panade helps to eliminate that risk. You can also cook the burger beyond medium without it drying out.
A purist will tell you that it is not a burger any longer if it has bread in it but hey, it’s all about flavor, not authenticity in my opinion.
GF? Not a problem. Just omit the bread crumbs and cook the leek/mushroom mixture a bit dryer.
Well done, Medium or Rare?
For best flavor and juiciness a burger is best cooked to no more than medium; that is, still a little pink in the middle.
For some, eating slightly undercooked beef is off-putting and those folks prefer to have their burgers well cooked. I would say this; try it a little more rare. If you really can’t tolerate it then by all means cook it to your liking. If you have used a panade you can get away with cooking to well done and still have a reasonably juicy, tender burger. Without the tenderizing effects of the panade you will most likely end up with a dry burger. Tasty, no doubt, but dry. Still, as with all things food related, if that’s how you like it, that’s the way to cook it.
If I am confident of the source of the meat I am OK with eating a rare burger (I eat steak tartare, after all!) but I usually cook burgers to a medium pink.
No bun please!
If I plan far enough ahead I will make hamburger buns; sturdy ones which have flavor in their own right and can stand up to the juices from the burger. Mostly though I am not that organized and tend to cook meals spur of the moment. And since I can’t abide the cotton wool burger buns I have to think of an alternative. That is often a grilled portobello mushroom; you know, those giant, saucer sized ‘shrooms. Or, if I have any left over mashed potatoes I will make potato pancakes and use that as the base for the open face burger. A few slices of pan fried sweet potatoes also works quite well. Or, more simply, toast a thick slice of a good sturdy bread and use a large cookie cutter to cut out a round of toast the size of the cooked burger.
Toppings
As I mentioned before burger toppings are very personal. I prefer to keep it simple with perhaps only a slice of cheese and tomato. But you can prepare a variety of traditional toppings – sliced or grilled onion, ketchup, lettuce, mayonnaise, aioli, etc. and let your family and friends help themselves.
Burgers at a dinner party? Why not?
I have done that a number of times; a uniquely flavored burger with a selection of toppings is unusual at a dinner party but is always well received, perhaps because it is so unexpected. Serve beer instead of wine for a jolly good time. If you fire up the old BBQ grill, so much the better. Most often though I just use a grill pan on the stove top. I get the grill marks and the channels in the grill pan keep the burger above the accumulated fat rendered out of the burger so it doesn’t get soggy.
So much variety, so little time…
Really, I feel bad about limiting the potential of the burger by nailing down a specific recipe. Hopefully you will not be limited to what I have to say here and explore the possibilities for a very non-boring burger.
Leek and Mushroom-Mushroom Burger
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 lb (0.5kg) ground beef (mince)
1 leek, white and pale green part only, rinsed well and cut into 1/4″ (6mm) dice – See Note Below – You should have about a cup of chopped leeks
1 oz (30g) dried porcini mushrooms
1/2 cup of fresh breadcrumbs
EVO
4 Large portobello mushrooms, stem and gills removed
Toppings of your choice
Method:
In a small bowl pour 1 cup (240ml) of boiling water over the porchini mushrooms. Set aside till the water is cool and the mushrooms are very soft
Carefully swish the mushrooms around in the water to release any particles of grit and lift them out of the water, squeezing as much out as you can. Chop the porcinis fine
In the meantime heat about 2 TBS EVO in a skillet over medium heat and sauté the leeks till they begin to soften, about 3-4 minutes.
Pour in half of the mushroom soaking liquid being very careful not to get any of the debris at the bottom of the bowl, reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and simmer until the liquid is almost all gone
Add the chopped porcinis and the remainder of the soaking liquid with the same caution regarding the debris, and simmer uncovered until the mushrooms are cooked and the liquid is almost gone
Stir in the breadcrumbs and a sprinkle of S&P. Set aside to cool
While the leek mixture cools, prepare the portobellos:
Remove the stubby stems and using a spoon, carefully scrape out the gills. Actually, the gills are quite edible and even tasty but they turn everything gray when they cook so removing them is purely for aesthetics. If you don’t mind gray food, leave the gills in.
In the ‘bowl’ of the mushrooms pour in about 1 Tsp of EVO and sprinkle with a little S&P. Set the mushrooms aside
When the leek mixture is cool mix it thoroughly into the ground beef, along with about a Tsp of salt and 1/2 Tsp of pepper. Your hands are the best tools for this
Divide the mixture into 4 and form each piece into a patty about 1/2″ (1cm) thick. Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to cook the burgers.
Note: You can prepare the burgers to this point a day in advance
Pre-heat a grill pan over medium heat until it is hot. Using tongs and a wadded up paper towel dipped in vegetable oil wipe the grill pan to prevent sticking
Place the portobellos on the grill and cook, turning occasionally, until they begin to soften, about 10 minutes, depending on the size of the mushrooms
Set the mushrooms aside and wipe the grill again with the oiled paper towel
Cook the burgers for about 3-4 minutes per side or until done to your liking. Thicker patties will take longer as will patties straight from the fridge. The heat output of your stove’s burner will also affect the cooking time. The message here is, a bit of trial and error may be necessary to get it right, whatever ‘right’ means to you.
Place a burger on each portobello, dress it up with the toppings of your choice and serve alongside a green salad dressed with your best home made dressing
To prepare the leek
You may know this already but for those not used to preparing leeks…
Shave off the dark tops of the leaves, leaving the white and pale green parts only.
Cut the leek in half lengthways starting about 1/2″ up from the root end. Turn the leek 90° and cut it lengthways again
Rinse the leek under cold running water to remove any particles of dirt trapped between the leaves
Finally, remove any tough or damaged outer leaves and cut the leek crosswise into 1/4″ pieces, stopping near the root end where you made the first lengthways cuts.
