Home-made gourmet burger patties

Turkey and pork burger patty

Turkey and pork burger patty

I have never quite been a fan of ready-made hamburger patties from the supermarket. And because I love to be creative in making my own patties, ready-made patties have never seemed enticing to me with its processed and uniformed look.

Coming up with a beautiful burger patty is not only simple and easy, it is fun and therapeutic. I usually mix beef and pork mince in equal proportions but for today’s gourmet patties, I have decided to experiment with pork and turkey mince instead.

Ingredients for turkey and pork burger patties

Ingredients for turkey and pork burger patties

Another ingredient that I never pick off the supermarket shelves is breadcrumbs in a packet. It is so easy to simply bake two pieces of fresh wholegrain bread in the oven until golden brown and broken into crispy fresh crumbs.

Lea & Perrins' Worcestershire sauce

Lea & Perrins' Worcestershire sauce

One advantage of preparing your own patties is you can always choose fresh ingredients and know exactly what goes into your patties.

Lea & Perrins’ Worchestershire sauce is one of the key ingredients because the tangy taste gives the patties a sharp edge when cooked.

Ingredients to be mixed into burger patties

Ingredients to be mixed into burger patties

I love using my hands to mix all the key ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Mince pork and turkey, finely diced onions, crispy breadcrumbs, fresh egg, Worchestershire sauce, freshly cracked black pepper, mixed dried herbs (usually thyme, rosemary, oregano and sage) and a special ingredient which in my humble opinion, gives these patties a gourmet touch.

Bacon salt: The difference between ordinary and extraordinary burger patties

Bacon salt: The difference between ordinary and extraordinary burger patties

I made a batch of bacon salt  just after the new year and am now enjoying just how versatile this ingredient can be for salads, soups, meat and seafood. For today, I have substituted salt with my bacon salt to give the patties an extra boost in flavour.

This is a great recipe for the summer backyard barbeque too where the patties can be grilled and the burger buns toasted at the same time.

Turkey and pork burger patty

Turkey and pork burger patty

Gourmet turkey and pork burger with cheese, mayonnaise, lettuce and tomatoes with whole meal bun

Gourmet turkey and pork burger with cheese, mayonnaise, lettuce and tomatoes with whole meal bun

So dear readers, what is your favourite burger and would you try this simple recipe at home instead of buying ready-made burger patties?

Related ChopinandMysaucepan posts:

Enter your email address to subscribe to chopinandmysaucepan.com
… Delivered by FeedBurner

comments
This entry was posted in Recipes and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

48 Responses to Home-made gourmet burger patties

  1. JasmyneTea says:

    These look so great, and the bacon salt would just add to the awesomeness!
    I’ll admit, I buy breadbrumbs. We keep our bread frozen (as we only use it for toast), so I just find it easier to buy it.

    • Chopinand says:

      Dear Jasmyne Tea

      There is nothing wrong with freezing bread and if so, I think it’s even easier to make your own breadcrumbs coz you can defrost a couple of slices anytime and chuck it into the oven for really fresh and crispy crumbs and cheaper in the long run too!

  2. Charles says:

    I totally agree about patties. I haven’t bought a patty in… well, I can’t even remember the last time because ready made ones are just filthy. When it’s so easy (and so fun) to make them yourself. Often, I just get some minced beef and press a lump of it into a large cookie cutter shape to make it perfectly round and then grill it. After a few humorous results, I always try and get minced beef with a fat content of 10% or less now because otherwise they shrink a *lot*!

    I’ve never been too adventurous with patties, so I love the idea of mixing different meats and bacon salt too… oh yes please!

    Thanks for coming by my site recently! Happy to have found you :)

    • Chopinand says:

      Dear Charles,

      I find that mixing beef with pork and breadcrumbs with some mixed herbs are great in ensuring the patties don’t become too firm and dry. The pork mince tends to make the patties more succulent.

  3. Wow, these look great! My mom sometimes made beef patties (not as sophisticated as yours, though, but very yummy), but we never ate them with a bun, rather with veggies and potatoes (and with knife and fork).

    I’d always prefer homemade patties over store-bought!

    • Chopinand says:

      Dear Kath,

      These can also be turned into small little meat balls and would also be delicious with a bolognaise sauce :) :)

  4. Celia says:

    Agree completely with you that homemade burgers leave the premade ones for dead! Yours look delicious moist and juicy – I’ve never used turkey mince before, so I’ll have to look out for it! Oooh, and we have Furi knives as well – aren’t they fabulous? It’s so cool that we have a local company making such a fine product!

    • Chopinand says:

      Dear Celia,

      I look cooking with the Furi knives because they feel really good because of the steel handle – an ingenious stroke.

  5. heidi says:

    That is exactly how I make burgers, except I use gravy master (or a liquid burnt sugar syrup) and fresh Italian parsley. Looks great! Now I want to make bacon salt and hamburgers!

    • Chopinand says:

      Dear Heidi,

      Fresh continental parsley adds beautiful flavours to the patties too! Happy cooking!

  6. Carolyn Jung says:

    Always better to make your own burgers. You can season them however you like and choose whatever combo of meats or cuts of meat you want. Yours looks spectacular.

