Recipe: Brioche Burger Buns

Brioche burger buns

Once upon a time, a burger in a brioche bun was a novelty that only existed in a handful of places in London.  We all marvelled and wondered why we hadn’t thought of it before.  After a while, it came to be the defining ingredient of a quality burger, something that set it apart from the floury ‘pub grub’ burger baps.  Now, they are everywhere.  It has been a long time since I saw a menu without one.  Brioche-mania is far from over.

I’m not actually sure that using a brioche bun is the right choice for every burger, but anyway.  There are some renegades that do use other bread, and it works really well.

Anyway, if brioche is your preferred bun, you want the same for your home cooked burgers, right?  For a while, they were difficult to find, limited only to a few independent bakeries.  Now, you can buy them in most supermarkets.  The best ones I have found so far are Chappers’ bun of choice:  Aldi’s brioche buns at four for £1.

As well as this, you could make your own.  Of course, brioche is a time-consuming beast to make, and the amount of butter you add to the mix will make your arteries quiver, but it is worth doing.  You can create buns of the perfect size to suit your own homemade burgers.  This recipe is based on a savoury brioche by Paul Hollywood.  You will need about 12 hours to complete the whole process, including chilling the dough overnight.

Brioche Burger Buns
Makes eight

500g strong white bread flour
10g fine salt
10g instant yeast
170ml warm full-fat milk
4 eggs
250g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg, beaten, for glazing
1 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)

Put the flour, salt, yeast, milk and eggs into the bowl of a free-standing mixer and, using the paddle attachment, mix until the dough becomes smooth and shiny.  Continue to mix for another five minutes, adding the butter a teaspoon at a time until all of the butter incorporated into the dough.  It is important to add the butter gradually.

Tip the dough into an oiled plastic container with a lid.  The volume of the container should be a minimum of one litre so the dough has room to expand.  Leave to prove in the fridge overnight.

Line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper.  Remove the dough from the fridge and divide into eight equal portions.  To make the bun shape, flatten out the dough into a disc and bring the edges into the centre and pinch together.  Turn upside down and place on the baking tray.  Place four buns on each tray, ensuring that there is enough space between them to allow them to expand.  Cover the rays with clingfilm or a clean plastic bag and leave to rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 190ºc / 375ºf / gas 5.  Brush the buns with a little beaten egg and sprinkle with the sesame seeds.  Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until risen and golden.  If you tap the bottom of the buns, they should sound hollow.  Leave to cool on a rack.

Peckhamburger’s Beef Burger with Bacon and Cheese

Beef burger with cheese and bacon at Peckhamburger

Last week, I wrote my burger wishlist for 2014-15.  It seems that you can’t swing a cat in London without hitting somewhere advertising its creation with ‘medium rare patty, brioche bun and house sauce/filthy sauce/dirty sauce’ (delete as appropriate) unless, it seems, you live in my particular corner of south-east London.  There are, of course, pub offerings.  Brockley Market on a Saturday has at least one burger on offer (usually the majestic Mother Flipper), and Dirty Burger is a mere 25 minutes on the 185 to Vauxhall.  But nothing that is roll-out-of-your-front-door close.  Dulwich/Peckham/Camberwell was somewhat lacking in burgers.  So you can imagine the delight when Peckhamburger opened in the neighbourhood.

Peckhamburger is a very, very local creation.  For one, it has made its home in the excellent Anderson & Co cafe on Bellenden Road, a bit of a Peckham institution that has already hosted a number of pop-ups in the evenings.  As well as this, the meat for the burgers comes from local butcher Flock and Herd, an opening from a Ginger Pig alumni that has queues snaking around the block. 

It is a simple set up, with just three burgers on the menu; beef, chicken and veggie; and each of these can be served ‘skinny’, so wrapped in a lettuce leaf instead of a bun.  To these you can add cheese, blue cheese, a fried egg or bacon at a surcharge.  There are three sides on offer, two puddings and a range of beers, wines and soft drinks.  I opted for the beef burger with cheese and bacon and a side of the bloody mary salted fries.

