AWESOME JUICY LUCY CHEESE STUFFED BURGER

One of the best burgers ever...The Juicy Lucy is awesome, I did lots of research and that I spend a lot of time in the states helped with this most awesome recipe.  There is a real science to creating the best burger, something over here in the UK that is rather neglected...

I had all my mates over for a Oscar's Speak Easy Build Your Own Burger Party which was fabulous, so I started with the meat for the burger...

20% fat to 80% meat ratio is the key to the most flavoursome burger.  Don't use high grade meat this will achieve a melting texture but not flavour, the best cuts for your burger are, chuck, flank, sirloin and skirt.  For me I used chuck, the shoulder of beef and I asked my butcher to grind it for me medium fine and seasoned the mince with lots of sea salt and black pepper.

Prep Time 10 minutes / Cooking Time 10 minutes

 

Ingredients

(makes 4)

The Burger

1 kg minced chuck steak

1 tsp coconut oil

1 onion finely chopped

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

4 burger buns

The Juicy Lucy Stuffing's

12 slices Monterrey jack cheese

1 iceberg lettuce torn

2 tomatoes sliced

Optional 

4 tbsp pickled jalapenos

First heat a frying pan or skillet to a medium heat add the coconut oil and then the onion and soften for around five minutes, take off the heat and add to a large bowl.  Add the chuck mince, sea salt and pepper and mix well.

I used a burger press to make my burgers, if you don' have one just use a plate.  Divide the mince in to 8 equal pattie balls, place a burger ball on some baking paper, cover with another piece of baking paper and using a plate or burger press, press down and flatten the mince to around the thickness of a pound coin.  Repeat with the rest of the patties.

Line up four burgers and place your juicy Lucy stuffing's in the centre of the burger, then place the other burgers on top and then pinch the edges together to form a flying saucer shape sealed burger.  It is important that you create a good seal.

Heat your griddle and toast your buns, then place the burgers on a medium hot heat and cook for around 4 minutes on each side, if you want a well done burger just cook a little longer.

Place a slice of Monterrey jack cheese on top of your burger and allow to melt then place the burger on the bottom bun, top with iceberg lettuce, fresh sliced seasoned tomatoes, that's it enjoy.

Warning...The Cheese in the Centre Can Be Extremely Hot...

 

ALL BUTTER SHORTBREAD

HOW COOL IS THIS...

How awesome is this!  I've got a cookie rolling pin that prints "Made by Chef Oscar" all over the biscuit / cookie dough, I just love this and can't stop baking cookies for all my friends and family, this is so AWESOME...

                                   

Ingredients

(makes approx 30)

250g plain flour

150g cold butter grated

1 tiny pinch of salt

125g sugar

I have a little extra butter in my recipe than others and this is a family tradition, when my mum was my age and taking cooking classes at school, when she told her dad my grandad that she would be making shortbread that day he told her to add extra butter to the recipe, so that is exactly what I am doing so that grandad will love them too.

This is super easy to make and best done by hand. Place the flour and butter in a large bowl and rub the butter in to the flour until you have breadcrumbs, keep going and bring the ingredients together until you have a ball of dough.

FUN FACT

This is called shortbread because it is short !  Short meaning tight in USA and translating to lack of fluid in a recipe, this does make the dough a little harder to work with but is well worth the extra effort because a short shortbread will give you the lightest most crumblest melt in your mouth buttery biscuit ever!  If your are struggling you can add a egg yolk to help you bind, but this will make the end biscuit a little more bouncy rather than a snap.

                                  

Roll out your biscuit (cookie) dough to around the thickness of a pound coin and then using what ever cookie cutter you like cut out your cookies.

Pre heat your oven to 160 degrees C / 320 F.  Place the shortbreads on a baking tray lined with baking paper and pop in the oven to cook for around 8 minutes, the trick with shortbread is that it should not brown, there should be no colour, otherwise they are over baked.

That is it, place on a cooling rack to cool and then enjoy. 

AWESOME THAI LEMONGRASS AND CHILLI SWEET POTATO CRAB CAKES

These are brilliant, I changed the recipe half way through and what a Winner Dinner, I was making a lemon and dill sweet potato crab cake, but mum was in the kitchen making dad some red Thai curry paste, Mum needs dads muscles for the 15 minutes of pounding the spices together!!!

So I took some lemongrass, chilli,  lime zest and fresh coriander and added it to my crab cake mix and this mum says is the Best Ever Crab Cake...

I served the crab cakes with a home made cornichon and dill lemon mayonnaise, on a bed of rocket and coriander salad with cornichons and a belly of lime.

Prep time 10 minutes /  Cooking time 20 minutes including making the mash

Ingredients

(made 4 large crab cakes)

Crab Cakes

1 whole crab or 300g fresh white crab meat

1 egg beaten

1 lrg handful fresh breadcrumbs

2 sweet potatoes, boiled and mashed

1/2 stick lemongrass bashed and finely minced

1 red chilli finely minced

2 glugs olive oil

1 clove garlic finely minced

1 shallot finely minced

1/2 lemon juiced

1/2 lime zested

good pinch sea salt and white pepper

The Mayo

1 egg yolk

300ml olive oil

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 cornichon finely finely minced

2 sprigs of dill chopped

1/2 juice of a lemon

good pinch sea salt and white pepper

First I got mum to heat a glug of olive oil in a pan and soften the onions and garlic, meanwhile I placed all the other crab cake ingredients in a large bowl and mixed together, seasoned with some sea salt and white pepper then added in the softened onions and garlic and mixed some more.

The mixture should be quite moist and just sticking together, form four large patties.  Heat the other glug of oil in a frying pan or skillet and when medium hot add your crab cakes, fry for approx 3 minutes on each side until golden, the mixture is already cooked so you just want to heat them so that the cakes are piping hot in the middle,

To make the mayonnaise this is something I do every week for my family and I am rather good with the whisk, place the egg yolk in a large bowl with the white wine vinegar, start to whisk and slowly drizzle in the oil, very slowly at first, one the egg yolk has started to combine with the oil you can add the oil a little faster until you have a lovely thick mayonnaise, this takes me around 1-2 minutes, then add the mustard, sea salt, white pepper, lemon juice, cornichon and dill and taste, season some more if needed.  Serve drizzled over your crab cakes on a bed of herby salad.