Difficulty: 4/10
This was due to be a big brioche burger bun with a big fat juicey burger in the middle, oozing cheese and a side of proper homemade salted French fries… But then Covid-19 happened and the shops were too busy to get some ingredients so I improvised, adapted, and overcame.
The burger recipe is the same for big, small, round, square, triangular if you want, burgers. I made these diddy burgers because I had to whip up some diddy bread rolls for them using the soda bread recipe (I still haven’t managed to get my hands on some yeast, but this works too!).
Ingredients:
Makes about 12 diddy burgers or 6 big burgers
- 500g of high fat content (20% is what I used) beef mince
- 4 Cumberland sausages
- Garlic granules
- Onion powder
- Basil
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Oil for cooking
- Burger buns of your choosing (Soda bread recipe link below)
- Salad of your choosing for filling
- Sauces that you want to add
Soda bread recipe: Lazy Sunday Soda Bread
Method:
This can be a real doddle. Using the high fat content leads to really juicy burgers and also means you don’t need to add a binder like egg yolk. The secret comes down to how much you handle your meat… (stop it!)… If you work it too much then the burger will excessively shrink up when being cooked, but don’t work it enough then the pork and the beef will be clearly separated.
I did a cheeky and gave mine a little roll with a rolling pin between two bits of cling film to get it a uniform thickness and then used a glass to cut out the perfect circles (all about the Instagram pictures), but by all means just rough it. I made a second batch of just thick home shaped burgers and these were just as nice.
Step 1
Use about 500g of high fat content beef mince, place in a bowl.
Cut the Cumberland sausages down the middle length ways and peel off the skin, adding the meat to the mince.
Without completely mushing the mince together, mix the two together evenly and well until you get a ball without any noticeably large lumps of sausage meat.
Step 2
The most important bit. The seasoning.
The crucial ingredient here is the salt. The rest can really be up to you. I recommended Cumberland sausage because the seasoning in them is pepper based and it goes well with the beef. I added a few cracks of black pepper too. Garlic is a go to when it comes to a lot of dishes, I’m a bit of a fiend for it.
I also added a good sprinkle of onion powder and some basil. The seasoning really is up to you, but what ever you choose to do with it, make sure its well salted. Mix this all in one last time again being careful not to over work it into a fatty pulp.
Step 3
Break off a small piece of the mince and fry it on a medium heat to give it a taste for seasoning. If it’s good, we can go ahead to step 4, if not, add more seasoning and repeat until right.
Step 4
Like I said, I got some cling film, sandwiched the mince ball in it and rolled it out to a uniform thickness, then used a stencil (a large glass), to cut out the burger patty. I also just moulded some by hand. It’s more crucial to get a uniform thickness so they cook the same.
Stencil cut 
Still beautiful hand moulded in their own unique way
Step 5
I promise I only set off the fire alarm once frying these. Alternatively, use a BBQ.
Large frying pan on a medium heat works best. The high fat content means there is a lot of smoke but: smoke = colour, and colour = flavour. Don’t be scared of a little bit of smoke!
Very, VERY lightly oil the outside of one of the sides of the patty and place down in the hot frying pan. If it doesn’t sizzle as soon as it hits the pan, it isn’t hot enough. Take it out and wait a little longer.
Cook for about 1-2 minutes on each side (depending on your thickness, mine were quite thin diddy burgers). Or until the burger is running very light pink/ clear juices (depends how you like them). Add cheese if you want it to melt.
Take them out the pan and leave on a plate to rest for a few minutes before constructing your burgers.
