Beef Burgers

damiennolan

Hi
Does anyone have a recipe(s) for homemade beef burger suitable for frying or BBQ?
Something a little bit spicy/"herby" would suit

Thanks

Tree

basically, take whatever youliek and bung em into the mix!

some of mine:

(for all, start with one pound of mince, one beaten egg and a lash of flour, all mixed up, you can cook em just plain like that for the fussy ppl (some ppl add breadcrumbs but i prefer not to))

Spicy pepper burgers
three quarter teaspoon chilli paste
half a finely chopped red pepper

Boring burgers
dessert spoon of ketchup
finely chopped onion
teaspoon parsley
dessert spoon soy sauce

everything in the fridge
dessert spoon tomato puree
half teaspoon chilli paste
quarter teaspoon garlic paste
teaspoon parsley
finely chopped onion
dessertspoon of soysauce
dessertspoon of yr (its rank normally but in burger.... mmmmmmmmmmm)
(you'll have to add a bit more flour to this one coz its a bit wet)


Basically, if you like it, toss it in. you can get some nice results

some ppl can cook a layer of chees int eh middle of their burgers but ive never mastered it

The Hill Billy

Home Made Burgers
Makes 8

Ingredients
750g minced steak
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 egg yoke, lightly beaten
1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
½ tbsp thyme, finely chopped
1 tbsp flour
Salt & pepper, to taste
The following could also be used depending on how adventurous you want to be:
½ to 1 tsp of cumin, chilli, paprika or dried chilli flakes
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

Preparation
Add all the ingredients (apart from the flour) to the mixing bowl & mix thoroughly
Cover & refrigerate for at least 1 hour
Roughly divide into 8 lumps & press gently into patties
If frying, coat each patty in the flour – dusting of the excess

If cooking on the BBQ try this first (makes life a bit easier)…
On a high heat add a half tbsp of olive oil to the frying pan & seal each side of the burgers – 2 to 3 mins each side – then finish off on BBQ.

Courgette Burgers
Makes 8

Ingredients
750g minced steak
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium courgette, grated
2cm ginger, grated or finely chopped
1 tsp soy sauce
1 egg yoke
1 tbsp flour
Salt & pepper to taste

Preparation
Cook as above.


If you do try these, let me know how you get on...HB

bonkey

I don't have fixed quantities, but I go for something like the following:

About 300g mince, ideally not too lean.
About an equal volume of breadcrumbs as mince. I just blitz up old bread in my processor whenever I have it, crusts n all, bag and freeze it. Its great for this type of thing.
1 egg
1 heaped teaspoon of mild mustard (or grainy Dijon for variety)
1 heaped teaspoon of paprika (smoked/hot/mild as you like)
1 dessert-spoon of freshly-crushed coriander seeds
dash of Worchestershire sauce
salt (large-grain sea-salt, smoked salt, etc. for variety)
pepper

Mix everything together well, and allow to sit afterwards for about 30 mins.

I actually blend them altogether in a food processor. It makes almost a paste (which looks gross), but the texture of the burgers at the end is great, and they hold together a bit better. which can be a problem if your egg is too small or your mince is too lean.

Form into burgers (you'll get 4-6 from this, depending on how big you like 'em), and ideally allow to sit in the fridge for another 1/2 hour if you're gonna be BBQing them.

If you're doing them on the barbie / on a griddle / under the grill, then rub a splash of sunflower/rapeseed oil into the surface fo the burgers after they've been formed. If you're gonna fry with oil, then don't bother.

Variations

- Chop some streaky bacon into the mix.
or Add 1 finely diced, small onion into the mix
or Add 1 finely diced, medium pickled gherkin into the mix
or Add curry / cajun / whatever seasoning to taste
or Add a handful of fresh, chopped coriander
or Add a handful of grated cheese of yoru choice - preferably something that melts well.

Adding the cheese and the bacon into the mix (do this after its been through the processor if you're going that route) is a great variation on making bacon-cheeseburgers.

Master the basic recipe (i,.e. do it twice), and after that, you can pretty much do whatever you like. e.g. if you fancy a mexican burger, add some chilli flavourings (oregano, chilli-powder, etc.)

Note: I have used almost the identical recipe, replacing the mince with blitzed-down chickpeas. It *can* fall apart on the BBQ/grill, so you may need a bit more binding material - a second egg perhaps.

On a high heat add a half tbsp of olive oil

Given that olive oil breaks down at lower temps than sunflower / rapeseed / almost any nut oil, I'd recommend that at a high heat you use one of these instead. To each their own, though.

jc

Blub2k4

bonkey wrote:

Note: I have used almost the identical recipe, replacing the mince with blitzed-down chickpeas. It *can* fall apart on the BBQ/grill, so you may need a bit more binding material - a second egg perhaps.

