1,464 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

Let's rehabilitate the burger

The burger is a sandwich that is very fashionable at the moment, and as for all other sandwiches, the worst (often) rubs shoulders with the best (much more rare).

In principle, I'm probably not teaching you anything, it's a sandwich made of a small round bun, rather soft, like a sandwich bread, the bun, which is filled with a small grilled ground beef steak and various vegetables (tomatoes, onions, salad,...).

The whole point of the burger is the delicious contrast between the grilled meat and the crunchy vegetables in the bun.

5,981 4.9/5 (16 reviews)

Keywords for this post:Burger Sandwich Hamburger American Meat Salad Bread Bun

Last modified on: April 10^th 2021

For this post: Comment Follow Send to a friend

Let's rehabilitate the burger

burger

A burger, then, is very simple, very good if it's well done, a bit like the emblematic "dish" of the cuisine of our American neighbours, who are often persuaded to have invented it, which is totally far-fetched, it is in fact of German origin, literally hamburger is "Hambourgeois" for the French-speaking people or inhabitants of Hamburg, where it originates, brought to the United States by the immigrants from this city.

We can find it everywhere now, not only at macdo fortunately, and especially it arrives in our kitchen, adored by many, especially children/teens/youth in general.

You can find a lot of them in take-away, in delivery, and a lot of chains, more or less sophisticated, offer practically only that.

You can buy it of course, have it delivered of course, but most of all, as you can see, you can make it yourself and with a little effort, have something healthy and delicious, miles away from the over-fat and over-sweetened stuff of fast food chains.

If you want to get started, which is quite simple I reassure you right away, here are a few points that deserve your attention.

The bread

buns maison

Without doubt the most important, it is very easy to buy in supermarkets vacuum-packed burger buns, not expensive, but which are horrors without name, very fat, very sweet and which remain under plastic 2 months without problem, filled with additives that they are.

If you buy in a supermarket, read very carefully the label, and choose the healthiest, proscribe the endless lists of additives of fats, sugar, it will probably be a little more expensive, but much better taste and health.

But there is a much better option: Go to your baker and buy from him, order if necessary, buns. If he's a good baker he'll make them himself, in his bakery, quality buns, fresh and infinitely better than anything you'll find in the supermarket. As demand increases, (good) bakers are adapting and offering a variety of different breads, in doughs, sizes, and toppings (seeds on top).

There is even a third way, you can consider making your own hamburger buns, it's not that complicated, with a mixer or a bread machine. You can also decorate them to your taste.

Bread related tips:
- Cut your bread in half with a saw knife shortly before topping (so it doesn't have time to go stale)
- Toast the two pieces of bread before topping, in the toaster or in the oven, it will be much better in taste and texture

The meat

galettes de viandes pour hamburgers

Here too, it is necessary to go for quality, and therefore to buy quality meat from your butcher, minced in front of you.

Tips related to meat :
- Instead of making a simple ground steak, mix the meat with salt, pepper, chopped onion, herbs, etc. and then form patties by hand to grill.
- It is now quite easy to find "hamburger presses" that allow you to quickly mould the meat into a well rounded patty of the right size.
- You can go off the beaten track and replace the beef by another meat, more original, chicken for example.

The vegetables and the rest

salade verte tomates oignons

You can put in your burger a bit of everything you want, only limited by your imagination, let yourself go!
The classic tomatoes (in season only), onions and lettuce are delicious of course, but don't hesitate to think outside the box: spinach leaves, fresh herbs, cooked vegetables, avocados, etc. etc.
You can also add a lot of other things to slip in between the ingredients already mentioned: cheese slices, hard-boiled egg slices, pickles, grilled bacon, etc.

The sauce

moutarde

In principle, a little mustard is enough, but you can enrich your burger with another sauce: mayonnaise, remoulade, béchamel, spicy...
Be careful not to saturate the sandwich, it is easy to make it a little too rich and give it a taste of sauce rather than burger.

