I love burgers. 95% of the time I get a Deliveroo it’ll be Bleecker, Burger & Beyond, Salt Shed, Black Bear or Shake Shack. But, despite my deep love of burgers, I’ve never mastered making my own – until now. And let me tell you, making an incredible burger could not be more simple. It all comes down to the meat you use – the quality and the fat content. This burger itself is literally just salt & minced beef, so as you could imagine you really want a delicious, high quality mince to bring the flavour. The other thing you need is at least 20% fat – this will bring with it yet more flavour and juiciness. The rest of the toppings are up to you & how you like to eat your burgers. I like mine super simple – onions and American cheese. I don’t like to overpower that delicious patty.
These burgers were inspired by a recent trip to the George Motz x Bleecker burger pop-up. This was his 1 UK stop on his burger tour and my friend Ros & I were lucky enough to get one (after a 3 hour queue, and I would do it again). Motz did smash burgers with onions – you make these but putting a ball of meat on the grill, sprinkling on some raw, sliced, white onion, seasoning it and smashing it down using a spatula. Smash burgers are meant to be thin with slightly rugged and crispy edges – but they’re still juicy af in the middle. I never thought I’d be able to make a burger that came close to the ones I order but this recipe will get you pretty damn close! The burgers are crisp on the edges, but so juicy in the middle. The cheese melts & mixes in with the fat and the bread soaks up any drippage. And did I mention they literally take under 15 mins to coo? Yeah, you have to try these.
Onion Smash Burgers
Serves 2 | Cooks in 15 mins
Ingredients
320-360g high quality 20% fat mince meat
4 slices American cheese
2 burger buns
1/2 white onion, thinly sliced into half moons
Veg oil & butter for cooking
Salt for seasoning
Method
- Divide your meat into 80-90g portions and roll into a ball.
- Melt a knob of butter in a cast iron pan over medium high heat. Add the buns cut side down and toast until lightly golden. Set these aside
- Wipe out the pan to get rid of any bread crumbs, coat the bottom of the pan in veg oil and turn the heat to medium high.
- Once the pan is very hot, add a ball of mince meat. You’ll need to work very quickly – season very generously with salt, and top with a quarter of the sliced onion. Place a wide metal spatula on top of the ball, and press down using the end of another spatula. You want your meat to be <1cm thick – we want crispy edges!
- Cook on one side for 1-2 mins until the meat is caramelised and a little crispy. Flip the patty and add the cheese on top. Cook for another 1-2 mins until the cheese is melted, the bottom of the patty is caramelised and the onions have taken on some colour.
- Repeat this for the remaining 3 patties.
- Stack 2 patties per bun & serve with your choice of sauce/pickles. Let me know in the comments how you have your burgers!