Camden New Journal - Food:Clare Latimer

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The Review - FOOD AND DRINK - Cooking with CLARE
Published: 18th August 2009

You won’t need fries with these!

Clare Latimer backs free-range meat and offers her own tasty twist on the great British burger

BURGERS are one of the most popular takeaway lunches that we do in our shop and only recently have we started doing all kinds of meats and adding extra flavours.
Interestingly enough, I was visiting a dairy farm recently and talking about the calves that have to be killed at birth and heard that in this country we are now eating more minced meat and this is allowing the calves to have a life.
Hooray, something good is happening. We must keep up the campaign to eat free-range British animals and ask in every restaurant and pub where the meat is from to encourage the chefs. I was at the Hampton Court Flower Show last week and I asked the staff serving a pig roast if the animals were British etc; they had not a clue. They did at least ask me to read the piece near the menu and thank heavens it was “good” meat, but how sad that the staff had no idea. Wouldn’t they be more proud of their job if they had more information?
Here are some burger recipes to either barbecue if the weather holds out, or just cook on the hob or under the grill.

Beef burgers with cheese
This is the more standard burger, but I have spiced it up a little. You can add any herb and vary the salad that you add.
I often make a few extra burgers to keep in the deep freeze in case a hungry godchild is passing, and they don’t last long!

Ingredients
Serves 4
4 slices streaky bacon
350g beef mince
Splash of Worcestershire sauce
A dash of Tabasco sauce
Good pinch of oregano leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 slices of cheddar cheese
4 hamburger buns, cut in half lengthways
1 large ripe tomato, sliced
1 small red onion, sliced thinly
A few little gem lettuce leaves
1 tbsp mayonnaise

Method
Fry the bacon in a large frying pan for about three minutes on both sides and then remove and set the pan aside. Put the minced beef, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, oregano and salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well with a fork to combine all flavours. Using your hands mould the mixture into four burgers making them quite thick. Reheat the bacon fat in the frying pan and cook the burgers on one side for about four minutes over a medium heat. Turn the burgers over and cook for a further three to four minutes. They should be slightly pink inside and gently browned on the outside. Top the burgers with the slices of cheese. Put the burgers into the buns, and top them with the bacon, tomato, onion, and lettuce. Spoon over a little mayonnaise and then close over the tops of the buns and serve immediately.

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