#GreatSummerOfBurger Episode 10: Waitrose aberdeen angus peppercrusted burger

It's been cracking summer so far, so determined to make the best of it myself and Milo head out to the wilds of Kent for a weekend's camping, with a side-order of using up our free Leeds Castle ticket.

Of course we can't legislate for the rest of London heading down the M20 at exactly the same time as us, using up the only nice weather of the weekend in a traffic jam. More disappointing is the next installment of the #GreatSummerOfBurger, tonight featuring pepper-crusted Aberdeen Angus burgers from the Waitrose meat counter.

I'll admit the three-hour Kent car park may have put me into a bit of a bad mood, and the fact the fire kept going out didn't improve it, but surely the smell and sizzle of some quite thick beef patties can lift the heart of any proto-caveman?

Sadly the smell (and sound) far out did the flavour which ended up being dominated by the peppery-herb crust, with a disappointingly watery body to the patty. Boring.

There must be an easy way to make burgers at home, before transporting them to a camp site for that night's dinner, because fire cooked burgers not only taste delicious, their smell and promise puts extra pep into any tent erecting going on. As does a couple of cheeky brewskis on ice.

#GreatSummerOfBurger Episode 9: Angela Boggiano's ultimate burger

Whilst the Lions let us down this morning, (although I suspect the blame can be more specifically laid at the referee's door for allowing the Wallaby pack to fall over at ever scrum), the rest of the day is fantastic.

It's super hot, we go to the school summer fair, we buy a Darth Vader costume for 50p, we have a pint in the pub with some other parents and kids, we get the paddling pool out, did I mention it's hot? Even better, from my point of view anyway, it's burgers for dinner!

I crave burgers more than ever at the moment, partially I think because of our triumphant #GreatSummerOfBurger campagin, but increasingly because a trip to GBK is agreed reward for finally getting a job. Tonight I've definitely Kiwi Burger on my mind:

Beetroot, pickles, fried egg and melted cheese - mmmm! The base for this towering creation is another new edition for this year's #GreatSummerOfBurger, although it's not a new recipe, Angela Boggiano's Ultimate Burger.

This has been our go-to burger for years, and I can't believe it's taken so long to add it to this year's challenge. I love it, maybe not as much as Silvana Franco's bloody mary burger now, but it's still aces, the twist being you mix in chopped gherkin into the patty, along with red onion and a dash of ketchup. Delish!

sources
Ultimate Beef Burger - Angela Boggiano, Delicious, June 2009, p46

#GreatSummerOfBurger Episode 7: bill granger's LA Burger

I'm feeling hot, hot, hot today and cycling to Kings Cross and back for an interview, via Twickenham job centre and then school to pick up Milo hardly helped my soaring temperatures. Although having said that, my calves are now rupped to the tuts.

Scorching sun, sat in the saddle all day, and nothing to eat or drink (thanks interviewer) - it feels the perfect excuse for yet another installment of the cooking trend everybody's calling GSOB! Obviously via Sainsbury's (again) for pickles and cider.

This week's burger of the week comes courtesy of Mr Bill Granger's "Every Day" book - The LA Burger.

I'm not sure in what way LA is relevant to this - maybe something to do with large baps? Anyway, it gets a mixed reception chez Barnes: Ana decides it's not her favourite compared to the Bloody Mary Burgers, and when she finds out it's got fennel seeds and pork in it, she pulls a better/worse face. I quite like though; I like the freshness of the fennel, and I like the fact pork is juicier and less dense than beef. However, I make the same mistake as last time and make them patties too thick, so they took ages to cook. Even then they were still slightly raw, and I had to cut them in half and and cook the middles.

Here are the scores on the doors so far:
1st Silvana Franco's cannelini burgers
2nd Bloody Mary Burgers
3rd Delicious Turkey Burgers
4th Greg & Lou's super-dense Dorset Beef Bad Boy Burgers
5th Bill Granger's LA Burgers

sources
LA Burger - Bill Granger, Every Day, p86

#GreatSummerOfBurger Episode 5: silvana franco's bloody mary burger

Despite only chowing down on burgers not two days ago, tonight we're having Silvana Franco's Bloody Mary Burgers again, this time with cheese and homemade chips. This is course exactly what the #GreatSummerOfBurger is all about!

