Guinness burger with pickled cucumber
Guinness burger with pickled cucumber
Do an online search for the “ultimate burger recipe” and you'll find many weird and wonderful flavour combinations. Guinness, however, appears surprisingly often, adding an interesting malty flavour to the meat. This burger is kept moist through a combination of the fat ratio (this is no time for lean mince), limiting the use of salt (Worcestershire sauce for seasoning) and lightly forming the meat rather than tightly packing it into shape. Pickled cucumbers add a sharp flavour contrast to cut through the richness of the cheese.
Ingredients
- FOR THE BURGER:
- 500g coarsely minced chuck (20% fat)
- 2 rashers streaky bacon, finely chopped
- 100ml Guinness
- 1tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2tsp dijon mustard
- 2tsp finely chopped parsley
- Freshly ground pepper
- FOR THE PICKLED CUCUMBER:
- 2 baby cucumbers
- 2tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1tbsp lemon juice
- 0.5tsp salt
- 0.5tsp caster sugar
- TO SERVE:
- English mustard
- 4 slices extra mature cheddar
- 4 crispy white buns
- Mayonnaise
- Fresh rocket leaves
- Tomato ketchup
- 1 Red onion, sliced into thin rings
Instructions
1. Mix all the burger ingredients, being careful not to over work the mixture—you want to keep a coarse mince texture rather than an emulsified mass.2. Lightly shape four 2cm deep patties with wet hands and make a depression in the top with the back of a tablespoon. This will ensure that you get a flat burger once cooked. Put in the fridge, covered, for a mini- mum of 1 hour to firm.3. Preheat oven to 190C.4. Slice the cucumber into thin discs. Add the sugar, vinegar, lemon and salt and put to one side for 10 minutes to marinate.5. Heat a frying pan until very hot. Sear the burgers for 90 seconds, resisting the urge to move or squash, then carefully flip and do the same on the other side. Add to the hot oven for 7 minutes to finish cooking.6. Brush the top of each burger with a thin layer of mus- tard and a slice of cheese, then return to the oven for a further minute.7. Put the burgers to one side, covered, to rest for 5 minutes whilst you toast the buns.8. Split the bun in half and lightly toast the cut sides.9. To build, spread the bottom half of the bun with mayonnaise, rocket, then add the burger. Add ketchup, then layer the sliced onion and drained cucumber slices on top.
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: Serves 4