Homemade burgers! Who doesn't know that they are a hundred times better than those we can buy? They are because we choose the best meat, without preservatives or additives, and we mix it with the ingredients that we like the most, and also because homemade always has that extra bit of satisfaction that makes us proud.
Thank you Miriam, author of El Invitado de Invierno , for inviting us to these delicious homemade burgers!
What a pleasure it is to prepare a good homemade burger. Have you ever done it? In my opinion it is well worth it, not only because you have more control over the ingredients, but because you can try all the flavour variations you can think of. And I love mincing meat at home with my own mincer , choosing great cuts and trying different combinations.
I think that when you prepare hamburgers at home you also better appreciate how the different ingredients influence the final flavour, as well as their proportions. You become aware that the meat, once minced, oxidises before your eyes and loses its healthy pink colour to take on an unpleasant greyish hue (that's why commercial minced meat contains antioxidants). That's why I recommend preparing the hamburgers on the same day you're going to eat them and letting the mixture rest just long enough for the flavours to settle.
In any case, a burger is something so simple that the key to making it delicious is, as you can imagine, that the quality of the raw material is excellent. Use a trusted butcher, I recommend one, of recognized and proven quality, and your burgers will come out great. If you can afford to add some top quality cuts, such as sirloin, do not fail to do so. And we will always add some pork fat in the form of bacon or a similar cut to give the mixture a smooth texture and then help in browning, when melted on the grill.
For me, the basic ingredients are those given below in the recipe, but there are many variations, from adding beaten egg as in Russian fillets to help the mixture blend perfectly, to adding various spices, such as nutmeg, herbs, etc., even mustard. Don't be shy, experiment and go wild.
Ingredients
- 500 g of veal needle
- 150 g of beef tenderloin
- 1 thick slice of fresh bacon
- 1 garlic
- ¼ onion
- parsley (optional)
- salt to taste
- some virgin olive oil
Elaboration
- We cut the chuck and sirloin meat into strips or pieces that we can easily put into the manual mincer (or the KitchenAid mincer if you have the robot).
- Remove the rind from the bacon. Peel the garlic and mash it well. Finely chop the onion.
- Chop all the meat in the mincer, alternating the pieces of bacon with the rest of the meat. Put it in a bowl and mix it with a fork. Add the garlic, onion and parsley if using. Mix everything thoroughly.
- We cut papers of about 10 cm to be able to form the burgers on them. We place a plating ring or another type of 10 cm mould on the paper and add between ¼ and 1/5 of the prepared mixture, depending on the thickness of the burger we prefer. We flatten the surface with our fingers or a spoon and lift the mould. We form all the burgers with this procedure until the mixture is finished. You can also use a burger press , with which you will always get the same diameter but also the same thickness, they are easy to remove from the mould and you can mark the characteristic grooves on the burgers.
- Heat a good cast iron grill over high heat. When it is very hot, brush each burger with olive oil and place it on the grill. Cook the burgers until they are golden brown, at least five minutes on each side, although this also depends on the cooking point you prefer.
- We serve the burgers immediately on the buns accompanied by the ingredients that we like the most: lettuce, tomato, onion, caramelized onion, pickles, cheese, etc.
