1. Buy high quality and fresh meat. I always recommend a combination of chuck steak and rib cap fat (80%/20%) from a local butcher for the best results when cooking a burger on a barbecue. The fat content is a basting fat which melts when cooked giving the burger more flavour
2. Shape the hamburger meat into 200g patties, about the diameter of 10cm
3. Ensure that the meat is brought to room temperature prior to seasoning. Once at room temperature, season the meat and wait 20 minutes prior to placing the burger on the barbeque
4. For best results cook on a charcoal barbecue. Charcoal coals should be grey in colour when they are ready to cook (without a flame) and should burn for approximately 40 minutes before you start cooking. If you are using a gas barbeque, this will need to be turned on 20/25 minutes prior to cooking. The ideal cooking temperature is 235 degrees Celsius allowing your burger to reach an internal temperature of 65 degrees Celsius
5. Brush the grill with oil prior to placing the burgers on the barbeque
6. Don’t feel tempted to press the burgers or this will push out the moisture. Should the barbeque flame, lift the burgers to one side so that they do not burn
7. Cut into your burger to check that it is properly cooked after 10 minutes. You want the meat to be slightly pink and to fall easily away from the knife and fork
8. Two minutes before you take your burger off the grill add Leerdammer® Toastie and Burger, the thick and creamy texture of the cheese is the ideal topping and will melt perfectly
9. To avoid over cooking, take your burgers off the grill as soon as they are done and leave them to rest for a few minutes, ideally on a warm plate
The tips above are provided by Darragh O’Shea of O’Shea’s Butchers promote Leerdammer® Toastie and Burger Slices.
For further barbecue inspiration, Leerdammer® has also created a set of burger recipes which can be viewed here: http://leerdammer.co.uk/recipes.html
