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 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

the golden ratio for salami, the natural ratio in coppa and generally a good rule of thumb). If the cuts you are using are leaner, ask your butcher for some good quality beef fat (minced) and run through the lean.

Some cuts which can be harder work on your jaws as a steak are perfect for patties as the mincing does the hard work for you, leaving you with all the positives, flavour and bite, without the textural downsides. If your butcher will mince to order then go for a medium plate and run through twice. If you are going to be making a habit of creating your own burgers (and I suggest you do) then look into investing in an inexpensive meat grinder for home use - you’ll thank me later, trust me.

Once minced, measure the meat into the desired weight (120 to 150 grams is a decent guideline) and form into patties. Either with your hands or using a burger press, but do not over work the mince. Keep it cold and firmly press into a ball then, pressing down onto a board, form your patties. Don’t worry about smooth edges, those little nuggets of crispy, seared, charred goodness that rough edges deliver are a thing of beauty.

Seasoning. Don’t. Adding salt to the mince will turn the meat grey and will start to draw out precious moisture. Onions, flavourings, spice mixes, herbs.... all a hard no from me. I want to taste the beef in all its unobscured glory. When the time comes to cook, a liberal pinch of Maldon salt is all that is required.

When The Time comes, get the patties out of the fridge about an hour before cooking to come up a bit from fridge temperature. Get your frying pan (or plancha if you’re lucky enough to have one) up to the right heat – basically as hot as possible - and press your seasoned patty onto the cooking surface, firmly but not brutally hard. Give it three minutes, flip it and press down then cloche it (a metal mixing bowl and a pallet knife will work just as well if you don’t have one) for the next two minutes. If you’re making a cheese burger, after a minute on the second side, add your cheese and finish cooking under the cloche. The steam will help the cooking process and will keep the patty moist.

And that’s it. I’m not even going to go into the choice of bun, garnish, sauces, drinks parings as that, well, that’s another story altogether.