Home Made Burgers are the best!

I love my burgers. In fact, although I have to admit to liking the fast food variety at McDonalds and Burger King (Hungry Jacks to the Aussies), nothing quite beats the burgers that I used to enjoy at Deli's and even some Milk Bars as a student in Melbourne. You could have your burger 'custom made' there with just what you wanted. My favourite of course was a 'Burger with the Lot' which simply meant that it was a burger with Everything piled on - bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, cheese and sometimes even an egg! Happy Days indeed!!

I like my burgers thick and meaty too and so just the other day, when we were planning what to make for dinner, I suggested home made burgers.


The Lovely Wife and my princess thought this was a brilliant idea although, not surprisingly, my son wasn't too keen. This is simply because he doesn't particularly like bread. He will eat it, of course, but for some reason doesn't really quite like it - unless it is toasted with jam or butter and sugar.




As I have matured (read - grown older) I am not too fond of cheese in my burgers. I still love bacon in it though and so I bought some bacon together with lettuce and tomatoes. And of course the minced beef! I also used lots of tomato sauce and mustard - you got to have mustard in a burger!

This is what I did to make the patties.

Ingredients
3 cloves garlic-chopped
1 medium onion - chopped
2 tsp basil
2 tsp oregano
black pepper
1 kg mince beef
2 tbsp tomato sauce
splash of Worcestershire sauce
Salt


Method
Sautee the onions, garlic, oregano, basil and black pepper. Add into the mince and mix well together with the tomato sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Season with salt and let stand for a little while.
Make the meat into patties either with your hands or use a burger shaper. I have a Tupperware burger shaper and that explains why my burgers are so nicely shaped!
Place on a baking tray and bake in a 180C oven for about 20 mins. This helps the burgers keep their shape. Continue cooking the burgers in a skillet till done to your taste. I like my burgers Well Done.

To add to the fun, I laid all the ingredients out and let The Lovely Wife and kids assemble their own burgers. I learnt that my little princess takes after me and absolutely enjoys bacon!

I assemble my burgers by starting of with a layer of lettuce on the bun, then some slices of tomato followed by the beef patty. More lettuce goes over the patty and then comes the bacon. Finally, I spread liberal amounts of tomato sauce and mustard over the bacon and cover it with the top half of the bun.



I have to say the Home made burgers are not only tastier but more importantly, you know exactly what is going into it. And that makes that taste even better!!