32 thoughts on “Why Burgers Look So Good …..but ….”
Hung One Onsaid:
Hung’s favourite Burger Mix
mince
grated onion
1 egg
small carrot grated
small zucchini grated
tablespoon soy sauce
crumbs, me rice, you whatever
garlic if you like, very finely chopped
salt and pepper
Wet hands. Mix. Refrigerate for a couple of stubbies. Wet hands again. Mould to patties and place on a sheet of baking paper. Make sure the edges are perfectly sealed. If you don’t seal the edges properly the pattie won’t cook right and you will look like a wanker.
Cook
Eat
Tutu and I have these lamb patties with yoghurt, beetroot relish, rocket and some bread. We have made these with chicken and beef but lamb is best followed by chicken.
Hung, thank you for this recipe. As you know I’m terrified of the kitchen space, but a notorious habitué of the dining room and the breakfast nook. I’m often up for a breakfast nookie.
So, when you threaten me with the risk of wankerishness, I immediately go into a panic over what sealing the edges properly actually means.
Do I need melted wax, plastic vacuum wrap, what ? Help !
Sealing the edges means the edge is uniform and contiguous so there are no breaks or bits of vegie sticking out. Ones hands should be wet when moulding the pattie, this helps covert the edges so they are smooth. This vital Mikey, even my psychiatrist agrees 🙂
Shape? Hmm. Let’s check my list. Does is make it healthier? No. Does it make it tastier? No. Does it make it quicker? Double no.
OK, Presentation does rank. But it’s INSIDE a hamburger bun for crying out loud!
That’s a serious burger Hung. And good if you have the kind of children for whom you have to disguise vegetables. (Particularly if you top with plastic cheese and tomato sauce.) Here’s a Working Mother variation:
– Use enough ingredients for two nights.
– Use pre-staled bread (try to remember to leave some sliced and exposed to the air for a while if you don’t have any that’s stale). Crumb it in the MixMaster. OR plan ahead and cook some extra rice in another meal earlier in the week.
– Use a MixMaster on the vegies rather than grating them, starting with pieces of carrot then adding the vegies in reverse order of hardness.
– Chop or press the garlic by hand while they’re whizzing.
– Slow the MixMaster right down and add the rest of the ingredients; mix.
– Use the palm of your hand to roll into balls and squash them quite flat.
– Try cooking them without sealing. If anybody thinks they haven’t cooked properly, don’t make that recipe again.
– Fry them all in a thin layer of olive oil and put aside half to be microwaved another night.
When I used to make this for the family it never went two nights. It was a great way to disguise vegetables for the kids. The original recipe came from a woman who wrote weekly and produced a BBQ book.
I can’t eat bread any more as I am wheat intolerant, but great way to use stale bread.
I don’t have a mix master so I have to grate by hand.
The garlic must be finely chopped otherwise to my GIT it won’t be cooked enough in the pan etc. with the pattie, i.e. indigestion, getting old, ha.
I can’t agree with your last point. To me the proper sealed edges make an excellent burger.
Hey, you are right. I said a Working Mother version, not a better version. My 3 criteria when pushed for time are healthy, tasty, quick. I said MixMaster but I meant food processor. It won’t do as good a job as hand grating, but probably good enough, maybe not for the carrot. Perhaps I’ll try it and report back.
I would be interested to see how you go with sealed edges as opposed to rough edges? Over the years I just found the better the edge seal the better the burger cooked into it’s shape, Geeps, I sound like an OCD. 🙂
Mrs M has a similar recipe, with the addition of Bush Spices, or Moroccan spices, creates a whole new menu. Likewise, our kids probably had their entire vegetable intake via ‘hamburgers’.
In my years in the country/bush, I have learnt to be very vigilant, no one is allowed to put GRAVY on my chips, who the hell invented that combination, makes plastic cheese seem a delicacy.
And I’m looking forward to our usual Sunday jam session as well as tea afterwards… Who’s cooking? Not that it matters… with recipes like the above as evidence of your culinary abilities I’m sure it will be delicious, whatever it is.
Do you have a copy of ‘All Men are Liars’? I’ve tried playing it, but I need to hear the melody line a few more times to get the melody and timing right…
Yes, have it on mp3. Roast lamb for tea, anything you can’t eat? Lettuce us no, oh Mary and Jane exhausted from all that huffing and puffing, bring plenty to help sustain her.