The best thing about this burger is the quality of the meat.  The beef patty is well-seasoned and full of flavour.  It was cooked medium (not quite medium-rare) and tasted spectacular.  On top of this was the Flock and Herd treacle cured bacon; crispy, a little sweet and very smoky.  It is the best bacon I have had on a burger anywhere.  As well as this there was a good amount of cheese and a lot of pickles.  The challah bun, similar to brioche but without the butter, held together well despite the juiciness of the burger, and the little smear of aioli gave it a nice kick.

Peckhamburger seem to have done their research and brought the best elements of a good London burger to SE15.  Using a well-known local cafe as a base and well-known local butcher as a supplier almost guarantees a step up on any competition nearby, despite the simplicty of the menu.  There is nothing about this burger that I didn’t like, although we did end up in a debate at the table about whether such a rich bun was the right bread to use for such a great burger:  Challah is a great, slightly less rich alternative to brioche, however some at our table felt that a non-enriched bread would better showcase such quality ingredients and that the extra richness was superfluous.  Either way, we all left happy and had a very short walk home.

Peckhamburger @ Anderson & Co (Wednesday – Saturday evenings only), 139 Bellenden Road, London SE15 4DH

Recipe: Chipotle Chicken and Courgette Quesadillas

Chpotle chicken and courgette quesadillas

This is already my second quesadilla recipe on this blog, which shows how often I have no time to make dinner.  This time, I have used up an awkward quantity of leftover roast chicken I had lurking in the fridge:  too much for a sandwich, not enough for a pie.

The beauty about quesadillas is that, as long as you add the all-important cheese, you can fill them with just about anything.  For this particular recipe, I have added courgette, onion and garlic to the roast chicken and flavoured it very simply with chipotle paste.  Chipotle paste is one of my all-time favourite storecupboard staples as it brightens up so many things:  a spoonful in a chilli gives it a delicious smokiness, it is wonderful added to a hot wing glaze and divine in a grilled cheese sandwich.

I used about 2 tsp in this recipe, but you can use as much or as little as you wish.  If there is somebody in your party who prefers a spicier quesadilla, add a quick slick of hot sauce to the top of the filling before you fold the tortilla.

Chipotle Chicken and Courgette Quesadillas
Serves two

Olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 medium courgettes, diced
2 tsp chipotle paste
Leftover roast chicken
Salt and pepper
4 tortilla wraps
100g cheddar, grated

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and gently fry the onion, garlic and courgettes until soft.  Add the chipotle paste and stir in.  Finally, stir in the leftover roast chicken and transfer to a plate.

Heat a separate pan over a medium heat and add a small drop of oil.  Using a scrunched up piece of greaseproof paper, spread the oil around the pan – you want it to be very lightly coated.  Place the tortilla wrap in the pan and, working quickly, spread a quarter of the chicken mixture over one half of the wrap.  Top with cheese and fold the other half of the wrap over to make a semi-circular shape.

Cook for a couple of minutes until browned, then flip over with a spatula and cook the other side.  Transfer to a board and cut in half.  Repeat this process with the other four wraps.

Serve with guacamole, salsa and a little sour cream.

Kaffeine’s Ham, Cheese and Grilled Peach Baguette

The ham, cheese and grilled peach baguette from Kaffeine, Fitzrovia

You know when your hangover from Saturday night’s drinking lasts through until Monday it was a good weekend.  After dragging my sorry self into the office with a slight headache and the tail-end of the drunk dreads, the only thing that would remedy the situation was to get on to the streets of Fitzrovia and look for a good sandwich.

I only got as far as Kaffeine when I realised that a good coffee was exactly what I needed to shake me out of my current mood.  This little black-fronted coffee shop has taken a lot of flack since it opened a few years ago, however a slightly negative TimeOut review and some snipes about ‘hipster coffee’ hasn’t damaged its reputation.  Getting a seat outside the front window is near impossible and the inside too is always busy.  It almost always features on the list of best coffee in the capital and I, for one, am in agreement.  They use the excellent Square Mile Coffee and are really particular about how they make it.  Whilst not a coffee expert, I am always happy to receive a nice strong cup with a slick of crema.  Definitely not style over substance.

