Food & Wine

Best gourmet burger recipe

Burger with salad and chips

Blanche Clark

Posted February 02, 2023

Simple and satisfying, this homemade gourmet burger recipe hits the spot at the end of a working day, after a day at the beach, or as a family meal.

Aussies love their burgers, and although our tastes are changing, with higher demand for healthy food and plant-based meat alternatives, we’re always on the lookout for something a little more sophisticated.

The rise of niche and gourmet burger joints across Melbourne and regional Victoria suggests there’s an appetite for brioche buns, grain-fed meats, and unusual condiments like chimichurri mayo.

Restaurants and bars such as Riddell’s Green at Healesville Country Club & Resort, Bourke Street Green and Bistro at RACV Club always have a burger on the menu because of such high demand for this all-round comfort food.

Burger love linked to umami

Healesville Country Club & Resort Executive Chef Himanshu Sharda says Riddell’s Green, which has an alfresco dining area overlooking an 18-hole golf course, is a family friendly place that’s popular with people visiting the Yarra Valley.

Among the restaurant’s temptations are sticky glazed pork ribs, warm smoked chicken salad and barramundi with charred baby corns, but burgers remain popular, with about 600 being devoured at the venue in December alone.

Scientific research over the past decade suggests our love of burgers is linked to umami – a Japanese word describing the savoury-flavoured compounds found in meat, anchovies, mushrooms, and miso.

Sharda says the wagyu beef in this gourmet burger recipe makes the patty juicy and tender, and the homemade pickles are the ultimate companion, cutting through the umami and adding a delicious crunch.

Chips in airfryer

Cook chips to go with your burgers using an airfryer for a healthier option. Image: Getty

Serve the burger with chips and salad

Follow this gourmet burger recipe for a delicious dinner that can be served with the best homemade chips (try cooking chips in an air fryer) or a healthy Mediterranean chickpea salad. You can make the pickles the day before to save time.

If desired, add other ingredients such as sliced tomato, roasted red pepper, red onion, grilled cheese or jalapenos.

For fans of the Aussie burger, a fried egg and a circle or two of tinned beetroot are essential – or go the whole hog, if you dare, and add pineapple and bacon as well.

But if you want to keep it relatively healthy and not overdo it, you’ll find this gourmet burger recipe delivers the goods.

Best gourmet burger recipe

Serves

4

Time to make

1 hour + 
2 hours for pickling

Difficulty

Medium

Ingredients

Pickled cucumbers
  • 1 kg Lebanese cucumbers
  • 250g white onions
  • 2 tbsp salt
  • 360ml white wine vinegar
  • 250g sugar
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1 tsp celery or coriander seeds
  • cayenne pepper, generous pinch

Burger patty

  • 500g wagyu beef mince
  • 60g onion, finely diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely diced
  • Few sprigs lemon thyme, chopped
  • 25ml Worcestershire sauce
  • 25g mustard
  • 1 egg yolk
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Extras

  • 4 milk buns
  • Lettuce leaves
  • Favourite mayonnaise

Method

Cucumber pickles

  1. Wash the cucumber and julienne in a mandolin or slice about 1cm thick.
  2. Slice onions. Mix onions and sliced cucumber together. Add water to barely cover the vegetables and mix in salt. Let it sit for 2 hours, then drain.
  3. Place the vinegar, sugar, turmeric, mustard seeds, celery or coriander seeds and cayenne into a saucepan. Gently simmer for 5 minutes.
  4. Add the strained cucumber and onion. Don’t be concerned if it does not look as if there is enough liquid.
  5. Gently cook for 7-10 minutes. Occasionally turning the surface cucumber over to allow pieces from the base to come to the top of the liquid and cook evenly. Cucumber should look transparent.
  6. Take it off the heat and place in a large jar or recyclable container. When cool, put on a lid.

Burger

  1. Mix all ingredients together
  2. Form into a patty shape
  3. Cook on a hot pan, griddle or barbecue for about 3 minutes per side for medium, or as desired. For accuracy, use a meat thermometer and cook the patty until it reaches a core temperature of 75°C. Leave it to rest for 3 to 5 minutes.
  4. Assemble the burger with lettuce, homemade pickles and mayonnaise.
  5. If desired, add other ingredients.

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