This is a bit of a beg, steal and borrow recipe. The burger is inspired by Fred Smith’s recent double cheese at the Ad Cod. The patty is very much in the style of Lucky Chip / Meatwagon / Mother Flipper. And the bun recipe, which is kind of a demi-brioche, is based on (believe it or not) a Dan Lepard hot cross bun recipe.

The burger patties are pure meat, so don’t buy the stuff you get in the supermarket. Go and see your butcher and either get him to grind a bit of what you fancy, or if their own mince is good quality, get some of that. I used a combination of chuck and shin (I think around 75% to 25%). Great flavour.

This recipe will make either 2 doubles with a few buns to spare, or 4 singles. The choice is yours. I serve mine with lettuce, red onion, a cheeky sauce made with home made mayo and Tabasco, and some of that lovely plastic burger cheese. I didn’t have the time or the inclination to make my own, but you can. There’s a good recipe for it here on Luc Martin’s blog.

Finally, As these burgers don’t have a binding agent, they are a bit more fragile, which can make barbecuing them slightly harder. The ‘cue I used had flat bars so I was safe, but they’re equally good fried off in a hot pan or on a griddle plate in true diner style.

Ingredients

For the buns (makes 5)

135 g white bread flour

135 g plain flour

7 g fresh yeast / 4 g dried yeast

90 ml warm water

40 ml milk

40 g butter

40 g sugar

1 large egg (half for the dough, half for glazing the buns)

1/2 tsp salt

For the patties

500 g ground beef – chuck and shin

Salt and pepper

Method

First the buns. Mix the yeast and the warm water together and set aside to activate for a few minutes while you prep the rest of your ingredients. Bring the milk to the boil, take it off the heat and add the butter, stirring until it melts. Next take the egg, beat it, and add half to the buttery milk.

Sift the flours, sugar and salt together into a bowl, and then add the yeasty water and milk mixture. Mix with your hands, and bring together to form a sticky, shaggy dough and then leave for 10 minutes. After this time, remove from the bowl and knead for around half a minute, and then  form it into a ball. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and leave it somewhere warm for 45 minutes.

After this time, divide the dough into 5 equal pieces or around 100g each. Flatten the dough, and then shape each piece into a round, smooth ball. Place the balls seam side down on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper about an inch or so apart. Cover with a tea towel, and return them to the warm place for around an hour and a half to prove, until they have risen by half. Around half an hour before they are ready, pre-heat your oven to 190c.

When the buns are ready, brush them with the remaining egg mixture and then pop in the oven to bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until beautifully shiny and golden brown. Remove from the oven, peel them off the baking tray, and place them on a rack to cool.

The patties are easy, but make sure your mince is at room temperature and not cold before you cook them off. Divide your mince into 4 equal portions of around 125g each, and then form each into a tight ball. Then flatten each one to around 1.5 cm thick, making an impression in the centre of each one with your thumb (this helps the burger maintain an equal thickness as the meat contracts during cooking).

Once the patties are done, you’re ready to go. Get your pan / barbie / plate good and hot, and season the meat with salt and pepper just before they go on the grill. You want to caremelise each side, and keep cooking for as long as you need depending on how you like your burgers. When you’re ready, pop the cheese on top and let it melt a bit before taking off the grill.

And that is it. Serve them how you like and with what ever side you like. We had sweet potato fries, but onion rings would have probably been better.

Tags: Ad Cod, Barbecue, Beef, Brioche, Buns, Burger, Cheese, Chuck, Dan Lepard, Demi, Diner, Double, Fred Smith, Grill, Hot Plate, Lucky Chip, Meatwagon, Mince, Mother Flipper, Shin

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 17th, 2012 at 6:58 am and is filed under Dinner, Lunch, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.