If anything, they're even better than Sundays version, and I think this could partly be because of the sacrilegious truth that cooking burgers on the BBQ is fraught with danger, usually involving shrinkage and it falling apart on the grill. They're much juicer done on the hob, and the cheese makes a nice addition too.

sources
bloody mary burger - Silvana Franco, Delicious, June 2011, p25

#GreatSummerOfBurger Episode 4: silvana franco's bloody mary burger

After last year's frigid Jubilee Street Party, this year we luck out with beautiful, if not scorching, sunny day. Perfect for decking the street with bunting, letting the kids run wild in the middle of the road, and meeting people you normally only occasionally nod at, over several brewskis and a hot dog.

I made the mistake last year of attempting a jazzy salad, Jill Dupliex's Sesame Chicken Salad in fact, which whilst very tasty, didn't say 'yay, let's party in sub-zero temperatures for the Queen'. Although to be fair, what does?

Instead I view today as the perfect example to continue my #GreatSummerOfBurger campaign, with yet-another experimental Silvana Franco burger: The Bloody Mary burger from June 2011's issue of Delicious. Although naturally I make double quantities:

What makes them 'Bloody' is the addition of cayenne pepper, Worcestershire sauce and creamed horseradish, and as I'm using Garlic Farm creamed horseradish, we got an extra hit of smokey flavour, which was delicious. They were a bugger to cook though, as they lacked any egg to bind them, only breadcrumbs:

As I say, they were delicious. Probably the best meat burgers I've made, I think, with lots of flavours going and a nice hit of heat from the horseradish, but I wonder whether adding egg will solve the problems of them falling apart on the grill? This is exactly the sort of question #GreatSummerOfBurger is going to answer!

Wine Time
Brewskis, and lots of them or if you're being sensible, and big, bold Cote de Rhone or Aussie Shiraz are classic pairings for BBQs and meat.

sources
bloody mary burger - Silvana Franco, Delicious, June 2011, p25

#GreatSummerOfBurgers Episode 3: silvana franco's spiced cannellini and cous cous burgers

Yay! #GreatSummerOfBurger is back, and not before time - it is the weekend after all! I know we're supposed to be trying new sorts of burgers each week, but for some reason our cupboards are currently awash with cannellini beans. How does this happen? I mean, we're fairly organised with weekly shopping lists, and even allowing for occasional nights going off-menu, I can't believe we've missed that many cannellini-based meals.

At least this time we actually make the patties with cous cous, and not only that they get a good few hours in the fridge to firm up. I think the cous cous/bulgar wheat swap is fairly moot as the flavours tend to come from the stock and spices, but the extra couple of hours in the fridge does make them infinitely easier to cook as they don't fall apart so easily. Top tip there.

sources
spiced cannellini and cous cous burgers - Silvana Franco, Delicious, now the Parsley Book

#GreatSummerOfBurgers Episode 2: turkey burgers

After last week's stunning debut (thanks Brenda!) we hit week two of the hep craze sweeping Mortlake at a smokey canter, with a BBQ-themed #GreatSummerOfBurger!

In attendance today at our smorgasbord of meat are: Green Do-Gooder Mrs Caroline Pitt and her evil husband JP, a man not only responsible for my recent 24 hangover after the Rosslyn Park Sevens, but also this. Also invited are Mr Milo Taliesin Barnes who is so desperate to light the coals he almost wets himself, and his mother Lady Barnes, who is glad he didn't.

On the menu today are two sorts of salad: A green salad, with avocado and cherry tomatoes and sprouts, and Ana's favourite Fino chorizo and tomato salad. We also have bratwursts with beery onions, which strangely enough, is my own recipe:

We all know why we're here though, BURGERS! I didn't mention it last time, but one of the 'rules' behind #GreatSummerOfBurger is it's an excuse to try as many different types of burger as possible.  Slightly controversially we're not having beef tonight, but turkey - oh yes!

They seem crazy, and within the context of this blog they are experimental, but these are old, pre-Milo friends for Ana and myself, and they're genius.

There are some strong flavours in the mix, including sweet chilli sauce and soy sauce, but what really rocks is the fact turkey makes such a moist burger. Word to the wise though, make 'em small otherwise they take ages to cook, and you run the risk of raw centres. I personally guarantee JP ate 15 of them, because he's an athlete.