The thing that was most unsettling about the very last milkbar in East Balmain were the two ancient biddies doing their utmost not to serve customers. That dripping nose above the onion rings and tinned beetroot. Unforgetable!
I’ve never touched the food coked in one of those greasy milk bar places and never will.
Home-made hamburgers are simple and healthy if you use decent mince. I mix ground cumin into the mince. The hamburger buns at Baker’s Delight are good enough. Quite a lot of coriander in the herb garden at the moment, and that’s good sprinkled on top. Also avocados have been cheap on and off lately and a few slices on top finish it off nicely. In summer lettuce and tomato are good toppings. I always do onion rings. I particularly like to add a pickled pepper. I also have a weakness for Dijon mustard. 10 minutes all up to prepare.
Tip for young kids: Top theirs with plastic cheese and tomato sauce to imitate McDonalds.
Chips are good with them and go down well with kids. Slice baking potatoes into fairly thin wedges. No need to peel. Spray with oil from an oil spray can. Bake.
I don’t think those milkbars exist anymore. Of course you also had to wait for those REAL hamburgers; now we want instant food and we get Mc Donalds…
I love the cumin/coriander combination and I’m also fond of anything Maroccan. As soon as we get to our own place, I’ll plant Dill and Coriander. Talking about Dill makes me hungry for a good Borscht.
Lunch today: toasted Pumpernickel with sliced Avogado , lemon and plenty of pepper…Better have breakfast first.
It wasn’t merely the fact that you’d made an error which amused me, Voice (although it’s nice to know you’re human too!), but also the appropriateness of the result of your mispelling, ie. ‘coked’ as in ‘turned into charcoal’; burned…
So that was it! I was thinking maybe cocaine or Coke, but couldn’t really make a connection there. I didn’t think of that kind of coke.
I rarely make spelling errors and that wasn’t one. But I do typos all the time.
Fancy comparing my weeds to triffids. You are trying to downplay their impact, aren’t you? 🙂
I nearly forgot my secret weapon: sumac. You can buy it ground and sprinkle some on the plain burger instead of cumin before frying. It’s also good to sprinkle on steak if you are quickly frying it plain.
I remember the potato scallops from the Revesby ‘fish and chips’ as a special luxury after the train trip home from work. I suppose in reality, they were horrible, but I prefer the memory of those crispy, salty and battered slices of cooked potato in lard as a cullinary diversion on those dreadful walks home through deserted streets and blindfolded homes. It was way beyond blue already then.
Oh, but they don’t look good , and they don’t taste very good either; where’s the beetroot,where are the nicely browned onion rings, where is the juicy Aussie hamburger from a Greek milkbar. Bring it back!
H, no and yes. I actually think they do look good because beetroot (tinned red dirt flavoured shirt stainer) has no great attraction for me – and having eaten burgers from the East Hills fish and chip shop and the Florida Milk Bar that were rich in nostalgia and grease and poor in actual meat content, I’m not trusting my memory that they tasted good.
However, I DO agree that modern mass-produced burgers, notwithstanding their resort to pickles and other special sauces, have no actual flavour and texture that would flow through a straw.
Home made burgers, using minced quality steak (as opposed to butcher mystery #4) are brilliant. Particularly on boutique bread.
I too had a Greek run fish and chip/fresh fish/hamburger shop where I grew up. I still try to make my
homemade burgers they way they did. The last time I had a bought one was 14 years ago.
Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle 
Hung’s favourite Burger Mix
mince
grated onion
1 egg
small carrot grated
small zucchini grated
tablespoon soy sauce
crumbs, me rice, you whatever
garlic if you like, very finely chopped
salt and pepper
Wet hands. Mix. Refrigerate for a couple of stubbies. Wet hands again. Mould to patties and place on a sheet of baking paper. Make sure the edges are perfectly sealed. If you don’t seal the edges properly the pattie won’t cook right and you will look like a wanker.
Cook
Eat
Tutu and I have these lamb patties with yoghurt, beetroot relish, rocket and some bread. We have made these with chicken and beef but lamb is best followed by chicken.
