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Now summer has finally arrived, many of us are relishing the opportunity to dust off the barbecue and enjoy cooking and eating outdoors. However large or small the gathering, no decent barbecue is complete without some good quality, juicy burgers, served with all the trimmings.
From choosing the best meat and buns to the easiest way to build your barbecue and avoid the pitfalls, here’s the ultimate guide to creating the perfect beef burger.
Choose your ingredients
The patty
A homemade patty needn’t take much longer to put together than a shop-bought burger and you get to skip any of the commonly used preservatives and unnecessary additives such as tapioca flour, rice flour and potato starch. Instead, season some straight-up mince and shape into the size you like.
The meat
For juicy burgers, opt for good quality minced beef with a fat content of 15-20 per cent – any leaner and the resulting patties are likely to be a little dry. If you buy your meat from a butcher, ask for it to be coarsely ground.
While I generally like to keep my burgers 100 per cent beef, if you want to vary the texture and add some spicy warmth, try gently mixing in some ’nduja paste or chorizo crumbs. Be wary of adding extra ingredients such as chopped onion or chillies which won’t cook at the same rate as the meat so may end up burning or tasting a little harsh. They also increase the likelihood of the burgers falling apart on the grill.
For unbeatable flavour and texture, you may even consider mincing your own steak. I’d argue that the benefits are worth the effort as it allows you to control the fat ratio and the coarseness of the mince as well as guaranteeing freshness. Grinders can cost anything from £25 for a lightweight manual machine to a few thousand pounds for a top of the range electric model. For best results, choose steak with a decent percentage of fat such as chuck or rump. If you wish, separate the meat from the fat before cutting into chunks. Grind the lean meat first then add in as much fat as needed to get the balance you prefer.
Seasoning
I recommend keeping the seasonings as simple as possible and leaving the exciting flavours to the accompaniments. Salt and pepper are all that is needed. If you really want to liven up your patties, opting for a ready-made spice mix which offers a balance of flavours such as a smoky Mexican-style or Portuguese peri peri blend is a safe bet.
Alternatively, you may like to add a sprinkle of chopped fresh herbs such as rosemary or thyme but leave the garlic and any soft herbs such as chives or mint for the sauces and sides.
Shape
Weighing out the meat so the burgers are the same size and will cook at roughly the same rate is a good idea. The size you go for will be dictated by the buns you’re serving them in but 125g-150g is a good starting point, though go smaller if planning to double up the patties. The meat will shrink a little during cooking so make sure the patties are at least as wide – if not a little wider – than the buns so there are no disappointingly meat-free mouthfuls later.
Try not to over-handle the mixture, firmly shape the seasoned meat into patties about 1cm thick so they cook quickly, achieving a seared, caramelised exterior while cooking all the way through. Burger rings are good for uniformity but if, like me, you don’t have one, just use a small rimmed plate or saucer and pat down the meat until it reaches the rim. Once shaped, lay the burgers on a parchment-lined tray and get them back into the fridge as quickly as possible.
The bun
The most popular burger bun filling supermarket shelves is without doubt the brioche. The fluffy texture and gentle sweetness offer a good foil to a juicy burger with creamy toppings and pickles. However, old-fashioned seeded buns and soft baps are usually significantly cheaper and will do the same job, provided they’re not too flimsy. Crusty rolls and chewy bagels are best avoided.
If you’ve got enough space on the grill to toast the cut side of the bun then so much the better but if cooking for a multitude don’t worry too much, just slice the buns and use as they are.
The toppings
Avoiding wastage is always a key objective at my table and while I like to offer my guests plenty of choice, I try to keep a cap on the number of accompaniments sitting out, especially those that won’t last more than a couple of hours. Leave sauces and pickles in their jars so they can be returned to the fridge rather than scraped straight into the bin from the bowls they were decanted into.
For me, the patty is the star of the show but if you like extra add-ins such as bacon or crispy onions, make life easier and cook them before the burgers and not at the same time.
