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Classic Hamburger
A great burger has a balance of crunch, creaminess, freshness, saltiness and tang to contrast against the soft sweet bun and the properly crusty-edged meat.
Ingredients
20g butter
1kg onions, sliced
2 teaspoon brown sugar
600g beef mince
150g sausage meat (optional: I think the ideal fat content for a burger is about 20 per cent, so add the sausage meat if the beef mince is very lean)
2 spring onions, trimmed, finely sliced
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce or 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon white sesame seeds
4 rashers middle or streaky bacon, ideally smoked
1/2 an iceberg lettuce
1/4 white cabbage
1 lemon
4 large bread rolls, round and soft
4 slices of cheese
Four rings of pineapple (or 4 sweet and sour pickled cucumbers, or 1 tin of sliced beetroot)
Tomato sauce
Mayonnaise
2 large ripe tomatoes, thickly sliced
Method
Warm butter in a frypan and slowly cook onions and sugar, stirring occasionally until onions caramelise (about 40 minutes).
In a large bowl mix the mince, sausage meat and spring onions.
Add tabasco or mustard, a generous pinch of salt and a good grind of pepper.
Use your hands to just combine the meat don't over work it.
Mix in sesame seeds
Using wet hands, form into small cricket balls and place on a baking tray lined with grease-proof paper.
Press flat so they are the same diameter as your rolls.
With a spoon press down to form a little well in the centre of the top of each burger patty to deal with slight swelling in the middle that tends to come with cooking of the meat.
Place burgers in the fridge.
Shred the lettuce finely so you have 2 cups.
Add 1 cup of finely shredded cabbage.
Dress the salad with a squeeze of lemon juice.
Grill the rolls, (outsides first) and lightly butter.
Heat the grill and cook four burgers and the bacon.
The burgers will take about four minutes each side, depending on the thickness they do not need to be cooked through.
Lay a cheese slice on each burger
Cut the bacon rashers into four and push these into the cheese.
Keep burgers warm so the cheese melts.
In a dry pan, fry the pineapple so it gets a little tanned.
Serve with fries or a large packet of salted potato chips that have been warmed in the oven and loads of pickles, sauce, slices of beetroot, and mustard on the side.
Serves 4
Recipe by Matt Preston of Masterchef Australia
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