The Nation’s Favourite Burger - Winning Recipe

The winner of our Nation’s Favourite Burger competition is the spicy chipotle burger by Matthew Malia. His recipe was inspired by his travels in the southern states of America and Mexico last year.

Ingredients

• Burger Bun: sesame seeded, white and large (circa 12cm ish diameter) x5

• Ripe avocado x 3

• Lime x 5

• Fresh coriander leaves – large bag

• 1kg Aberdeen Angus beef mince

• Tomato puree

• Chipotle en Adobo (smoke dried jalapeño chilli in a Spanish dressing containing paprika, oregano and vinegar dressing)

• 5 x small red onion

• 2 x large fresh oranges

• 4 x hot red chilli

• Mayonnaise

• Roughly 25 slices of chorizo

• 10 x good quality large tomatoes

• Round lettuce

• Mild cheddar

• Tomato sauce

• Salt and pepper

Recipe

• Take 150g of lean British beef mince, lightly work in about half a tablespoon of tomato puree, half a tablespoon of chipotle en adobo and seasoning.

• Press into a nice, thick patty and set aside;

• Make a simple guacamole by mashing a perfectly ripe avocado with a good squeeze of fresh lime and a handful of fresh coriander leaves. Season to taste.

• Make pickled red onion by thinly slicing a red onion into half rings. Steam the onion for about 5 minutes to take away the harshness and then leave to soak in the juice of 1/2 orange and 1 lime. Add in some thinly sliced hot red chilli and leave to marinade for about 30 minutes (*);

• Make chipotle mayonnaise by mixing a spoon of chipotle en adobo with regular mayonnaise;

• Put the burger on a hot griddle pan (or better yet a barbeque) and cook for approximately 4 minutes on each side;

• Quickly fry a few slices of chorizo in olive oil until it is crispy and darkened around the edges. Place it on some kitchen roll to absorb the excess oil and set aside;

• Whilst the burger is cooking, thickly slice some really good quality (home grown if available) sweet, red tomatoes, grab some fresh lettuce and slice a good thick slice of mild cheddar;

• Halve a sesame bun and spread a thick layer of chipotle mayonnaise on the bottom. Layer up the tomatoes and place the lettuce on top.

• Just before the burger is cooked, place the slice of cheddar on top and put an upside down pan over the burger. Pour a little water into the griddle (under the upturned pan) and let the steam melt the cheese;

• Place the burger on top of the lettuce and then the crispy chorizo on top of that;

• Drape some of the pickled red onion on as the next layer and then a big, creamy dollop of guacamole on the growing tower.

• Finally, spread a little ketchup on the remaining slice of bun (it adds a perfect sweetness to complement the rest of the flavours) and press on top to complete the Spicy Chipotle Burger.

* The recipe for chipotle en adobo was adapted from Thomasina Miers' Mexican food made simple (although I like to make it a lot sweeter and less salty) and the pickled red onion is adapted from the same book from the Pink Pickled Pepper recipe.