Cheese
If making cheeseburgers, pre-cut slices are the easiest option. I tend to stick to a classic mature cheddar which melts well and always pleases a crowd but go for whatever takes your fancy. Lay the cheese slice onto a patty just as it’s ready and close the barbecue lid for a few seconds but take care not to overdo it or you’ll end up with burnt cheese stuck to the bars – a gentle wilt is all that’s needed as there’s enough residual heat from the patty to finish the job.
If using blue cheese, it’s best crumbled over once the burger is in the bun. Don’t be tempted to add cheese to the centre of the burger during shaping in the hope of achieving a ‘melting middle’ – it never works out well.
Salad
When feeding a group, lay out a selection of salads and invite guests to build their own burgers. I like to include shredded iceberg, it’s not very modern but it is crisp and resilient and will stand up to the heat of a warm garden far better than soft leaves. Rocket and watercress can both handle being out for a while without too much wilting and their peppery flavours sit well with beef.
Plates of sliced tomatoes tend to turn watery quickly, delivering more sogginess than flavour so I usually give them a miss. A fresh, zingy tomato salsa with lime and coriander on the other hand, can work wonders. And I always offer a bowl of very, very finely chopped raw onion for sprinkling.
Sauces and pickles
For the perfect balance of heat and sweetness, I start my burger build with a generous spread of mayonnaise to the base of the bun, followed by the leaves and then the patty, finished off with a small swirl of yellow mustard and ketchup.
Burger sauce is becoming popular too, especially if you create one to your own recipe – it’s essentially a blend of mayo, mustard and ketchup, usually with some finely chopped pickles stirred in. See Diana Henry’s special sauce recipe here if you fancy trying your own.
In my bun, the crunch and sharpness of a pickled gherkin is a necessary addition to cut through the fattiness of the burger. My favourites are the crinkle-cut gherkins from M&S which need no slicing and come packed in a punchy, spiced vinegar, ready to be forked straight from the jar. Any large pickled cucumber will work fine, though I would avoid cornichons which are a little too firm (and fiddly to slice).
- Keep a cooler area around the edge of the barbecue with fewer coals burning so you can move the burgers away from the centre if they’re cooking too quickly.
- Keep a long-handled spatula to hand so you can turn the patties safely.
- Get the barbecue to a steady, high heat. When it’s ready, you should be able to hold your hand 5cm above the grill bars for no more than 2 to 3 seconds.
- Cook the burgers straight from the fridge – this will keep them intact and at their juiciest.
- To minimise sticking, leave the patties untouched for 1-2 minutes before attempting the first turn. There’s no need to oil them before cooking provided you’ve used fattier mince (above 15 per cent fat)
- Don’t press the patties with the back of the spatula, it just squeezes out the juices, drying out the burgers and sparking flames.
- If you do get flames, don’t panic – just lift the burger up and position it in another spot.
- Have a clean platter on standby so you can lift each burger off the barbecue as soon as it’s ready.
- Allow the burgers to rest for a couple of minutes before serving.
- Check the burgers are fully cooked – when meat is minced, bacteria on the surface spread throughout making burgers unsafe to serve rare. If using a thermometer, the patties need to reach 71C in the centre to be safe.
The charcoal
Helen Graves, author of new barbecue cookbook BBQ Days, BBQ Nights advises against using cheaper charcoal which she says “is full of chemicals that need to burn off before cooking” whereas good-quality charcoal “lights faster, burns cleanly and you can top it up during cooking without nasty flavours getting into your food.” There are a number of companies making charcoal using 100 per cent British wood. Graves recommends Whittle & Flame and The Green Olive Firewood Co.
A chimney starter such as this one from Weber (£23.29, johnlewis.com) is the most efficient way to get coals going without using chemical firelighters. Place it at the base of the barbecue, add some crumpled newspaper below the chimney grate and pile the coals on top of the grate. Light the paper through one of the holes in the base of the chimney. The coals will be glowing and ready to use in around 15 minutes. Alternatively, stack the coals in a pyramid shape and use natural firelighters but do avoid chemical lighter fluids.