Burger Me

You might have seen my chum Jeremy (chef not artist) is doing burgers – look here.

Well, what do Americans know about burgers? Where I do agree with him is that burger buns are problematic. So, wheeling out the ubiquitous pizza dough again, this is what I did.

First hurdle: Thursday morning, starter not refreshed since Tuesday morning. Second hurdle: lunch needed by Thursday lunchtime. Solution: rise 6.00 a.m. Thursday, use starter anyway and mix pizza dough. Stretch hourly for three hours, plonk in oiled plastic box for a further three hours. Drink bottle of Jay’s sparkling cider (2011).

Make burnt chunky salsa: roast coarsely chopped onions, whole garlic, red pepper, courgette, chile in very hot oven. Seriously heat a cast iron frying pan, add a little olive oil, lob in a pile of halved cherry tomatoes. Leave for a minute then toss and cook until blackened. Add the veg from the oven. Finally throw in some chopped coriander and the veg from the oven and then a tin of cherry tomatoes. Reduce. Note – this is not a recipe – use what you fancy.

Turn out the dough (700g) onto a heavily floured surface, flour the top of the dough, flour your scraper and dissect the dough lengthwise. Cut off the first third, either side of your dissection line, for your burger buns. Cut the remainder into smaller portions. Place on a floured baking sheet, dimple and whack into your very hot oven for about 20 minutes.

You getting the hang of this? These are prime sourdough buns made in six hours flat – no overnight refrigeration.

In a hot frying pan cook mushrooms both sides until brown and not shedding water. Slice and keep warm in a cool oven.

Burgers are nothing except Aberdeen Angus mince at 20% fat, fairly gently shaped and salted and peppered both sides.

Chips, hand cut (not chunky) and triple fried.

So, salsa and mushrooms keeping warm in the oven along with plates, chips twice fried. Sue’s burger goes into a seriously hot ridged grill pan for 5 mins per side and thence into the oven, followed by mine after 2 mins per side.

Inside of split buns toasted in grill pan.

Final fry of chips.

Assemble burgers with substantial layer of salsa.

Can I patent this dough?