Hairy Bikers Burger Recipe

This Hairy Bikers burger recipe swaps shop mince for beef chuck you mince or chop yourself, with optional bone marrow and a chipotle burger sauce. So you get 4 big burgers at about 715 calories each by my estimate, in 50 minutes plus chilling, from British Classics and Meat Feasts.

“The secret is to use chuck steak, not mince,” Si and Dave write in British Classics, so besides the marrow it’s just salt and pepper. And that’s 200g of steak in every burger, twice the lean mince they use in the lighter Make It Easy ones.

The moment that matters is the flip, because in my experience chopped steak with no egg or breadcrumbs tears if you move it too soon. So wait until it lifts off the pan cleanly, which is the same cue they give for their chicken and kimchi burgers.

Hairy Bikers Burger Recipe

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Frying Cuisine:British American Courses:Main Course

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 30 minutesCook time: 20 minutesRest time: minutesTotal time: 50 minutesServings:4 servingsCalories:715 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Firm, chilled chuck gets coarsely minced or chopped by hand, then pressed into four thick rounds. After that they sear hard in a dry pan, and the buns toast in the leftover juices while the burgers rest.

Ingredients

For the burgers

• 800g chuck steak, trimmed of any gristle or hard pieces of fat
• 50g bone marrow, finely diced (optional)
• sea salt and black pepper
• 4 burger buns, split

For the burger sauce

• 100g mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
• a squeeze of lemon juice
• 1 large gherkin, finely chopped
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp chipotle paste or other hot sauce

To serve (optional)

• cheese slices
• lettuce, sliced red onion, tomato and pickles

Instructions

1. Chill the steak: Make sure the chuck steak is well chilled, or freeze it and let it thaw partially, because firm meat is much easier to cut.
2. Mince or chop: Then put it through a coarse mincer, or chop it very finely by hand, until a squeezed handful sticks together. Stir in the bone marrow, if using.
3. Shape the patties: Season with salt and a little black pepper, then divide into 4 and shape into round patties 2 to 2.5cm thick. If they still feel fridge-cold, leave them to stand for a while.
4. Mix the sauce: While the patties stand, mix the mayonnaise, ketchup, lemon juice, gherkin, garlic powder and chipotle paste, then season with salt and pepper.
5. Sear the first side: Heat a non-stick frying pan or barbecue until it’s too hot to hold your hand over. Then add the burgers with no oil, in batches if needed. Leave them alone for 4 minutes, until they’re well seared and lift off cleanly.
6. Cook them through: Then flip them and cook for up to 6 minutes more for well done, until a thermometer reads 70°C in the middle. Add any cheese once they’re turned.
7. Rest and toast the buns: Once they’re cooked, rest the burgers for a couple of minutes while you toast the buns cut-side down on the pan or barbecue. Then build each one with sauce, the burger and whatever toppings you fancy.

FAQs

Can I cook these burgers rare?

They give 3 minutes after the flip for rare, 4 for medium-rare and 5 for medium, so pink options are in both books. But the Food Standards Agency says “unlike a steak, a burger needs to be cooked through”, because chopping spreads surface bacteria into the middle.

So aim for 70°C in the centre for 2 minutes, checked with a thermometer, since neither colour nor the clock can tell you. And the agency doesn’t recommend pink burgers at home at all, especially for children, pregnant women and anyone with a weaker immune system.

What can I use instead of bone marrow?

In British Classics they suggest frying 4 rashers of streaky bacon slowly, so you render out as much fat as you can. Then let the fat cool, mix it into the chopped steak, and put the crisp rashers on top of the finished burgers.

Marrow comes from the middle of beef bones, which a butcher will usually cut for you, though that’s my experience rather than their advice. Or skip both, because the marrow is optional in both books anyway.

How do I make them spicy?

Their website’s Biker burger uses the same chuck and marrow plus a dash each of Worcestershire and Tabasco, making 4 large burgers or 10 sliders. Or go further with the kimchi burgers from Ultimate Comfort Food, topped with a salted cabbage slaw that has 50g of kimchi through it.

That kimchi version swaps this chipotle sauce for mayo, ketchup, kimchi juice and gochujang. And in their first cookbook, the Proper burgers mix shallots, garlic, thyme and Tabasco into the meat, if you’d rather have the spices inside.

Can I make these with lamb or pork?

Not with this recipe, but their first cookbook has a different Proper burger with shallots and thyme that works with lamb or pork mince too. Use mint with lamb or sage with pork, they say, although they actually made theirs with zebra in Namibia.

For lamb with more spice, their lamb kofta mix with hidden lentils is another way to go. And if you came looking for turkey burgers, I haven’t found one anywhere in their recipes, so I won’t make one up. Or for no meat at all, their black bean veggie burgers come with a similar sauce, using pickle juice instead of chopped gherkin.

Do I need a burger press?

No, because Si and Dave simply shape these into patties, and a press would only make the same even 2 to 2.5cm rounds. But I press a slight dip into the middle of each, which is my own habit to stop them doming as they shrink.

To shape them ahead, their Lindström burgers in Everyday Winners chill in the fridge first and come out half an hour before cooking. Then serve your homemade beef burgers with their Meat Feasts coleslaw or a lemony potato salad. Or if you’d rather have a slower bun filling, try their pulled pork.