Home burger: Clarissa Dickson Wright's Mollypop's hamburgers

I said we should make some burgers this week, so by God we DID.

Thought I'd take a peek at some recipes and see if there was anything interesting about that would go with the aubergine, tomato and mozzerella I wanted to smash on top of the burger. Google came up with a page a 7 different takes on burgers by top chefs, whoever the hell they are.

Now, my normal burger recipe is beef and seasoning in the patty, maybe stuff it with some kinda cheese on a wild and crazy day. Something about the last recipe on the page intrigued me, it was everything I don't normally do to a burger and that is, fuck with it. Onion, garlic, red peppers, parsely, cheddar, back pepper, milk ALL went into the patty recipe with the beef, WILD! I figured hell why not, lets get crazy.

So eventual burgers were that crazy patty recipe, roasted slices of aubergine, sliced tomato, basil, mozzerella, crispy streaky bacon, mayo, ketchup, dijon mustard and mini granary buns served with some potatoes I cut into chip shapes and roasted. the buns were all little so we busted out 3 FULL BURGERS EACH. Powerful, I like having lots of burgers.

Tasting notes:
- Little, but perfect for munching through. Always feel like you could fit one more in.

- Very juicy, probably due to lack of adding salt to patty mix. Made up for it by everything else being well seasoned so burger didn't need it. Might get some oyster sauce next time for salty flavour without drying out patty.

- Slightly sweet flavour, maybe from the onions and peppers that were allowed to sweat very slowly for almost half an hour. Real nice, complemented tomato and basil very well.

- Chips were a bit overdone and greasy, probably should have whacked them on some kitchen roll before serving, meh, it's all about the BURGERS!!

- did a vaggie one with some quorn burgers and all the toppings except bacon for the missus' sister. Basted the veggie burgers with butter in the pan, she said it was RAD.

- Overall thumbs up rating: AWESOME.





Recipe if you want it, I only vaugely followed this as far as using the ingredients, but guessed my own proportions. Oh, I didn't use the majoram cos didn't have any, parsely did well though.

Serves 4

Knead together 225g minced beef with some fat, a tin of finely chopped red peppers, 1tbsp of finely chopped onion, 1tsp of marjoram, 1/2tsp of chopped garlic, salt, 3tbsp of grated Cheddar and 2tbsp of milk. Grill on either side until brown.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1197009/The-perfect-burger-experts-Seven-chefs-reveal-secret-hamburger-recipes.html#ixzz0XIwjYfJJ

The Burger - Dolphin Inn, Canterbury

The Dolphin Inn, Canterbury is a SICK pub. Good beer, badass garden, boardgames and what's this? A pimped out burger? Yes please!



You get 2 choices of toppings from a good looking list. I was torn between bacon/stilton and brie/onion. Decided to hit up the brie and onion for a change after being reccommended it by some mates.

The food to a little while to arrive, but when it did, all doubts were swept away! An enourmous plate housing a huge mound of good chips, a pile of fresh and leafy salad, one mighty burger and some coleslaw, BAM!

We were inundated with tiny pots of various condiments without asking, always a good sign hah! The burger was a thick homemade job, well cooked, topped with a big pile of brie and fried onions and encased in a floury wholemeal bun. I added some of the leafy goodness and fresh red onion from the salad along with some condimental goodness.

First bite yealded an excellent beefy flavour with the sweetness of the onions and creamy brie flavours coming through. The salad added a nice crunch and I felt the satisfaction of a damned good burger.

The only let down to this delicious array was the coleslaw. It looked rather limp and old, but did seem homemade. After a small bite, I wasn't interested and left it. Didn't matter though as it was seemingly just plate decoration for the POWERFUL burger.

Go Dolphin, eat burger, be stoked.

The Ultimate Burger - Druids Head, Brighton

Lets kick this off then shall we?

A saturday afternoon on the Brighton Zombie Walk followed by going out clubbing all night and I needed recovery food. There's only one true recovery food, the almighty burger.

We headed to the Druids Head in Brighton and as soon as I saw the monstrosity on the menu I knew it had to be ordered:


The Ultimate Burger
- Beef Burger
- Half a chicken breast
- Bacon
- Cheese
- Salad, chips, onion rings

How can anyone turn down a burger that offers 3 DIFFERENT TYPES OF MEAT?

My burger arrived in a reasonable amount of time. On the plate there was one of the smallest buns I've ever seen encasing a brutal hunk of meat. A fat grey burger topped with a huge mound of chicken and bacon. Salad? Where's the bloody salad? Oh I see, a limp thickly cut slice of tomato and some soggy lettuce underneath the burger patty. I asked for some mayonaise and was presented with a strange bowl of white goo, close enough.

Once the burger had been condimented, I proceeded to take a bite or ten. Hmmm... cheap beef, dry chicken and undercooked bacon. There was a strange flavour I couldn't place during the eatings. Maybe it was smoke flavouring for the bacon? Very off putting. The salad failed and I ditched the tomato. The two onion rings and small selection of chips were not interesting enough to be finished and I left the table underwhelmed.

The ultimate burger? Not this time

ONWARDS!