Bacon’s Burger Recipe
Even for those whose “body is a temple”, these burgers are blimmin’ hard to pass up. This recipe has been crafted and refined over many burger nights, so get ready for burger nirvana…
· 500 grams of nicely-marbled mince (Controversial maybe, but I highly recommend Grey Lynn Butcher. Lucia is super-friendly, helpful and turns out great product.)
· 1 red onion sliced
· ½ cup of bread crumbs (A good option here is to use the ‘redundant’ crust from your bread loaf or take it to the next level by blending up some sourdough. Farro’s kumara sourdough is mint for this!)
· 1 ½ teaspoons of crushed garlic
· 1 tablespoon of butter
· 1 teaspoon of chilli powder
· Salt & pepper
· Half a handful of parsley
· 4 - 6 large portabella mushrooms
· 6 bacon rashers (Smoked Honey, again from Grey Lynn Butcher)
· A decent dollop of BBQ sauce
· A good dose of Worcestershire sauce
· Mayo to spread on your bun (Culley’s Smoky Mayo is my choice)
· 1 free range egg
· Iceberg lettuce
· Cheese slices (Go Gouda if you’ve got it)
· A generous handful of grated cheddar or colby cheese
· 1 smashed avocado (don’t fret, they’re cheap right now!)
· Quality brioche buns
· Brown sugar to caramelise the onion
· Any other condiments you love, like tomato, pickle, relish, mustard, chilli jam…
Method:
Now, I do recommend making your burgers with a refreshing beverage in hand and your favourite tunes on. Food romance is one of the best you’ll ever experience.
Good cooking is all about prep, so slice the onion, mushrooms, avocado, cheese, parsley, and buns before throwing your patties on the grill.
Heat a pan or a BBQ plate and when hot, throw on your bacon and enjoy that sweet sizzle - cooking until crispy. Take off heat and let it cool briefly on a chopping board before dicing it up and putting in a large mixing bowl.
Next put the sliced mushrooms on the heat lathered with butter and garlic. The mushrooms will also soak up the bacon fat adding more flavour (you can work it off in the morning). Once cooked to your liking add to the mixing bowl.
Now mix your mince in with the mushrooms and bacon. Crack in the egg, add your bread crumbs, Worchester and BBQ sauce, grated cheddar or colby cheese, a teaspoon of chilli powder, the parsley, salt and pepper. The key here is to get your hands dirty, really giving the ingredients a solid knead to bind together and get all those flavours to fuse.
Make the mix in to four decent patties, place on a plate with baking paper and put them in the fridge to set for a minimum of 30 mins.(Bacon’s tip for maximum flavour is making the patties the night before)
By this stage you will be ready for another beverage, so wash your hands a grab a cold one from the fridge. When you’re ready, get the patties out of the fridge and let them sit for a minimum of 15 mins before throwing on the grill.
A decent heat or flame is recommended here to achieve that lovely char – Three to four minutes each side should do it. Then turn the heat of the pan right down or place the patties on your BBQ rack / plate off the direct flame. You ideally want the patties to be a little pink still through the middle. Chuck your gouda cheese on top of the patties to melt. Next cab off the rank is the onions, chuck them on the plate and sprinkle a pinch of brown sugar to caramelise. Finally, lightly toast your buns on the grill. Then build the best burger you’ve ever created.
Enjoy and eat messy, it’s the only way to tackle this classic combination of bakery and butcher.