1-2 tablespoons of peanut butter is nice in a veggie burger for flavour and as a binder.

daveg

How fattening are home made burgers? I've often wondered this. I would consider Spegetti Bolognaise to be quite low in fat (if you use lean minced beef). If you use the same mince for the burgers and grill them would this be considered healthy? Before we throw cheese and other toppings of course..

Alun

daveg wrote:

How fattening are home made burgers? I've often wondered this. I would consider Spegetti Bolognaise to be quite low in fat (if you use lean minced beef). If you use the same mince for the burgers and grill them would this be considered healthy? Before we throw cheese and other toppings of course..

As Bonkey quite rightly pointed out, you do need some fat in the mince to hold everything together. If you use the 99% fat-free super-lean stuff they'll tend to fall apart regardless of how much egg or breadcrumbs you add as a binder. But I'm guessing that even if you used "normal' mince and grilled them to make sure you got rid of as much fat as possible, you'd still end up with a lower fat content than many commercially available burgers, in which there'll be a higher content of gristle and "reclaimed" meat. Only a guess though.

damiennolan

cheers for the replies guys. wasnt expecting anyone to reply at all!
not convinced about adding breadcrumbs though! i'm trying to stay away from anything that resembles the frozen counterparts!

babaduck

Breadcrumbs are a great binder & I much prefer them to egg... I've definitely noticed the difference when I've not used them. I only use a small handful for 440g of mince.

I also make mine in a food processor, and start by blitzing 2 cloves of garlic, a red onion or a handful of shallots, parsley & chives together before adding the mince, loads of seasoning, the breadcrumbs, plenty of Lea & Perrins and sometimes some fresh grated Parmesan if I have it to hand.

Chili sauce if you want to spice it up

Lamb or pork mince (with fresh mint) is a great substitution. I did use turkey mince once but it was so bloody bland so I've never bothered since

daveg

Sweat chilli mixed in is really nice as well. Breadcrumbs area pain tbh. Use the end to bind.

Tree

see, egg or bread is up to you. try both ways first sure


had burgers for dinner today, with edam melted on top;,mmmmmmmmmm

bonkey

babaduck wrote:

Lamb or pork mince (with fresh mint) is a great substitution. I did use turkey mince once but it was so bloody bland so I've never bothered since

If you can lay your hands on it, and it ain't too expensive, venison is the absolute bomb for making burgers.....specially if you can cook 'em fairly slowly on a not-too-hot BBQ* with a lid so they pick up loadsa smokey flavour.

Boar and red-meat game in general also works well.

Must try goat/chamois/steinbock this year when I can lay my hands on it.

I agree re: turkey, and chicken is even worse. I'd only use either as a base for serious spicing (home-made curry powder does the job)

jc

* I know, I know...its a grill, not a BBQ

growler

one other piece of advice I read on burgers (Observer Food supplement) was to put a small piece of ice in the centre of the patty, apparently this helps keep it moist and the steam cooks the meat from the inside out.

Certainly didn't do any harm.

utopian

I've found that the key to making good burgers is:

1. do not buy mince - instead, buy beef pieces and run them through the food processor
2. don't use a binding - just salt and pepper
3. use a grill-pan to cook them

Tasty.

Smoggy

if your gonna add onion make sure its real finely chopped. I had onion in my last ones and I made them quite large pieces and it stopped the burger from holding. It all fell into the BBQ after a while and made me cry like a little baby.

- ps the breadcrumbs cant really be tatsed. Its a meat overkill without I think

- pps , also if your burgers arent quite as compact and holding as you would like dont try chucking them on tin foil, like I did as they just burnt to the bottom of it !

hillynicky

great recipes! thanks!

Blub2k4

hillynicky wrote:

great recipes! thanks!

Stop bringing up old threads to put a one liner in.

If you are going to bring up old threads then make sure to add something, these one liners are getting old fast.

daosulli

A tempting recipe here:
Lamburgers With Melted Cashel Blue cheese
http://www.bordbia.ie/go/Consumers/Recipes/lamb/lamburgers.html
&
loads of ideas here:
http://www.bordbia.ie/Consumers/Recipes/

enjoy

mullmick

As an addition to the suggestions already noted, I once tried "mexican" burgers by adding a finely chopped green chilli, as as disgusting as it sounds (it was GOOD) a packet of taco mix like the old el paso stuff you get from the supermarket.

Another idea is to put a small nugget of cheese- the Cashel Blue, Gorgonzola, cheddar, Mozarella etc in the centre of the burger before grilling/ barbequing can be good fun- and a nice surprise.