The hamburger

The world famous hamburger is more popular than ever, has exchanged its image of being unhealthy for robust and artisan and in many ‘Burger clubs’ is now made from first class meat and sustainable, delicious and healthy toppings.

 

Even at home, making the most delicious hamburgers starts with choosing the best piece of meat. With inspiration, creativity and a range of different buns, toppings and sauces, you can now mix, match and create the perfect hamburger.

 

For the hamburger meat, the butcher can put a lovely piece of meat through the mincer, which can be seasoned with salt, pepper and some garlic. Half beef, half pork mince is slightly fattier than 100% beef, but if you want to pay more, you might also go for local beef, black angus beef, wagyu beef, lamb or even chicken or turkey mince.

 

The traditional hamburger comes in a soft bun topped with sesame seeds, but you can obviously serve it with any type of bread. 

 

If you like crunchy bread, choose ciabatta, petit pain or a baguette. Or what about a lovely soft sweet brioche. Putting a cocktail stick through the bun and the meat makes it more stable and easier to eat.

 

Cheddar melts best, but for variety in flavour try blue cheese, goat’s cheese, gorgonzola, brie or gruyère as interesting alternatives.

 

Lettuce and vegetables like rocket, lollo rossa, little gem, avocado, (sun-dried) tomatoes, cucumber and grilled aubergine are indispensable and add freshness and crunch to the hamburger.

 

Pickles like gherkin, jalapeños, pickled red cabbage, grilled pepper or self-fermented vegetables provide a refreshing addition to the burger. 

There are many other possible toppings, such as caramelised or fried (red) onion, fried bacon or a fried egg. 

 

The perfect hamburger doesn’t have too much sauce, so that we can still taste all the individual ingredients. 

Mayonnaise, ketchup, garlic sauce and barbecue sauce are the best known sauces served with the hamburger. 

But other great alternatives are mustard sauce, salsa, chutneys, (homemade) spreads, compote, truffle mayonnaise, seasoned crème fraiche, wasabi mayonnaise.

 

The burger is easy to grill on a griddle plate without using oil or fat. Grilling gives the meat nice grill stripes and because the meat doesn't lie in the frying fat, the outside of the meat stays nice and juicy. 

With a pre-set grill programme on the induction hob, the temperature is automatically set and hamburgers can be cooked in a very controlled way. 

 

Using the griddle plate on the induction hob with Bridge zone makes it easy to fry hamburgers as well as onion rings, bacon and vegetables.