Wine Time
Erm, lots of everything, plus beer. It worked for us.

sources
turkey burgers - Delicious, around 2006-ish? It also appears in the January 2007 One Month Healthy Eating Plan supplement

silvana franco's spiced cannellini and couscous burgers

I don't know why, but I'm craving burgers at the moment. The phrase du jour chez maison Barnes is "When I get a job, I'm going to reward myself with Kiwi Burger from GBK", and then I stare off into the middle distance, drooling on my CV.

These reveries have inspired me this year to create a totally selfish challenge: As I think this summer cannot be as bad as last year, I figure we'll be having loads of BBQs and therefore burgers, so I'm stepping up to the hotplate and attempting to eat one imperial burger a week. Anybody else fancy joining in? In a fit of media madness I shall call it #GreatSummerOfBurger, and I'm sure Twitter and our waistlines are going to go mental! Ana's not entirely convinced, but surely that's part of the fun?

Tonight we kick off #GreatSummerOfBurger (see, it's catching) with an off-beam vegetarian number from Silvana Franco that I've been desperate to try for aaaaaages: Spiced Cannellini and Couscous Burgers - behold!

I don't know who is more surprised of their success, me or Lady Barnes, because they are most definitely a hit. I suppose in many ways they are like giant versions of Jilly D's polpettine which certainly helps Lady Barnes get over her reservations, but it's the inclusion of the couscous and lemon zest which really adds the wow factor: The lemon bringing obvious freshness, but the couscous gives a surprising lightness to the patty... as does bulgar wheat as we'd run out of couscous.

Totally. hash tag. amazeballs. But Silvana is right about how delicate they are - definitely one for the pan rather than the BBQ.

Wine Time
One of the reasons I like writing this blog is I get the opportunity to do some (minimal) research with drink matching. It's interesting and appeals to my inner-geek, but sometimes it's deeply frustrating as you can't quite nail the perfect match, and tonight is one of those occasions. My head says you'll want a crisp and clean white to go with the lemon, but the spices and the body the couscous give it pull me towards a lighter red. Do you know what, I genuinely don't know - why don't you try some and let me know what works, and when I work it out I'll let you know.

sources
spiced cannellini and couscous burgers - Silvana Franco, Delicious, now the Parsley Book

bill granger's quick roast chicken with shallots and white wine, and milo's burger

Being insufferable middle-class types, we've got two anniversaries: our wedding anniversary, and the anniversary of the day we first started going out 'officially'. Today is the latter and was something that grew in significance the longer I resisted getting married, but has waned since then and particularly so since Milo came onto the scene.

However who knew what was going to happen in Quids Inn on Swansea Kingsway 17 years ago (a pound to get in, a pound a pint), so we've decided to re-celebrate our unofficial anniversary with a day of treats for us all. Obviously as soon as the pressure to 'have fun' is put on it all goes a bit pear-shaped, but low-level bickering about my driving and where to park in Richmond Park aside, it turns into a lovely day, even if all the treats were concentrated on a smallish person rather than on my lovely wife.

Still, having spent all morning pottering in the sun we all played Batman in the park, pointed at deer and ate ice creams, before repairing to our local gastro-pub, The Victoria, for Milo's dinner and several celebratory chenin blancs for us. I said we were middle-class. The pub is run by celeb chef Paul Merrett, with the wine list curated by Olly Smith, even more importantly it knows about portion control for the kids menu:

One burger the size of his head later, we take a virtually comatose Milo home to bed and whilst Ana also zonks out, a victim of white wine, I get a hearty portion of Bill Granger's quick-roast chicken on the go. Yes, that is a crust of bread soaking up the juices...

Even better, and this is probably more of sign where we are as a couple 17 years on from our hedonistic student youth, we spend our anniversary not making the beast with two backs, fuelled by champagne and passion, but snuggled on the sofa watching the last two episodes of The Bridge/Broen/Bron, stuffed with chicken and wine, and fighting for space on the foot rest. In many ways it's better.

sources
quick roast chicken with white wine and shallots - Bill Granger, Delicious March 2012, p57

First BBQ of 2012

After the combination of Sam's 40th Birthday last night, rugby in sub-Tropical Dorking and the Nursery quiz on Friday night, we're all feeling a trifle brackish today, and that's despite the 24-hour Milo care provided by Kay and Mike.