They have a range of sandwiches that are listed online in their weekly menu alongside a range of cakes, biscuits and pastries.  There are usually three sandwich options, with at least one vegetarian, which are usually seasonal and use a range of different breads.  Some have said that the £5 they charge for a takeaway sandwich (£5.30 to eat in) is a little steep, but this seems to be the going rate in Fitzrovia coffee shops these days, and is only really £1 more than the offerings of the chains, Pret, Eat etc.

I opted for a the ham and cheese baguette, which seems a bit of an underwhelming description for what I was served, which was an absolute delight.  Roasted Italian ham, mature cheddar cheese, grilled peaches, aioli and spinach.  Both the ham and cheese were deep in flavour and good quality, but it was the other accompaniments that made the sandwich.  A ham and cheese always needs a bit of mayo to loosen it up, but the substitution for aoili just gave it a little extra flavour element – a hum of garlic, but nothing too overpowering.  The grilled peaches added the sweetness and did the job that a chutney or relish would usually do.  It got me thinking that adding cooked fruit to a sandwich could actually be a more appealing option than chutney, as many of the ready-made versions are often too heavy in spice and vinegar and overpower the rest.  What else is there to say? Kaffeine make a damn good coffee and a damn good sandwich too.

Kaffeine, 66 Great Titchfield Street, London W1W 7QJ

Outside of London: Cholmondeley, Cheshire: The Cholmondeley Arms’ Bacon Sandwich

Bacon sandwich at The Chomondeley Arms, Cheshire

A hotel room with breakfast included is always a license to overindulge first thing in the morning.  Even more so when you have a wedding to go to and know that you will be having several glasses of champagne before there is even a sniff of food.  And when you happen to have raided said hotel’s extensive gin collection the night before.

We all assembled at the Cholmondeley Arms‘ breakfast table with sore heads from the night before.  A night that began with gin tasting, and then moved on to gin drinking.  A concoction called the Cholmondeley Chaser (gin, cucumber and elderflower) was a firm favourite and we all consumed more than perhaps we should have.  Our waitress brought us tea and coffee then asked, “How many of you will be having a Full English?”  All of the men at the table raised their hands.  How predictable.

Also on the menu was a bacon sandwich, a sausage sandwich and boiled eggs with soldiers.  I opted for the former and poured myself a very strong coffee.

The Chomondeley Arms is a pub/hotel in the village of Cholmondeley in Cheshire.  Unless you happen to be going to this part of the country it is unlikely that you will ever encounter it, but if you are, it is worth looking into.  It is a little remote and some of the rooms could do with a bit of a refurb, but the pub is a great example of a local country pub.  The aforementioned gin collection could rival any in the gin bars of London and the dinner menu is excellent.  They also have a range of great local Cheshire beers and a good wine list.

When I asked which bacon was used in the sandwich, I was told simply “back”, however the sausages used in the breakfasts are locally sourced, so it is possible that the bacon is too.  Smoked and thick cut, it seemed far better than your basic supermarket bacon.  It came on a decent white farmhouse loaf with a good crust and alongside a bottle of ketchup.  The best way to serve a bacon sandwich.  My only gripe was that the fat on the bacon was not crisped, so I ended up having to dive into the sandwich to peel it off the rashers before I could continue eating.  A bit of an inconvenience, but once I had done so, it was perfectly tasty.

The Cholmondeley Arms, Wrenbury Road, Cholmondeley, Near Malpas, Cheshire SY14 8HN

Recipe: The Perfect Pre-Drinking Sandwich

The perfect pre-drinking sandwich: lettuce, chorizo, tomato, avocado, cheese and a fried egg

We’ve all learned the hard way about drinking on an empty stomach: the lower-than-usual tolerance levels, feeling of emptiness and the desperate search for a McDonalds open past midnight.  When I first started going out, my mum would hover around me as I ruthlessly straightened my hair, trying to get me to eat something.

Everybody’s heard the urban legends about a glass of milk and a banana, but I have always found a sandwich to be perfect for lining the stomach.  The combination of carbs, protein and fats will give you a solid foundation for the many gin and tonics you will consume later on.  And, if you’re really short of time, you can eat it on the way.

In recent years, I have honed the perfect pre-drinking sandwich.  Although it varies slightly depending on what I have in the fridge, it will always contain the magic four ingredients: chorizo, cheese, avocado and a fried egg.  It takes a little while to prepare and can be quite messy to eat (not great for the cab) but will keep you going throughout the night.

