Sometimes there comes a time like this, that a person just wants to eat a hamburger. Ot, a piece of meat between the halves of the bun, with vegetables, favorite sauce and a glass of cola. In the restaurant itself it turns out, that most burgers (or, as it is often called, "Sandwiches") is small, low in ingredients, and the meat in them is either dry, or it resembles deep-fried cardboard. To fill you up, you have to spend a lot of money, and the effect is this, that food sits heavily on the stomach and we crave all kinds of fast food for a few months. No, maybe not everyone does, but me for sure.
So what to do, to indulge yourself, and at the same time have no remorse after all, not a cardboard box in the stomach? Well, you have to make your own burger, with fresh ingredients and exactly that, what we want to do! The only ingredient not entirely "own" will be, of course, rolls, which you simply have to buy in the store; unfortunately, I have not yet mastered the art of baking my own hamburger buns (if someone knows and wants to share knowledge, I will be grateful for your comment).
Before I go into the recipe, extremely simple anyway, I would like to say two words about the choice of meat and this, how they should be fried. First of all, let's choose meat that is fatter than for tartare. Some people abhor all membranes, veins and everything in general, what's white in the meat, but in this case it is worth leaving some fat on the meat – it will have a more pronounced taste and will not be dry. Prepared minced meat on a tray, sold in every supermarket, is perfect, because it is not the leanest meat in the world. For some dishes (like the aforementioned tartare) may not be suitable, but the burger is just right.
The second thing is the type of meat. Let's choose beef, as long as the budget allows it. Many people choose pork, starting from the assumption, that the beef is tough. Nothing could be more wrong! Beef chops can be made like this, they'll be so soft, that they will fall apart on their own in the mouth, and the roll will be the toughest in the hamburger! The secret to frying meat for a hamburger is a well-formed cutlet. It is known for a long time, that the cutlet in the pan will always shrink, but you have to resist the urge to make a pancake out of it. A much better choice is to buy smaller rolls and come to terms with it, that the cutlet will have a smaller girth, but it will be soft. The second thing is pressing the cutlet with a spatula. As far as it can be fun to see, like the juice oozes from the meat, you have to remember, that the more juice we squeeze, this will make the cutlet drier. Better to leave him alone and let him, that the outer layer browns as quickly as possible, creating a waterproof layer, which will keep all the moisture inside. I guarantee, that the meat will then be soft, juicy and just perfect!
Ingredients for four burgers:
- a pack of four hamburger buns
- 500g of ground beef
- two eggs
- lettuce
- favorite vegetables and side dishes
Our version included the following components:
- onion
- pickled cucumber
- green olives
- Red pepper
- tomato
- to be
- ketchup, mustard, Mayonnaise, sos barbecue
Let's start with the meat. We add two egg yolks to it, salt and sprinkle generously with freshly ground pepper. Then we mix thoroughly and form four balls – each will become a cutlet containing 125g of meat.
Wash the lettuce leaves, and the other ingredients, if required, we cut like this, as we like. I'll give you a hint, that the onion rings can be used raw, or fry it together with the cutlets. Both versions fit very well, try both!
Smear the cut rolls with your favorite sauces – in my case it is very hot ketchup and Russian mustard, also spicy. Marta prefers more delicate combinations: mild ketchup or barbecue sauce, mayonnaise and gourmet mustard. If someone prefers, for example. garlic sauce, this, of course, is also fine, to use it – especially, if it's self-made.
Heat the lard in a frying pan (let him warm up properly). Form cutlets from the meat balls, taking care, so that they are not too thin. Flattening them below 1 cm thick is risky – they will shrink anyway, and they will be drier. We fry on both sides like this, to brown. When in doubt, are they sure they are ready, you can cut them in the center with a knife and check, whether they are fried inside, but if there is no such need, you'd better let it go, so as not to waste too much juice.
Once the cutlets are ready, we put it on the rolls, what we have prepared – Place the lettuce leaf on the bottom (this will prevent the bottom of the bun from soaking up too quickly), meat on it, and a slice of cheese on the meat, if we have prepared one. The rest of the ingredients follow. That's it – enjoy your meal!
Finally, let me give you a little trick. Because burgers tend to leak quite a lot of the mixture of meat juice and sauces used, and ingredients tend to fall out backwards, Always keep the burger level, with both hands, placing both little fingers under the bottom half of the bun, yes, to prevent it from bending downwards. This way the hamburger won't fall apart, and the loss of ingredients will be kept to a minimum. That of course means, that you have to bend over the plate (but it will always stick to something, and lifting a bun high up can splash everything around it), but don't be embarrassed, after all no one is watching!