The only way to kill the pain of booze, aches, bruises and entertain Milo properly is to go swimming, go shopping on the way back, and then just when you're sobering up, invite Angela and Ed over for the first BBQ of the year:

The barbie feats:

• More booze (Rioja, Gewurtztraminer, Beer, Bordeaux, Rose);
• Kebabs at Milo's insistence. I don't know where he's had them, but he's obsessed!
• Salad, with strangely loads left over;
• Sausages!
• Ultimate Burgers, although I couldn't find Johnnie #ParkhurstPoint's recommendation of Bloody Mary Burgers;
• Photos by M Magic Esquire. He started with a couple of looseners:

Before finding his range:

sources
ultimate burger - angela boggiano, Delicious, June 2009, p46
kebabs - made up, but they were lamb, with a sort of harissa and olive oil marinade

a slightly drunken burger with lucyfer

Something tells me spending every waking moment panicking about wine, and then desperately trying to sleep when I'm not, hasn't endeared me to the whanau. After yesterday's post-Southbank coma, Ana's had enough and returned to the IoW for some quality Kay and Mike time. Me? I need a drink.

Luckily Miss Lucy Ferguson happens to be at a loose end and after some random wandering around South Kensington, we alight in the floral splendour that is The Hereford Arms on Gloucester Road. It's a beautiful night, and for one reason or another we're both in need of a debrief. Or a pre-brief you're Lucy.

Both of us at least pretending to have an interest in food, and surrounded by some pretty tasty restaurants, the conversation soon turned to dinner. Naturally there really was only one choice for two half-cut people, one of whom was wielding a folded-up bicycle:

Man I look like my dad (when my photo is taken in an out-of-focus manner, by a slightly drunk woman and I'm stuffing beef into my mouth in what looks a concentration camp)...

sources
burgers - Byron

a taste of thailand at l'atelier des chefs, and burgers

Brilliantly, a full nine months after Kendra gave Brian and myself our combined birthday present, today we finally manage to take advantage of her plentiful cornucopia, viz a morning cooking Thai food at L'Atelier des Chefs.

Partly this has taken us so long to organise as we just haven't bothered (okay, mainly because), but the Byzantine booking system added on at least two months, and then we had to find a non-challenging meal for the B-Dog. Given his well-documented negative-love for shellfish, I was pretty surprised we ended up doing the Thai course, as a quarter of our meal consisted of mussels and fishcakes. That menu in full: Thai fishcakes and mussels in Thai green sauce, Thai Green Curry and pineapple upside-down cakes.

It was quite a good set-up. The kitchen was just big enough for the 25 people in there, the ingredients were pre-laid out (although we had to peel, chop and de-beard), and the chef was really useful and interesting. Although not an amazingly in-depth cookery course, it clearly caters for the swift-cooking of easy-yet-really-tasty-meals, I did take some things away from it:

• I feel pretty good about de-bearding and cooking mussels;
• I've got a good idea about creating an amazing Thai Green Curry paste;
• I now know never never to allow Brian to make any sort of quenelle - his OCD can't take the strain.

Here we are doing various cooking-y things:

Cooking fishcakes:

The green curry paste, pre-blitzing:

Fishcakes and Thai-Green Mussels to start anybody?

Brian and a china leaf of curry:

The quenelles that almost killed Brian:

Replete with Thai-goodness (and loaded down with saucepans, mixing bowls and celebratory aprons), we complete our birthday-thingy with a trip to Brian's new pub, The Warrington. Ignore the Ramsay bit, cos it it ain't no Ramsay pub now, but you should deffo go because inside is amay-zing. It was supposed to be a special brothel for the clergy in the Victorian era, and it really feels lush and Roccoco. I can easily imagine snuggling up next to the fire, with a hearty whiskey or a real ale.

Even better, by the time we get back the girls (and small boys) are in need of both a walk and some food. The day's deluge means the most we can expect is a brief trip to Hyde Park to convince ourselves it's cocking chucking it down, and then a swift run to the pub for a burger-based lunch.

Cooking? Pints? Brief walks? Pints? Burgers? More pints? Hurrah for us! If only it was my birthday again *sigh*. Only three months to go...

happy birthday cowley road!

