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...