How do you do your burgers?

[Van Hellseek]

I usually do 80/20 mince, small pinch of mixed herbs, salt/pepper and a teaspoon of soy sauce Then 4-5 minutes each side in the pan.

(wish I had a proper "patty former" for making perfectly round burgers, as they tend to be a bit thick/ugly without one, but I haven't seen them for sale in shops here)

then I do one of two things depending on my mood...

Either put the burger in a nice bun whith some nice fresh salad, proper cheese and maybe a slice of bacon.

Or... I occasionally get the urge to do it McD's style, so I put the burger on the bottom half of the bun and add slice of fake cheese, a bit of ketchup, finely diced onion and a slice of pickle. Then wrap the whole thing in clingfilm and whack it in the microwave for 20-30 secs. This softens the bun, melts the 'cheese' and warms the relish. End result isn't pretty, but it tastes just like a McD's cheeseburger.

Second method is good for if the buns are a couple of days old and have lost their freshness. It's a lot less noticable like this.

 

[Van Hellseek]

One idea I had for this is to use a smooth round cookie cutter. Stuff the cookie cutter full of the burger mix and then use a flat palette knife to get the top perfectly flat. Would be interested to see if this works.

If you mean filling the cutter to the brim then I think that would be too thick. The pattys need to be big but thin before cooking because they shrink and get fatter in the pan.

The last burger I made shrank loads and it ended up looking more like a little meatball than a burger.

 

[Van Hellseek]

You can get a burger press and wax paper circles from Lakeland:

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/10481/Quarter-Pounder-Burger-Press

WE have one and its great.

Looks like it makes pattys too thick for my liking. What I'm after is something more like this...

 

[Van Hellseek]

You can't be that poncy if you fry your burgers...