by Edward James

Created on: May 12, 2010

Many shop bought beef burgers consist of the leftovers, waste, tendons etc. after a cow is butchered and carved up along with a whole host of additives and preservatives that are needed to make it appealing and appetising. Because of this, burgers tend to have a high fat content, high salt content and high calorie content, all of which are likely to put consumers in an early grave. However, burgers needn’t be like this and a homemade burger can be a healthy alternative to other meats that are considered ‘better’ for you, such as bacon.

The basic recipe for a healthy homemade burger is below:

Ingredients:

i) 1 large onion

ii) 1 egg (for binding purposes)

iii) 2 slices of bread

iv) 800g of minced beef

An egg is not a necessity and the ingredients will bind together without one, however an egg does make a tighter binding, which stops the burgers breaking up during the cooking process. This is a factor requiring consideration.

The bread can be either white, brown, granary, whole grain or any other type of bread you have in the food store. It doesn’t matter how old the bread is and making these burgers is a good way of using up stale bread, however make sure there is no mould on it because it will affect the overall taste.

The minced beef can be as lean or as fatty as you like, although the leaner the beef (i.e. the less fat there is) the healthier it will be, obviously. In making this beef burger the leanness of the beef being used makes no difference to the end result and it is a matter of personal choice. Some people like fatty meat whereas others do not.

Directions:

i) Take the onion and finely grate it using a cheese grater. If larger pieces of onion are required the coarser blade should be used, whereas the finer blade should be used for smaller pieces of onion.

ii) Take two slices of bread and cut off the crusts. Soak the bread in warm water for two minutes. Pour the excess water away and squeeze the bread to get rid of the excess water, leaving a nice soft, pliable and damp ball of bread.

iii) Put the minced beef in to a bowl and add the bread and onion. Crack-open the egg and pour in to the bowl. Using your hands squeeze the ingredients through your fingers multiple times over to create a meaty paste. You should not be able to see any strands of meat, therefore keep squeezing the ingredients until all the strands are gone. This process will take a few minutes and is very messy.

iv) Once the paste is a nice, smooth consistency it

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