There is slim food pickings today, for today was the Cowley Road 100th birthday street party and other than the take away we had in the evening, I only had one burger all day. And 1000000 pints of larry lager. Which is odd, as I made a kilo of burger mix, and a big bowl of the cherry tomato and chorizo salad...

Essentially Milo spends all day on a Scooby-Doo-themed bouncy castle, dressed as a Pirate, and we natter and gossip with our neighbours and Miss Kate Smither in the blazing sun, with occasional breaks for drinking, egg and spoon races, barbecue duty, and drinking. Voila!

The bouncy castle outside our flat:

Our amazing pirate and nautical flag bunting:

Hot BBQ-action featuring Barnes Vet's least-fastest winger Paul "Robbo" Robinson, and their least effective tight-head - fight the power kids:

Captain Jack Sparrow:

We're all very tired, and only some serious Marple, a take away from Talad Thai and more wine keep the adults going until bed time. Man, being 100 is tiring.

the first bbq of the year!

And it's only cocking April! Anyway, after our last attempt which ended in a shambles of bitter recriminations and arguments about the length of time it takes to cook a sausage simply to satisfy a (then) two year-old, this year we're singing from the same hymn sheet.

Milo helps make some of la Boggiano's brillo burger mix, whilst the BBQ does it's turning charcoal into ash thing, we pre-cook the sausages and sweetcorn, and Ana deals with the chilling of booze (and juice). What is not to like?

sources
ultimate burger - angela boggiano, Delicious, June 2009, p46

angela boggiano's ultimate burger & homemade chips and hugh fearnley-whittingstall's lentil and bacon soup

We're admittedly slightly brackish this morning after last night's one or two drinking, so we have a fairly low-key day lined up. The absolute minimum is achieved; we watch some Scooby Doo, eat pancakes for brunch and then head over to Nursery as we're on the gardening rota.

An hour of battling with leaf-blowers and sweeping sand later, we have a mini-lunch, go shopping and finish the day in the sun in Palewell Park, where Milo decides he's a dog and we spend 15 minutes throwing a stick for him to fetch. Seriously. Had this been five years earlier, say in Tewkesbury, we'd have been in The Bell feeling slightly wonky on the quiz machine, so this is probably a step forward. Maybe not.

Anyway, the sun has clearly gone to Ana's head because she requests, for the first time ever, burgers for dinner! I'm agog, and we quickly find a positive side-effect because if you describe them as 'sort of like meatballs', somebody will actively volunteer to help make them:

Here is my first plate, replete with cheese, pickles and IoW relish:

It's definitely the first taste of summer, and I'm looking forward to doing some more burger recipes this year. We've got a turkey and lemongrass version from Billy G which we used to have fairly regularly, and there's a tandoori lamb one which has caught my eye. Fingers-crossed the weather rocks this year...

Eating together has another benefit which means I've got time to make up a week's worth of soup. This time an experimental Saint Hugh's lentil and bacon soup. It smells amazing simmering away:

sources
ultimate burger - angela boggiano, Delicious, June 2009, p46
lentil and bacon soup - hugh fearnley-whittingstall and fizz carr, The River Cottage Family Cookbook, p328

impromptu burgers

Curiously, Ana's cup of tea at Kendra Kats after her inset day at The Science Museum manages to turn into multiple wine bottle-fueled burgerfest. Who would've thought?

It is Friday night after all, and Kayosaurus and Mikeplodocus are in residence to deal with the Milos. So he gets quality grandparents time for a second week running, and once I managed to find a Boris bike to get there, we get quality K Kats, Brian and precious wine time. It's a fair swap I think.

To accompany the fine conversazione and fine wine we decide on take away burgers, in this case Byron Burgers.

Being a massive GBK fan I was intrigued to see what this posh competitor was like, and I'm glad I did if only to realise how much better GBK is. That's not to say the Byron Burgers weren't bad, they were pretty good, just underwhelming. In fact there was only one burger on offer, and it was up to you how you wanted it and what toppings and bits of leaf you wanted from a selection on the menu.

Me and K Kats wanted GBK Kiwi Burgers, and I reckon you could've created as close an approximation as possible using the menu of 'extras', but it would've taken ages to work out and it would've costed as much as their palatial Gloucester Road apartment.

