Cheese Burgers and Fries on a Friday night. Work and school are done for the week and what better way to celebrate than sitting down with family and/or friends for Cheese Burger and fries.
Wash it down with a beer, ginger beer or juice and your weekend’s ready to start.
After years of tinkering my burger patty is a simple affair, just beef mince, salt and pepper. The trick is not to over work it and softly form them. Also controversially I don’t parboil my fries. The secret is to cut them thin and use parchment.
This is my favourite burger build, give it a try:
- Brioche Bun
- Smashed Avocado
- Cheddar cheese
- Lettuce in ‘pink sauce’
Max it: throw in some sliced onion, gherkins and sliced tomatoes.
This recipe should make 8 cheese burgers, enough to feed 4 adults. For a family of four I normally make 6 burgers and cut two in half for sharing between the hungry.
You need to allow 45 minutes prep and cook time.
Ingredients
Burgers
- 600g Beef mince
- 8 brioche burger buns
- 1 gem lettuce
- 2 ripe avocados
- Ketchup
- Mayo
- Cheddar cheese
Fries
- King Edward potatoes – about 500g, I work on filling the roasting tray
- Oregano – 1 tbsp
- Sea salt – 1 tsp
- Rapeseed oil – 2 tbsp
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
- Large non-stick frying pan
- Lid or large plate for the frying pan
- Roasting tray
- Parchment
To serve:
I like to use a large wooden chopping board for the cheese burgers and then scatter bowls of the fries on the table, plus:
- Any spare avo
- Mayo
- Ketchup
- Barbecue sauce
To drink:
- Beer: BrewDog 5am
- Soft drink: Bunderberg Gingerbeer
Cooking times
- Burgers 4 mins each side
- Fries 30 mins, toss and turn halfway through.
I’ve set out the method to multitask, but if you prefer to take a bit more time you can prep the fries and patties before you put the oven on.
This will give you more time to prep the lettuce, avocado and buns.
Method
45 mins until you eat
- Turn the oven on 220
- Start with the Burgers
- Put the mince in the bowl, add salt and pepper and gentle loosen with your hands.
- Now split the mix into 8 equal balls and place on a plate.
- Once split up squash each ball flat, so that they are the same diameter as your buns. Cover and put in the fridge.
- Now for the Fries
- Prep the chips, using your biggest sharpest knife slice them as thin as possible. About 0.5cm or half your finger width, also don’t worry if your potatoes are small, I find shorter fries are easier to jostle in the pan.
- As you cut them put them into the pan until you have a single layer.
Then add a glug of oil and sprinkle the oregano over the top. Then mix it through with your hands until all the fries are covered.
30 mins until you eat
- Put the fries straight the in on the top shelf.
- With the burger patties made and the fries in the oven, it’s time to start on the toppings, first the Lettuce
- Put equal amounts of ketchup and mayo in a cereal bowl, about 2 tbsp of each, and mix together with a fork.
- Now finely slice the lettuce and add to the sauce.
- Fold the lettuce into the sauce and set to one side.
- If you’ve got time now finely slice some cheese and put to one side, allow 2 slices per burger.
15 mins until you eat
- The fries should just be mid way through.
- Get the fries out, loosen if stuck to the bottom of the pan, give the pan a shake and put back in the oven.
- Get the burger buns out their packs and place on the empty shelf in the oven for a minute to crispen.
- Rescue your buns and put them on a large chopping board or plates… wherever you want to start building them up.
10 mins until you eat
- Put your pan on a medium high heat, about 2/3 full heat, and start prepping your avocado.
- It’s a bit of multitasking, but go back to the job and add the patties to the pan. Leave them to cook on one side… resist moving them around in the pan.
- They need 5 mins, so go back to finishing the avocados.
5 mins until you eat
- Check the patties are nicely charred and flip them.
- Now check the fries and give them a quick shuffle if required.
- Then start building the burgers. Pile the lettuce on the bottom half and smear avocado on the top half.
Serve it up, chill out and eat
- Finally add the cheese to the top of the burgers and place a lid or plate on the pan.
- It will need a couple of minutes to melt the cheese, so on the meantime get the fries out and pour into a serving bowl.
- Then place the burgers on the buns and serve.