The Burger Book: classic cheeseburger recipe

MAKES FOUR BURGERS

Ingredients
*600g beef mince (min. 20% fat content)
*4 slices of your favourite cheese
*4 seeded burger buns
*½ iceberg lettuce, shredded
*8 dill pickle slices
*1 red onion, finely sliced
*4 beef tomato slices
*Favourite condiments (mayo, ketchup and American yellow mustard all rock)
*Sea salt and black pepper

Method

1. Divide the beef mince into four balls and flatten them into patties a little bit larger than the buns, as you will get shrinkage as the fats render. Don’t make your patties too neat and compact, as you want the fats to render and work around the meat while it’s cooking. You want to create fjords of beefy fat flavour on the outside of the burger!

2. Get your grill nice and hot, or set your griddle pan over a high heat on the hob. Season your patties with salt and pepper, then get cooking. If you’re cooking outdoors, the meat might stick to the grill – don’t worry, the grill will release the meat when it’s ready.

3. Cook for 1–2 minutes, then flip, and repeat the process until they are almost done. These burgers are best served medium.

4. When they’re almost cooked – after about 6 minutes – add the cheese slices on top of each burger and cover with a cloche or large metal bowl to speed up the melt on the cheese (you’ll wait only 30 seconds for cheesy goodness). Use a temperature probe to make sure the burger is perfectly cooked then remove your burgers and keep warm while you toast the buns.

5. Get ready for the burger build! First, bottom bun with some mayo. Next, shredded lettuce, then burger, two pickle slices, onion, tomato slice and finally the ketchup and mustard and top bun.

6. But it’s your burger – you’re gonna be eating it – so do it your way if you like. Put the lettuce on top, scrap the mayo – it’s your call. And there we have it. A solid burger for your repertoire.

More from The Burger Book

The Burger Book by DJ BBQ (Quadrille, £12.99) is out now. Photography © David Loftus