The Perfect Pre-Drinking Sandwich

2 cooking chorizo sausages, I use the small ones from Waitrose
2 slices sandwich bread
Round lettuce leaves, soft part only
½ tomato, sliced
½ avocado, sliced
2 thin slices mature cheddar
A fried egg

Remove the skins from the chorizo sausages and slice fairly thinly.  Gently fry the slices in a little oil until crisp.  Drain on kitchen paper and set aside.

Toast the sandwich bread and leave to cool by placing in a toast rack or propping up against something (cooling on a worktop will make the underside sweaty).  Once cool, spread with butter and top one slice with the lettuce leaves.

On top of the lettuce, pile the chorizo, tomato, avocado, cheese and, finally, the fried egg.  Cover with the other slice of bread.

Outside of London: Rugby: The Bull’s Cheddar and Bacon Burger

Cheddar and bacon burger at The Bull, Rugby

At the weekend I went to Shropshire for a friend’s wedding.  It’s the least densely populated county in the United Kingdom and one hell of a drive from south-east London.  By the time we reached the Midlands, after being stuck in Friday afternoon traffic for some time, we were hungry and in desperate need of both caffeine and some facilities.  Knowing the horror of motorway service stations only too well, we agreed to pull into the next town, park up and stop for lunch.  This is how we came to be in Rugby.

Neither of us had ever been to Rugby before, in fact all we actually knew about it was that it was the birthplace of Rugby football and home to a rather posh school.  A quick google of ‘best restaurants in Rugby’ on my iPhone yielded nothing interesting, so we instead decided to take a punt on the first restaurant or pub we came across.  This is how we came to be in The Bull.

It must be POETS day in Rugby as at 2.30pm, the pub was packed.  After we squeezed past the gaggle of smokers, the group of guys playing the fruit machines and the display urging us to Book Your Christmas Party Now, we found a table near the back and started on the menu.  Despite having a complete hatred for the term, this menu offered proper ‘pub grub’: pies, fish and chips, strange vegetarian concoctions clearly devised by a carnivore, nachos, nachos and more nachos.  It did, however, offer two meals for £6.95, and the allure of ordering two meals and two drinks and getting change from a tenner was too tempting for we who live in the land of the five pound pint.  A cheese and bacon burger for £3.50 (with chips) was either going to be a huge mistake or the bargain of the century.

In fact, it was neither.  I confess that I did not have high hopes for this burger in this unassuming little pub in the Midlands, which made me pleasantly surprised that it was actually fairly decent.  Of course, it was never going to be of the standard of the MEATLiquor, Patty & Bun et al., but it was not as disastrous as I’d feared.  For one, the bun was brioche and pretty decent; it held everything together well and didn’t disintegrate in the way that many of the cheaper buns do.  The patty was fairly thin, so was cooked well done all the way through, but it was well-seasoned and tasted quite nice.  A rasher of bacon and a few slices of melted cheddar were a perfectly decent topping, in fact, the only modification I made was to remove the red onion.  Not a great burger by the standard of what we are used to in the capital, but OK.

I think I always have this idea that anything that is not a gourmet burger is going to be terrible.  Of course, it is often the case, but I now allow myself the liberty of being pleasantly surprised from time to time.

The Bull, 28 Sheep Street, Rugby CV21 3BX

Gitane’s Chicken with Yoghurt and Parsley Sauce Roll

Chicken with yoghurt and parsley sauce roll at Gitane, Fitzrovia

I first came across Gitane during my first week of working in Fitzrovia.  I popped out to get some lunch and found that Kaffeine and the Scandinavian Kitchen had queues snaking out of the door.  Not wanting to throw in the towel and go running back to Pret, I pushed on a little further and found this little cafe just a few paces along.

Despite having little presence online beyond a very simple website, Gitane is almost always packed.  When I have gone online to seek out new recommendations in the local area, it is always named with great enthusiasm.  Once you venture past the doors it is easy to see why.  It is a small, but very bright and airy space, with a counter on one side selling vibrant and colourful middle eastern foods:  homely looking tarts, bright salads filled with vegetables and grains, and tiny little cakes of rosewater and pistachio.  In the winter there are always spicy soups to warm you through and fresh breads, and they almost always have a hot option – their harissa salmon is a big favourite.  Last week, however, was the first time I had been in for a sandwich.