  7. Hotly Spiced says:

    Wow! What great looking patties. Love how you’ve made your own and made your own breadcrumbs – so much better than buying ready made. At least you know what’s gone into yours. I think I’ll cook these for dinner tonight. Great family meal.

  8. beti says:

    for me home made burgers are the best I always add some chopped veggies like carrots ans zuchinni to add a bit more flavor, yours look pretty delicious

    • Chopinand says:

      Dear beti,

      Adding whatever you like is probably the best thing about home made burger patties.

  9. I love a good burger and a home made or old fashioned one is even better!

  10. Was the half n half pattie moist? Because I find that turkey mince can be a little dry since there isn’t a lot of fat. Ew not a fan of supermarket patties either, too much sodium and unnecessary fat. I love having pork and beef patties or crabcake patties!

    • Chopinand says:

      Dear Viv,

      Actually you want to “under-process” the bacon and salt it so that it’s not too fine like powder because you want the texture to be slightly sandy / grainy.

  11. Raymund says:

    Those patties looks so juicy which is the most important thing in burgers. Yum!

  12. I love the addition of pork to the patty mix! I always use bread soaked in milk instead of breadcrumbs – the texture of the patties remains ever so soft! And I always add mushrooms.

  13. Sissi says:

    I love your hamburger recipe! Pork and turkey/chicken are my favourite meats and I would have never thought of combining them ground. Thanks for this wonderful idea.

    I also hate often hamburgers made at certain restaurants where they don’t add anything to the patty (sometimes they even omit salt). People love them here, but they are really disgusting. I love well seasoned patties, just like yours :-) (And I also add Worcestershire sauce very often!).

    • Chopinand says:

      Dear Sissi,

      I know exactly what you mean when some patties are just made of mince without interesting ingredients such as fresh herbs and Worchestershire.

      The best thing about adding all these beautiful ingredients is the patties can also be made into meat balls with a bolognaise sauce for a second dish without a lot more extra work. :)

  14. Juliana says:

    You are making me feel very guilty, never made my own patties. I like the idea of turkey and pork…and of course you bacon salt. Will have to give this a try.
    Hope you have a wonderful week ahead :-)

    • Chopinand says:

      Dear Juliana,

      For me, knowing that I can make better burger patties with fresh ingredients from a very simple recipe is really the motivation over ready-made ones. Best of all it’s fun too! :)

  15. Apple says:

    They look like awesome patties. We always make ours at home, never bought a ready made one :) I love your bacon salt. Going to have to give it a go next time!

    • Chopinand says:

      Dear Apple,

      The bacon salt really gave the patties an added taste dimension and it’s also so useful for so many other recipes.

  16. sugarpuffi says:

    whoa u made your own patty! im wayyyyy too lazy to do that

    • Chopinand says:

      Dear sugarpuffi,

      But then you’re not lazy in baking heaps of cupcakes though, isn’t that even more work?

  17. YUM! and THEN bacon salt?!!? I die!

    I need to make burgers soon, my boy keeps requesting them!

  18. sophia says:

    You captured my heart with bacon salt…although most “bacon” salts don’t have bacon in it. A runny egg on top and it’ll be perfect for me. :-)

    • Chopinand says:

      Dear sophia,

      After making the bacon salt myself, I can’t see myself buying bacon salt from the supermarket whether it contains bacon and/or other additives.

      I do know there are other types of flavouring salts such as celery salt for vegetarians.

  19. Joanne says:

    When I ate meat, I always made my own burger patties. there were so many fun flavor profiles you could mix in! I have to say that with the bacon jam, these really take the cake.

    • Chopinand says:

      Dear Joanne,

      I think bacon is probably one of the delights of life for many foodies around the world :)

      And I only knew there was such a thing as bacon jam recently when one reader mentioned it.

  20. msihua says:

    Dear Chopin,

    Love that you have a bottle of L&P there.. I use it for everything! Western and Asian.. it’s such a versatile sauce to marinate with!

    • Chopinand says:

      Dear msihua,

      I must say I only use the Worchestershire sauce for my burger patties although I know it’s a very versatile flavour enhancer for recipes like spag bol, bacon and eggs etc.

      I haven’t used this sauce for Asian cooking though. What kind of Asian recipes would you use this sauce for?

  21. I agree with you homemade is so much better but I’m also really interested in the bacon salt. I’ve got to give that a go. GG

    • Chopinand says:

      Dear Glamorous Glutton,

      The bacon salt is truly a revelation for me because it is such a versatile conduit ingredient for so many great recipes and I will always fondly remember it as my first new recipe for 2012 :)

  22. Nothing better than I good homemade burger using the very best ingredients! Love your use of your amazing bacon salt!

    • Chopinand says:

      Dear Anna,

      These burgers have changed my views about ordering burgers at restaurants / pubs – they need to be really good or I’ll just order something else I can’t replicate at home.

  23. Come to think of it, I haven’t had homemade burger for a long time! Turkey and pork sounds wonderful and bacon salt makes this dish even better!

  24. This recipe is full of win! The mince mix and those delicious, delicious seasonings…

  25. Mandisa says:

    Trying this recipe tonight!

Comments are closed.