Not Just a Man's World

It’s still the season of barbecues (in between the rain storms we’re having here) but it’s frightening what gets put into beef burgers that you buy from the supermarket.  It seems such a shame when half their ingredients are entirely unnecessary.

The recipe below is made with lean beef mince, because that’s what I tend to have to hand.  However, I heard on a radio cookery show (how exciting are my drives to work and back…?) several months ago that the burger holds together better if you cut this half and half with minced fattier cuts.  Apparently the meat fat helps act as a binding agent.  This isn’t something I’ve tried.  The latest batch of burgers that I made seemed to hold together well enough, although they were a fraction dry – I suspect that a little more fat in the meat may have given them a slightly juicier texture.

Paleo beef burgers

Ingredients (makes about 7 burgers):
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ teaspoon dried chilli seeds
500g lean beef mince
2 heaped tsp wholegrain mustard
1 large egg

Directions:

1. Put some oil in a pan, add the chilli seeds and heat so that the flavour of the chilli infuses into the oil.
2. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and gently fry over a medium heat until the onion is soft, keeping it moving so that it doesn’t burn.
3. Meanwhile put the mince, mustard and egg into a bowl.  Once the onion is ready add this to the bowl and then mix it all together thoroughly with your fingers.
4. Take handfuls of the mince mixture and form these into patties that are about the size of the palm of your hand (unless you are hulking beast of a lifter in which case aim for something that is about 3 inches in diameter) and about three-quarters of an inch thick.  Press them down slightly in the centre so that the burgers are slightly thinner in the middle than at the edge to ensure more even cooking.
5. Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a frying pan, turn the heat down a little so that the burgers have time to cook through before they go black on the outside (I prefer to fry homemade burgers to ensure I can rescue them if they start to fall apart – usually I would grill burgers and this, along with putting on a BBQ rack is still ok with these burgers, just be wary that if the mix is too moist then you might find that the burgers ends up in pieces in the fire!).  Fry for a couple of minutes on each side, varying cooking time depending on how rare or well-done you like your burgers (note that if you are doing this in a grill or on a BBQ they’ll need a little longer).

Variations on a theme…

Once you’ve mastered making beef burgers you can do anything you like with them. 

For example, you don’t have to form the mix into burger patties.  As an alternative, form it into a ball with a 1 inch diameter and fry these as for the burgers, noting that it takes a little less time for these to cook through.  You’ve now got the perfect meatball!

My preference is to put wholegrain mustard into the mix, as shown above, but you can actually add any flavours you like, as long as the mix remains at the right consistency.  Some suggestions for alternatives to the wholegrain mustard include:

• Fresh chopped herbs
• Cayenne pepper (chilli powder) and some finely chopped chilli for a bit of spice
• Finely chopped apricot or plum for a fruity treat
• A favourite treat of mine is to leave them plain except for adding a splash of port wine (though with this last one you need to take care not to make the mix too wet otherwise you’ll end up with a pile of tasty mince again, instead of a burger). 

Let your imagination go wild!

Related posts:

1. Paleo recipes: beef curry
2. Paleo recipes: beef casserole
3. Paleo recipes: slow-cooker pot roast beef
4. Paleo recipes: beef curry updated