Chips were good though, as was the company.

sources
brian - byron burger and chips, at least one bottle of white wine
russell - byron burger with blue cheese and mushroom, and chips, at least one bottle of red wine
ana - cheese burger, with everything on the side, and chips. On the side is very big with her. At least 3/4 bottle of white wine
kendra - cheese burger with no chips, at least 3/4 bottle of white wine

ultimate burgers

The problem with scaling the peaks of enjoyment, of dancing like idiots, waving sparklers, drinking too much and generally behaving like teenagers is falling off the mountain the next day. Luckily that doesn't affect me, but my life partner is most sorely afflicted this morning.

Not even another hearty dose of Jody, Euan, Amy and Lucy's full English manages to pull her out of the slough of despair she's fallen into, and the prospect of a five hour drive doesn't seem to help either.

However, the traffic is super-light, it's a beautiful day and the box of gingerbread biscuits triumphantly proclaiming the benefits of cheesewring, perk her up no end.

It only takes four hours to get home and once we return we meet an over-excited baby, his cousin Amelia and a thoroughly knackered Kayosaurus and Mikeplodocus.

The least I can do is cook for them, and as Ana has a craving for burgers after Friday's meal out I take a quick trip to Sainsbury's and get the necessaries. If you count not having any buns and having to make do with pitta bread as necessaries:


They are great burgers, with chopped gherkins, worcestershire sauce, onion, parsley and egg, and are becoming a bit of a standard. I think next time I might pop some cheese in the middle as that seemed to work with another recipe I've tried. But still, a total winner.

Actually, Ronald I bet you've got some good burger recipes? And Kinger, I know you have - do pass on!

Recipe Sources
Ultimate Beef Burger - Delicious, June 2009, p46

burgers and mulled wine

Well 'burger' singular. Last night was Christmas Party part deux, so it was a mixed bag of nutrition in the Barnes household; cereal for the lady half, and handfuls of mini-canapes and as much booze as I can bag before the free bar runs out. *However* unlike Wednesday, today I don't have a screaming hangover and we've got Barnes Christmas fair tonight.

Despite the rain (for the second year running), we head out to look at the Christmas trees, lights and eat fudge. The monkey loved it! On the way back we had some mulled wine and a [one] burger between the three of us, at the Coach and Horses. And that was it, dinner over. I'm not sure I like this diet...

gingerbread men, crips and burgers

It's a beautiful day and we've got a packed weekend; saturday I've got a driving lesson, the usual trip to the farmer's market, duck pond and paddling pool for a mini-picnic. Then post-snoopy snooze, we're off to Bad Lucy's for a barbie. Are you ready? Then I'll begin...

So driving lesson over (I fail my first mock by just the five serious driver errors) me and the monkey get our usual quota of babyccinos (weirdly they make much better ones in bad-conglomerate Cafe Nero than lovely Orange Pekoe) and veg and head off to feed the ducks. Ducks duly fed a combination of seed and small stones, we go to the park for a paddle. It's baking and somebody needs to be bribed with a giant gingerbread man before he'll come out of the pool and get into the buggy. He licks it all the way home, creating a great moustache-effect from the dye in the eyes.



Whilst he sleeps we down mugs of tea and finish cutting the grass and tidying the garden - so no lunch you notice. Diets in full swing, hurrah and all that.

Post snooze we head off to London's trendy 'Tooting' quarter for Lucyfer's excellent barbie. Monkey is quite well-behaved even if he did eat an entire packet of crips and wipe houmous on Sash's new dress. Others are less so, and yellow cards are duly given out for constant swearing (S Breslau) and consistent and malicious taunting small children by saying the word 'balloons' over and over when there clearly weren't any (Mrs S Cruz). Despite that it was a very nice afternoon. We had a burger each, and that was IT for Saturday. By Christ I best get into that bikini...

When we get back the milos go to bed without any tea... ...because he'd eaten his weight in snacks at Lucy's.

And so to sleep, knackered (and just a teensy bit hungry)

barbeque

Another beaut day so we finish the gardening via a trip to Homebase, and another barbie! I say another barbie, in reality I made double the mixture yesterday and merely added some hot sausage to the mixer.

Food of the Milos
We figure burgers are perhaps a stage too far for the milos, so he gets a whole annabel karmel pizza to devour, and devour he does!

Recipe Sources
Ultimate Beef Burger - Delicious, June 2009, p46
Tortilla Pizzas - Annabel Karmel, Top 100 Finger Foods