LikeLike
Hung, thank you for this recipe. As you know I’m terrified of the kitchen space, but a notorious habitué of the dining room and the breakfast nook. I’m often up for a breakfast nookie.
So, when you threaten me with the risk of wankerishness, I immediately go into a panic over what sealing the edges properly actually means.
Do I need melted wax, plastic vacuum wrap, what ? Help !
LikeLike
Sealing the edges means the edge is uniform and contiguous so there are no breaks or bits of vegie sticking out. Ones hands should be wet when moulding the pattie, this helps covert the edges so they are smooth. This vital Mikey, even my psychiatrist agrees 🙂
LikeLike
HOO, keeping smooth edges helps to keep enemies and even psychiatrists away. At the election’s times it is hard to stay smooth-edged 🙂
LikeLike
Shape? Hmm. Let’s check my list. Does is make it healthier? No. Does it make it tastier? No. Does it make it quicker? Double no.
OK, Presentation does rank. But it’s INSIDE a hamburger bun for crying out loud!
LikeLike
Not saying any of that however it will cook better and look better
LikeLike
That’s a serious burger Hung. And good if you have the kind of children for whom you have to disguise vegetables. (Particularly if you top with plastic cheese and tomato sauce.) Here’s a Working Mother variation:
– Use enough ingredients for two nights.
– Use pre-staled bread (try to remember to leave some sliced and exposed to the air for a while if you don’t have any that’s stale). Crumb it in the MixMaster. OR plan ahead and cook some extra rice in another meal earlier in the week.
– Use a MixMaster on the vegies rather than grating them, starting with pieces of carrot then adding the vegies in reverse order of hardness.
– Chop or press the garlic by hand while they’re whizzing.
– Slow the MixMaster right down and add the rest of the ingredients; mix.
– Use the palm of your hand to roll into balls and squash them quite flat.
– Try cooking them without sealing. If anybody thinks they haven’t cooked properly, don’t make that recipe again.
– Fry them all in a thin layer of olive oil and put aside half to be microwaved another night.
LikeLike
Good points Voice.
When I used to make this for the family it never went two nights. It was a great way to disguise vegetables for the kids. The original recipe came from a woman who wrote weekly and produced a BBQ book.
I can’t eat bread any more as I am wheat intolerant, but great way to use stale bread.
I don’t have a mix master so I have to grate by hand.
The garlic must be finely chopped otherwise to my GIT it won’t be cooked enough in the pan etc. with the pattie, i.e. indigestion, getting old, ha.
I can’t agree with your last point. To me the proper sealed edges make an excellent burger.
Thanks for your encouraging words
Mark 🙂
LikeLike
Hey, you are right. I said a Working Mother version, not a better version. My 3 criteria when pushed for time are healthy, tasty, quick. I said MixMaster but I meant food processor. It won’t do as good a job as hand grating, but probably good enough, maybe not for the carrot. Perhaps I’ll try it and report back.
LikeLike
I would be interested to see how you go with sealed edges as opposed to rough edges? Over the years I just found the better the edge seal the better the burger cooked into it’s shape, Geeps, I sound like an OCD. 🙂
LikeLike
When have you not looked like a wanker?
LikeLike
Mrs M has a similar recipe, with the addition of Bush Spices, or Moroccan spices, creates a whole new menu. Likewise, our kids probably had their entire vegetable intake via ‘hamburgers’.
LikeLike
In my years in the country/bush, I have learnt to be very vigilant, no one is allowed to put GRAVY on my chips, who the hell invented that combination, makes plastic cheese seem a delicacy.
LikeLike
Oh, chips with gravy is one of my favorites, Helvi! The only thing better than chips with gravy is chips with curry sauce!
Now, chips with mayonaise, on the other hand, I’m not quite so keen on…
😉
LikeLike
Chips with tomato sauce, yo..
LikeLike
I was waiting for that, Hung!
And I’m looking forward to our usual Sunday jam session as well as tea afterwards… Who’s cooking? Not that it matters… with recipes like the above as evidence of your culinary abilities I’m sure it will be delicious, whatever it is.
