Cibare 21

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FEATURE

My Perfect Burger By Dhruv Baker

It’s all about the beef. Don’t even think about the trimmings and garnish until the patty is taken care of. Worrying about those elements is a bit like making your bed when your house is on fire (as someone far more clever than I one said). The beef. It’s got to be great beef and we have some of the finest beef in the world on our little, complicated island. For me it’s going to be ex-dairy cow every time as the animals are older, have more time to lay down fat and develop flavour in those big beautiful bovine muscles. Please don’t buy mince from the supermarket for your burgers and worse still don’t buy pre-pressed patties. If you’re serious about burgers, invest the time and the rewards will be well worth it when the time comes to reap those beefy benefits. Get to know your local butcher, tell him 16

what you are wanting to do. Try and get meat with some age, local ideally (or as local as possible, certainly not the stuff flown to us from thousands of miles away). Then onto the cuts. You can ignore all the Hollywood cuts - the fillets and rib-eyes and sirloins. There’s simply no need to go for these, instead go for the harder working, less expensive and seemingly less sexy cuts (for me these often-overlooked ones, ARE the sexy cuts). Chuck and brisket are ideal for this. Now you have thought about your beef we have to focus on fat. You cannot talk burgers without talking fat. Despite being reviled for decades, fat MAKES the burger. It adds flavour, moisture and will be what ultimately helps you get to your ideal party. I think a ratio of 70 lean to 30 fat is perfect (coincidentally Cibare Magazine

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