Burger Queen

"If you don't study hard, you will end up flipping burgers at MacDonald's!"
"If you don't study hard, you will end up studying in MacDonald's university!"
Such were the threats motivational speeches of my childhood to keep me fearful motivated to hit the books. I mean hit the books metaphorically, not literally ^_~ Perhaps it's these psychological scars that kept me from lovin' the MacD's bleah burgers, but I digress.

So it is with great amusement that my brother watched me flip hamburgers for today's lunch and my dad polishing it off, pronouncing it "the best burger I've ever had!" Coming from someone who steadfastly avoids red meat, this is high praise indeed. My brother reminded my dad of his oft-repeated phrase and proclaimed it a prophecy, as I was indeed flipping burgers, though not for a living.

If you think that my burgers are anything like that of MacD's, HAH you're WRONG! A pox on you if you dare compare the two! My burgers have got thick 80gm beef patties that are juicy and crumbles at the bite, topped with an oh-so-juicy portebello mushroom and oodles of caramelized onions. My parents polished up all of it and picked at the onions that slithered out of the burger. It's goooood. *slurpz*

Burger Queen Burgers
Burger Toppings:
4 portebello mushrooms
3/4 white onion, sliced

Burger Patties:
320gm minced beef
1/4 white onion, finely chopped
1 Jacob's cream cracker, crumbled into crumbs.
1 tbspoon corn flour
1 egg
A squirt of ketchup
A squirt of worceshire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
A generous dash of pepper
Mix it all together in a large bowl, making sure that everything is mixed evenly.
Shape the meat into 4 patties and let it sit for a while.

Panfry the portebello mushrooms with a drizzle of olive oil and salt; that's all you need. Fry until juicy and soft. Remove from saucepan.

Reheat the saucepan (that's all I have, no fancy grills for these burgers of mine) and place the patties in it. Cover the saucepan! Leave it there for 2min, then flip the patties, cover saucepan and leave it there for another 2min. After that, switch off the flame and let it heat through for a min or two with the saucepan covered again. Then voila, the patties are done =) The reason for covering the saucepan? It retains the heat and moisture in the patties, letting it cook faster while retaining the juices as much as possible. I tried frying them without being covered and they cook slower, thus are more dry. Learn from my mistakes.

Remove the patty, drizzle some olive oil, sugar and salt on the suacepan that's still covered in burger juice and fry onions in there. It should be done in about 7min? Dump onions on the burger patties and viola, lunch =D

We like our burger buns lightly toasted and buttered. Cheese, tomato ketchup and mustard were piled on to add to the messy burger feel, but these are really up to the individual. I like mine without a chunky slice of tomato as I thought it detracted from the lovely onion + mushroom + beef combo, but my brother liked it with the tomato. No photos for this post, as my house was devoid of AA batteries and my camera was out of juice. T-T