Do you have a copy of ‘All Men are Liars’? I’ve tried playing it, but I need to hear the melody line a few more times to get the melody and timing right…
🙂
LikeLike
Yes, have it on mp3. Roast lamb for tea, anything you can’t eat? Lettuce us no, oh Mary and Jane exhausted from all that huffing and puffing, bring plenty to help sustain her.
LikeLike
The thing that was most unsettling about the very last milkbar in East Balmain were the two ancient biddies doing their utmost not to serve customers. That dripping nose above the onion rings and tinned beetroot. Unforgetable!
LikeLike
…and unedible, serves you right drooling over that plastic cheese!
LikeLike
I’ve never touched the food coked in one of those greasy milk bar places and never will.
Home-made hamburgers are simple and healthy if you use decent mince. I mix ground cumin into the mince. The hamburger buns at Baker’s Delight are good enough. Quite a lot of coriander in the herb garden at the moment, and that’s good sprinkled on top. Also avocados have been cheap on and off lately and a few slices on top finish it off nicely. In summer lettuce and tomato are good toppings. I always do onion rings. I particularly like to add a pickled pepper. I also have a weakness for Dijon mustard. 10 minutes all up to prepare.
Tip for young kids: Top theirs with plastic cheese and tomato sauce to imitate McDonalds.
LikeLike
Chips are good with them and go down well with kids. Slice baking potatoes into fairly thin wedges. No need to peel. Spray with oil from an oil spray can. Bake.
LikeLike
I don’t think those milkbars exist anymore. Of course you also had to wait for those REAL hamburgers; now we want instant food and we get Mc Donalds…
I love the cumin/coriander combination and I’m also fond of anything Maroccan. As soon as we get to our own place, I’ll plant Dill and Coriander. Talking about Dill makes me hungry for a good Borscht.
Lunch today: toasted Pumpernickel with sliced Avogado , lemon and plenty of pepper…Better have breakfast first.
LikeLike
Hmm. Dill. Maybe next autumn.
LikeLike
“I’ve never touched the food coked in one of those greasy milk bar places and never will.”
Forgive me, Voice, but I just couldn’t resist it; I mean, ‘coked’! Rotfloling all over the place…
😉
LikeLike
My purpose in life is fulfilled asty.
LikeLike
It wasn’t merely the fact that you’d made an error which amused me, Voice (although it’s nice to know you’re human too!), but also the appropriateness of the result of your mispelling, ie. ‘coked’ as in ‘turned into charcoal’; burned…
How’re the triffids?
🙂
LikeLike
So that was it! I was thinking maybe cocaine or Coke, but couldn’t really make a connection there. I didn’t think of that kind of coke.
I rarely make spelling errors and that wasn’t one. But I do typos all the time.
Fancy comparing my weeds to triffids. You are trying to downplay their impact, aren’t you? 🙂
LikeLike
I nearly forgot my secret weapon: sumac. You can buy it ground and sprinkle some on the plain burger instead of cumin before frying. It’s also good to sprinkle on steak if you are quickly frying it plain.
LikeLike
I remember the potato scallops from the Revesby ‘fish and chips’ as a special luxury after the train trip home from work. I suppose in reality, they were horrible, but I prefer the memory of those crispy, salty and battered slices of cooked potato in lard as a cullinary diversion on those dreadful walks home through deserted streets and blindfolded homes. It was way beyond blue already then.
LikeLike
Oh, but they don’t look good , and they don’t taste very good either; where’s the beetroot,where are the nicely browned onion rings, where is the juicy Aussie hamburger from a Greek milkbar. Bring it back!
LikeLike
H, no and yes. I actually think they do look good because beetroot (tinned red dirt flavoured shirt stainer) has no great attraction for me – and having eaten burgers from the East Hills fish and chip shop and the Florida Milk Bar that were rich in nostalgia and grease and poor in actual meat content, I’m not trusting my memory that they tasted good.
However, I DO agree that modern mass-produced burgers, notwithstanding their resort to pickles and other special sauces, have no actual flavour and texture that would flow through a straw.
Home made burgers, using minced quality steak (as opposed to butcher mystery #4) are brilliant. Particularly on boutique bread.
LikeLike
I too had a Greek run fish and chip/fresh fish/hamburger shop where I grew up. I still try to make my
homemade burgers they way they did. The last time I had a bought one was 14 years ago.
LikeLike