LOCKDOWN SMASH BURGER

 
 

INGREDIENTS

Makes: 4

  • Burger Buns - What ever you like, we’re using Brioche (90p)

  • Iceberg Lettuce (65p)

  • Beef Tomato (50p)

  • Brown Onion (15p)

  • Dairylea Cheese Slices (£1.45)

  • Pickled Gerkins (87p)

  • Beef Mince (20% Fat) (£1.59)

  • Total Cost = £6.11 // £1.52 Per Burger

Store Cupboard Ingredients

  • Mayo (Kewpie if you’re feeling flush/fancy)

  • Tomato Ketchup

  • American Mustard

  • Optional: Hot Sauce / Salt / Pepper

Equipment Required

  • Cast Iron Pan or Flat Top or even just a good frying pan

  • Spatula

  • Greaseproof Paper

  • Something Flat and Heavy (Can be another pan)

  • Rolling Pin

PREPERATION

TOPPINGS

  • Get your toppings prepped. You want everything thin. This isn’t a break your jaw burger.

  • Slice your onion, and I mean as thin as you can. You’re going to want 2 or 3 slices of onion for each burger.

  • Thinly slice your Beef Tomato, you want one piece per burger.

  • Shred your Iceberg lettuce.

  • Thinly slice your pickles. You want 2 or 3 slices of pickle per burger.

  • Slice the burger buns.

  • Get your Dairylea Cheese Slices out the fridge. If you are using a different cheese then get that thinly sliced.

SAUCE

  • Your sauce consists of the following ratios of Ketchup(25%), Mayo (40%) and American Mustard (35%).

  • You can measure this out but eyeballing it is fine too. The final sauce is more yellow that your standard burger sauce.

  • Dice 1/4 of an onion and add to the bowl with the sauces. You want the smallest onion pieces you can do.

  • Finely dice one gherkin and add this to the bowl.

  • Optionally add a couple of dashes of your favourite Hot Sauce. I usually use either Sriracha, Crystal or Franks.

  • Season with Salt & Pepper to taste.

  • Mix and set to the side. 

Burger

  • Divide your mince into roughly 110g portions.

  • Gently combine the meat but don’t overwork and shape into four loosely packed balls.

  • Cut 4 squares out of greaseproof paper, these should be slightly larger than your burger buns.

METHOD

  • Get your pan (preferably cast iron) on to a medium low heat.

  • Pop your burger buns in cut side down and toast to a nice toasted brown colour.

  • Repeat for all buns and set aside.

  • Turn heat to the highest possible and wait for 5 mins or so until the pan is smoking. (Open some windows and get that extraction on)

  • At the last moment, season your meatball generously with salt. 6. Place the salted side of the meatball onto the pan.

  • Place a square of greaseproof paper on top, get your heavy pan and place it on top of the meatball. Grab your rolling pin and push down hard. You want to squash this into a burger and get maximum surface contact with the pan. We’re developing a crust here.

  • Remove the greaseproof paper after 20/30 seconds, once the burger has set into it’s burger shape.

  • Season the top of the burger. We’re going to do 80% of the cooking on the side that is currently face down.

  • Once you can see the edges are cooked it’s time to flip. Get your spatula and scrape to release the patty. We don’t want to loose any of that crust!

  • Pop the cheese on top of the burger and switch off the pan. The burger will be cooked by the the time the cheese has melted.


CONSTRUCTION

  • Spread sauce on the top and bottom of the bun.

  • Places shredded lettuce, thinly sliced onions and tomato on the bottom bun.

  • Pop your cooked burger on top.

  • Add your sliced pickles.

  • Stick the top bun on the burger.

  • Dig In!