So here is a small overview of the burger, to make it short, it is a simple sandwich with grilled meat, but it deserves that we pay a little attention to its realization and its composition.

In summary: The burger is not the archetype of junk food, it is a sandwich that if it is well made, preferably at home, can be delicious and healthy, thanks to the use of quality ingredients.

PS: Those who live around Brest in France, will be happy to go to the bakery"Pen ar bread", in Guipavas, the remarkable establishment of Sébastien and Audrey that I highly recommend (best bakery in Brittany 2019), where you will find a whole range of burger breads just delicious. Those are the buns you see in the introduction photo. And in addition the owner is a very nice guy, a real well of science in bakery, do not hesitate to ask him about it.

PPS: You've probably already seen those famous black and white archive images of JF Kennedy's speech in Berlin in 1963, and his even more famous "Ich bin ein Berliner"? Imagine for a moment that he gave his speech in Hamburg...

Lasts posts

The little trap of thick cream

When you need to add cream to a recipe, you might be wondering: thick (heavy) cream or liquid cream? In most cases, there's no big difference: you can use either. But there is one exception, and that's when the cream needs to be cooked, for a sauce for example, and here the difference between...
December 13^th 20248365

Sauce and salad: When and how to mix them?

When dressing a salad, there's a kind of golden rule: add the dressing very shortly before serving, especially if your salad contains crunchy elements such as croutons or fresh vegetables, which will retain their crunchiness or crispiness. But, as is often the case in the kitchen, there are...
November 29^th 20241,1075

No need to boil gelatin

Gelatin is a magical ingredient for making light, creamy, structured desserts, yet it's often misused in the kitchen. A common mistake in some recipes is the idea that it needs to be boiled for it to work properly, but this is a mistake indeed: gelatin melts at a much lower temperature, around...
November 21^th 20241,2815

Your oven in "proofer" mode

In the bakery, proofing is a crucial stage in the process of making light, plump breads and pastries. During proofing, the yeast ferments the sugars present in the dough, releasing carbon dioxide which forms bubbles. This process allows the dough to swell and aerate, guaranteeing a soft, light...
September 27^th 20244,3415

The right size of zucchini

When you buy zucchini at the market, you're often offered a wide variety of sizes, from very small to very large. But which ones to choose? Here are a few tips.
September 9^th 20244,5305

See all posts Random post RSS feeds

Other pages you may also like

The Holy Grail of French bakers

While browsing through the recipes on this site, you may have noticed that while I adore cooking (everything, in fact, to do with eating and drinking), I am particularly drawn to bakery: bread, viennoiseries and all that goes with them – it’s a real passion of mine; I love making them and I...
March 24^th 201815 K 34.7

In praise of the whetstone

Have you ever seen a butcher or a chef sharpen his knife before using it? Usually he uses a special tool, a long thin cylinder made of very hard metal. And in a smooth and elegant gesture, he very quickly passes the edge of the knife against the rifle, which makes a very characteristic noise,...
June 5^th 20217,0764.8

Butter doesn't make you fat, unless you eat too much of it.

Whenever I'm discussing cooking and recipes, there is one idea which comes up frequently, like this: "Oh no! But that's got butter in it" (I should add, for the sake of accuracy, that this is something I hear more frequently from women, who are almost all concerned with keeping their figure). ...
March 26^th 201239 K4.5

What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?

This is a question that you may well have asked yourself and which I will attempt to answer. In France the two trades of "boulangerie" (bakery) and "pâtisserie" (patisserie and confectionery) have always been quite distinct, but where exactly do the boundaries lie? .
February 7^th 2017124 K 14.1

The time of the jams

We are well into summer as I write this, and this is the time when most of the fruit is giving or about to give in full. And for many of us, it will also be the time for jams and jellies, one of the best ways to preserve fruit for the next winter.
July 12^th 202124 K4.5