Homemade beef burger: a loosely formed patty, a screaming-hot pan, melted cheddar
Four burgers better than the ones from a restaurant, because the patty is formed loosely, salted only on the outside and fried in a pan heated to its limit. Minced beef with 20 % fat, one minute for the sauce, four minutes a side and three minutes of rest. No egg, breadcrumbs or onion in the meat: this is not a rissole, it is beef and salt.
Your own work in that: 37 min.
- Shaping 12 min
- Sauce 5 min
- Frying 20 min
- Resting 3 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneForm the patties loosely
Divide the cold beef into 4 portions of 150 g and shape each into a flat disc 12 cm across and 1.5 cm thick, handling the meat as little as possible. Press a 1 cm dimple into the centre of each with your thumb. Put them on a plate in the fridge until everything else is ready. Do not salt them yet.
Ingredients: 600 g minced beef, 20 % fat · 1 tsp salt · ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper · 1 tbsp oil
TipThe dimple is not decoration: the meat contracts from the edges as it fries and pushes the middle into a dome the burger won't close over. The dimple disappears in the pan and the patty comes out flat.
Loose, 12 cm, a thumb dimpleMake the sauce
Stir the mayonnaise with the ketchup, mustard, a pinch of sugar and pepper into a smooth pale-orange sauce. Taste it: it should be bold, a little tangy and salty, because it balances the fatty beef and the cheese.
Ingredients: 4 tbsp mayonnaise · 2 tbsp ketchup · 1 tsp mustard · 1 pinch sugar · 1 pinch black pepper
Mayonnaise, ketchup, mustardPrepare the garnishes
Wash and dry the lettuce, slice the tomatoes 5 mm thick and salt them lightly, cut the onion into very thin rings and the pickles into lengthways slices. Halve the buns. Put everything within arm's reach: once the pan is hot there is no time for chopping.
Ingredients: 4 pcs burger buns · 100 g sliced cheddar · 4 pcs butterhead or iceberg lettuce · 2 pcs tomatoes · 1 pcs red onion · 3 pcs pickled cucumbers · 20 g butter
Everything cut before the frying startsHeat the pan, then salt the patties
Heat a cast-iron or heavy steel pan over high heat for 4 minutes, until a drop of water evaporates instantly. Only then brush the patties thinly with oil and season them on the surface only, both sides, with the salt and pepper, right before they go into the pan.
TipSalt mixed into the meat dissolves the muscle protein myosin, which then binds into a bouncy, sausage-like texture. Salt scattered on the surface just before frying seasons the meat and builds the crust while the inside stays tender and juicy.
Fry four minutes a side
Cook two patties at a time so the pan doesn't lose heat. Fry 4 minutes without moving them, until a dark brown crust forms underneath, flip and fry another 4 minutes. The centre should read 71 °C on a thermometer: minced meat is then safely cooked through, and the 20 % fat keeps it juicy.
TipMinced meat carries bacteria distributed through the whole mass, not just on the surface, so supermarket-tray mince should always be cooked to 71 °C in the centre. Cook to medium (57–60 °C, 3 minutes a side) only with meat you have ground yourself just before cooking, at your own risk, and never for children, pregnant women or older people.
Undisturbed, dark crust, 71 °C in the centreTop with cheese
Lay a slice of cheddar on each patty, pour a spoon of water onto the edge of the pan and cover with a lid at once for 40 seconds. The steam melts the cheese evenly without scorching the base.
A spoon of water, a lid, forty secondsToast the buns and rest the meat
Move the patties to a plate and leave them 3 minutes. Meanwhile toast the buns cut side down in the same pan in the beef fat with a little butter, 1 minute, until golden.
TipThree minutes of rest is not a whim: the juices in the meat thicken slightly and less of them runs out at the first bite. A patty straight from the pan drips onto the bun, which turns soggy at once.
Buns in the beef fat, one minuteAssemble and eat at once
Sauce on the bottom bun, then lettuce (a barrier against the juices), the cheesy patty, tomato, onion, pickles and more sauce on the top bun. Press gently and eat immediately: a burger waits five minutes at most before the base softens.
Sauce, lettuce, patty, garnishes, sauce
Before you start
Smash burger
Instead of shaping, divide the meat into 8 balls of 75 g. Put a ball on the hot pan and press it flat to 5 mm with a spatula, holding for 10 seconds, then don't touch it for 2 minutes. Flip, add the cheese and cook one more minute: a patty this thin cooks right through in that time. Two patties per bun and far more crisp crust.
Caramelised onion
Two onions in feathers cooked in butter for 20 minutes over low heat until deep brown: the addition that turns a home burger into a menu burger.
The patty came out dry and rubbery
Meat too lean, packed too tightly, or salted in advance. Buy mince with 20 % fat, shape it lightly and salt it literally as it goes into the pan.
