This is the 'standard' double cheese smash burger recipe; feel free to change the trimmings as you like!
Ingredients (makes a two-patty burger)
2 x 60g beef mince balls (see tip)
2 x cheese slices
1 x bun, buttered
White onion, finely diced
Iceberg lettuce, thinly sliced
Ketchup
American mustard (the really yellow stuff)
Bread and butter pickles
Cooking oil
Salt & pepper
Equipment
A Home Essentials 'Burger Smasher' ($69 in store or online)
Flat cooking surface – use a heavy pan or hot plate that you can get really hot
Spatula – ideally one you can scrape with
Pot lid (for melting the cheese quickly)
Method
Prepare all the ingredients
Get your pan/plate smoking hot
Put a little cooking oil down for the first patty – after that there will be enough fat left over to not need extra oil
Add a little salt to the pan/plate to season the underside of the beef
Place a ball of mince on the cooking surface
Smash the patty down hard with your Burger Smasher!
Wiggle and rotate the Smasher to get an even patty
Slide the Smasher off rather than lifting straight up (helps it not stick)
Repeat with another ball of mince for the second patty
Salt and pepper the tops of both patties
Put your buttered buns on a medium grill for a lightly toasted bun
Flip the patties with your spatula when you see juices coming through
Scrape them off the surface if you can, to get that good brown meat
Place cheese on top of the patties
Put one patty on top of the other and then place the pot lid over the patties to speed up the cheese melting – it should take about 20 seconds to melt
Take the buns off the grill
Once the cheese is melted, stack one patty on top of the other and place on the bottom bun
Assemble, devour and receive high fives!
Tips
Get everything ready and to hand before cooking; the patties cook in under a minute so you need to be prepared to move quickly
You want mince with about an 80% meat to 20% fat ratio. Cheaper mince is preferable as the fat quantity is higher and fat makes for flavour and moisture
About 60g makes one patty and a smash burger usually has two patties, but feel free to stack as many as you like!
An easy way to measure the portions is to buy a 1kg pack of mince and then cut it into 16ths
Cheese choice is up to you but get something that melts nicely like mild or edam and slice thinly; about 2mm thick
The standard burger cheese you see in fast food restaurants is called “Kraft Singles”
Use potato buns ideally, otherwise just a normal burger bun is good