There were a number on offer, but it was the slabs of bright yellow chicken wedged into seeded buns on the counter that caught my eye.  £5 later, one was packed into a box and accompanying me back to my desk.

The filling for the sandwich is rather impressive.  At first I thought it was merely a huge chunk of breast meat, but I was delighted to find some equally large pieces of thigh meat nestled underneath.  Both the white meat and the dark meat were incredibly moist and flavoursome and coated in a delicious saffron, yoghurt and parsley sauce.  Accompanying the meat was a large slice of tomato, a couple of pickles, more parsley and a further dollop of yoghurt.  The bread was a glazed, seeded bun.  At first it looked a little on the small side, especially given the amount of chicken nestled within it, but it did its job of holding everything together well.

A sandwich of this kind is not a traditionally middle eastern dish, however they manage to get it just right with the combination of ingredients.  £5 is perhaps a little steep for a take-away sandwich, but the quality and quantity of the chicken makes it well worth it.  I will be back at Gitane time and again.

Gitane, 60 Great Titchfield Street, London W1W 7QF.

The Frenchie’s Duck Confit Burger

Duck confit burger with duck skin scratching at The Frenchie, Camden Food Market

I had heard whisperings on Twitter about this duck confit burger for some time, and therefore have had confit duck and brioche on the brain.  When my brother came to visit last weekend and expressed a wish for good street food, I knew this was my chance to try it.  Only one problem:  I would have to go to Camden for it.

I lived in NW1 when I first moved to London and although there were many things about it I loved, having to push through crowds of tourists, surly goths and the local, erm, marijuana pushers just to get a pint of milk in the morning was not one of them.  Camden is a busy place, especially around the lock, so putting a food market right there seems like a good idea, no?  Well, actually, no.  It is a bloody terrible idea.  For one, it is in a completely enclosed courtyard, bordered on one side by a canal and on the other by a kind of indoor shopping mall, which makes escape rather difficult.  This means that people browse, buy and eat in one place, which would be fine, except that there are millions of them.

I turned up, arranged a vague meeting-up strategy with my companions and went on the hunt for The Frenchie.  When I arrived, there was a relatively small queue so I quickly joined it and started to peruse the menu.  The concept is very simple:  you have a portion of the confit duck on brioche with a sprinkle of duck skin scratchings, some mustard, lettuce and then a choice of cheese.  The options are smoked cheddar, goats cheese with honey and a blue cheese.  This is all cooked on a hot plate and served up to you for around £6.00.  Or £6.50.  I forget.

Anyway, once I had navigated this sandwich through the crowds to a quiet corner, I found it to be one of the most spectacular sandwiches I had ever eaten.  The charms of confit duck in general require no big description, but this was a particularly excellent example:  flavoursome and moist, almost gelatinous in texture with a lovely salty crunch provided by the little pearls of duck skin scratchings scattered throughout.  I chose the smoked cheddar for the topping as I was worried the goats cheese and blue cheese might be too overpowering, and it was perfect; there was enough of smokiness to enhance the sandwich, but not too much flavour that it killed off the duck.  The brioche held it all together well until the last bite.

I have since been told that The Frenchie appear at other food markets across London, so I can enjoy another one of these wonderful creations without going to Camden. YES.

Top 10 Burgers for National Burger Day

London’s obsession with burgers needs no introduction.  For some time, the long queues outside burger restaurants have been a regular feature of the city streets.  It’s difficult to remember a time when the only burgers you could get were dry pub offerings or late night fast food.  However partial I am to a Big Mac, the competition has vastly improved the quality of burger offerings in the capital.

Today, in celebration of National Burger Day, I have put together a list of my top ten burgers of the past year.  Eight of these are in the capital, but this is mainly because I haven’t travelled that much this year.  One is from my hometown of Southampton, and one is the most perfect homemade burger I have ever tried.

