FLOWER POT KITCHEN: ALL AMERICAN CHEESE AND BACON BURGER

12 Nov 2012

ALL AMERICAN CHEESE AND BACON BURGER

NOT THE BEST PHOTO BUT I JUST WANTED TO EAT IT...

There is nothing like the first mouthful of a fantastic juicy homemade ground chuck steak burger with American cheese and crispy sweetcure bacon, lettuce, tomato and onion, no pickle for me!

(makes 12 x 114g burgers)

Ingredients

1 kg ground chuck steak 85/15

350g ground rib eye steak

1 tbsp sea salt

1 tbsp ground black pepper

1 onion rough sliced

4 rashers of Oscar Mayer's streaky smoked bacon

15 jalapeno

TOPPINGS PER BURGER

2 slices Monteray Jack cheese slices

4 rashers sweetcure smoked bacon

2 slices fresh tomatoes

1/2 iced gem lettuce

1 thick slice of onion

1 red chilli

1 massive dollop tk

1 sesame toasted bun

I love to mince my chuck/rib eye steak meat, I find by mincing the chuck steak and ribeye steaks myself I know I am going to have the best quality burger and I can control the quantity of fat that goes into the burger. I like to mince twice and on the second mince I add all the seasoning and additional ingredients through the mincer so that they will have a even spread throughout the burger.

Then there is the bun!!! We must not forget the bun either, this is a very important part of the burger, I have not yet found in the UK or made a great bun so the quest is still full on there. For the bun at the moment I like a American seeded style bun, that I butter and then griddle on the flat top and flatten slightly as I don't want lots of fluffy bread with my burger.

Take the chuck and ribeye steak and cut into rough chunks, place in the mince with the onion, jalapenos and bacon, now to mince a second time, place all the mince meat back through the mincer, this will give your burger that fine texture, not a course grainy texture. Now I season the mince, mix and squidge together with my hands, I like to make a tiny Pattie and pan fry to check for seasoning. When I am happy I make 12 roughly equal balls. Cut some grease proof paper and place a ball on one side cover and with a burger weight or large spatula press down to the thickness your want, I sometimes like mini fat burgers or thin larger burgers so I can double up in a bun, which actually means I can double up on the cheese and bacon!

Cook your gorgeous burger on a plancher, ribbed or flat is fine, or a non-stick frying pan, I prefer a flat plancher. Pre-heat your plancer and then place your burger on the flat top after 2-3minutes I turn my burger as it will be caramelised and sealed and then I place my steak/burger weight on, the reason for this is to speed up the cooking and not to loose too much juice, at the same time I place the bacon on the flat top to crisp up, as soon as the bacon is cooked, remove and leave to one side. As soon as the burger is cooked I top with my choice of cheese, Monetary Jack is my 1st choice at the moment...

To steam melt the cheese just before serving place a dome over the burger with a dash of water to create a steam bath, this really works well and stops you over cooking the burger while melting the gooey cheese, quite a important technique in burger cooking. Take off the grill and top with bacon and then in the lid top with your lettuce, tomatoes slices, onion, chillies and tomato ketchup.

This is a burger that requires the tuck and roll, enjoy, we did...

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.