I was scrolling through my social media, and one of the cooking vlogs that I follow presented a rather unconventional burger recipe (a link to the original video will appear at the bottom of this blog post). The whole time that I’m watching, I’m thinking this has be a joke right? It wasn’t, and thought… I had to give it a try. It’s fairly simple recipe, the ingredient list is short and accessible. And it turns out, it was actually a pretty good recipe.
What’s so unusual about this burger recipe? There’s no browning the meat (an essential step in preparing most beef recipes). The burger patty is simmered in a caramelized onion broth.
So if your a fan of the Simpsons cartoon, you’ll probably remember the episode where Principal Skinner invited the school district superintendent to have dinner, but accidently burns the main course. In a desperate move, he runs out and buys some fast food burgers, and tries to pass them off as home made, calling them “steamed hams” (supposedly a regional slag term). Since this burger recipe basically steams the beef, to in a sense, this is a recipe for “steamed hams”.
Ingredients (for 2 servings)
- 300 g/10oz of ground beef (about 80/20 meat to fat ratio)
- 1/2 cup of water
- 1 medium sized onion
- 2 burger buns
- the burger toppings of your choice
Method
I started by slicing the onions very thin (I used a mandolin)
then formws the ground beef into two balls, about 150g/5oz each
I turned up the stove on medium high and dumped the slice onions in the hot pan. (pictured is actually more onions than necessary. I used the equivalent of two medium sized onions, but one would have sufficed)
The onions will start to caramelize on the bottom of the pan
once it started to caramelize, I added a little water to the pan
I waited for the onions to cook down and caramelize a little more, before topping it off with the rest of the water.
then I added the beef burger balls
I used a (wok) spatula flatten them down a little
I seasoned the burgers on the top side, and continued to simmer for about 5 minutes
I flipped the patties, season the other side, and simmer for another 3-5 minutes until they reached the desired doneness.
You can serve up your burger with your preferred buns and toppings. I had nice crusty roll on hand, so I split and toasted it.
and hit them with mayo, ketchup
and mustard, and cheddar cheese
dropped a little onions as the base
layered the burger patties on top of the onion base
added some more onions
topped the burgers off with the top of the bun
sliced and served
This was pretty good burger. The final product was a medium-well burger, tender, incredibly moist, with the sweet aroma of the caramelized onions permeating the burger, and filling every bite.
I’m not sure this would be my go-to burger recipe, I kind of like a nice char /grill marks on my burger, but it’s certainly a good burger and it’s nice for change. It has the added bonus that there’s no splatter or smoke, and the kitchen carries the sweet aroma of caramelized onions for hours.
source video:
shinyandbright 