The List:

10.  Hamburger with added cheese and bacon at Kua’Aina, Soho
A perfectly decent and well-seasoned burger from London’s only Hawaiian burger bar.  I was too much of a naysayer to add the pineapple, but apparently it is an excellent choice.
£9.75 for a ½lb hamburger with cheese and bacon.  Standard ½lb hamburger is £6.25
Kua’Aina, 26 Fouberts Place, London W1F 7PP 

 

9.  Chilli Burger at Byron, various locations
Burger-chain Byron has made it much easier to get a decent burger in many parts of London (including shopping centres!) My favourite is the chilli burger, which comes with a blisteringly hot topping of green jalapenos.  Cooked medium-rare, obviously
£8.95 for a chilli burger.  Classic 6oz hamburger is £6.95
Byron, various locations across London and major cities in the UK

 

8.  Burger with added cheese and béarnaise sauce at Tommi’s Burger Joint, Marylebone
The best thing about this Icelandic burger bar is the help-yourself condiments table, which has the all important element of Reykjavik fast food: cronions (freeze-dried onions to you and me).  The burgers are pretty damn good too.
£6.90 for a standard burger, add 60p for cheese and £1.00 for béarnaise
Tommi’s Burger Joint, 30 Thayer Street, London W1U 2QP

 

7.  The Jose Jose Chilli Burger at Patty & Bun, Marylebone
There seems to be a theme emerging here – I do love a good chilli burger.  This one combines cheese, chorizo and smoky mayo in a ball of deliciousness.  The burgers at Patty & Bun are all-round top-notch.
£8.50 for a Jose Jose Chilli Burger, £7.50 for the cheeseburger (more on this later)
Patty & Bun, 54 James Street, London W1U 1HE

 

6.  A special mention for Claire Chapman…
A bit of an anomaly for this list as you can’t actually buy these burgers in London.  If you are lucky enough to be invited to her house for one, you will see why they made the list. P.S. She makes her own candied bacon
www.instagram.com/claire_chappers

 

5.  The Flat Iron Burger at Flat Iron, Soho
There isn’t much not to like about this burger: chopped flat iron steak, béarnaise sauce and chopped shallots.  It isn’t on their main menu, but is available as a lunchtime special.  Have the baked aubergine on the side if you can manage it.
£10 for the Flat Iron burger.  £10 for a steak (you get the idea)
Flat Iron, 17 Beak Street, London W1F 9RW

 

Photo by Claire Chapman

4.  The Double Candied Bacon Flipper at Mother Flipper, Brockley Market
No trip to Brockley Market is complete without one of these enormous creations. Double patty, cheese and candied bacon.  It is impossible to eat one without making a mess, but it is so so good.
£6.50 for the candied bacon heaven, £5.00 for a standard cheeseburger
Mother Flipper, at Brockley Market on Saturdays and at KERB during the week.  Check website listings for details.   

 

3.  The Prince Charles is Overrated at 7Bone, Southampton
The only non-London restaurant to make it to the list, 7Bone is well worth a visit should you find yourself on the south coast.  This burger is a classic cheese and bacon burger with sauce, lettuce and pickles, just done very well.  Order medium-rare.
£6.50 for the Prince Charles is Overrated (not entirely sure where this name came from), £6.00 for a standard cheeseburger
7Bone, 110 Portswood Road, Southampton SO17 2FW

 

 

Photo by Claire Chapman

2.  The Ari Gold at Patty & Bun, Marylebone
The second Patty & Bun entry in this list.  The Ari Gold is Patty & Bun’s standard cheeseburger.  It is one of the best cheeseburgers I have ever eaten, with the smoky mayo and pickled onions setting it apart from the crowd. I see at least one of these on Instagram a week.
£7.50 for the Ari Gold
Patty & Bun, 54 James Street, London W1U 1HE    

 

1.  The Dead Hippie at MEATLiquor, Marylebone
It should come as no surprise that this burger tops the list as it is the best burger in London.  My love affair with the Dead Hippie has continued through #Meateasy, a short stint at The Rye in Peckham and now on to the vast MEAT empire.  What more could you wish for than a two mustard-fried patties, cheese, minced onions and outrageous burger sauce? Never change, MEATLiquor.
£8.50 for the Dead Hippie, £6.50 for a standard hamburger
MEATLiquor, 74 Welbeck Street, London W1G 0BA