I quite often cook burgers, and they have always been pretty good. But they are never the same twice – and I think in the past, I have been so stream-of-consciousness experimental in the base ingredients that I often have lost out on the beef flavour that is the point of the exercise. This time, I think I have the best homemade hamburger recipe.
So one day, I stumbled over a burger patty recipe in John Torode’s “Beef”, which is much simpler than my previous attempts, and decided to give it a go. Since it turned out to be excellent, I have reproduced the recipe here.
John’s trick is to use no salt instead of oyster sauce since the salt is more likely to dry the meat too much, and it can be crumbly when cooked. And who wants a crumbly burger? No one, that’s who. So do not be concerned – the oyster sauce provides salt flavour, it doesn’t turn your beef patty oriental flavoured (which wouldn’t be a terrible thing, just not the classic burger I’m seeking on this occasion).
I hope you enjoy the best homemade hamburger recipe I have made yet!
Best Homemade Hamburger Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ pounds minced beef higher fat
- 2 small red onions finely diced
- 1 handful flat-leaf parsley chopped
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
- 1 medium egg yolk
Instructions
- Mix the mince, diced onion and parsley in a big bowl. Then, go for it – hands are the only way to get the onion properly combined through the meat.
- Add the sauces and the egg yolk, and give it another good mix. I then roll 8 balls from a mixture of the same size. Each ball I dump on the cling wrap and press down into a patty shape, then wrap it up. These guys are great to have in the freezer, so I make the whole 8 and freeze.
- Find a nice, heavy pan or griddle pan and heat it to very hot – where you hover your hand over the surface and can feel strongly what a bad idea it is to get any closer.
- Slap 2 patties taken straight from the fridge down on your griddle pan and admire the sizzling. Your oyster sauce will do its flavouring job, so there is no need to further season. I like my burger boys pink in the middle: after 2 minutes, I turn each patty 90 degrees, still on the same side, to give it a lovely griddle lattice pattern, which is a bit daft given it will be hidden in a bun and all, but I’ll know its there.
- Assemble the burger in a bun and add a choice of greens and burger dressing.