Galloping not gourmet

It appears horse is on the menu, not through choice but down to cut price beef burgers cutting major corners.

There has been uproar in the press and the public have reacted with some disgust. The jokes have been coming in thick and fast flooding social media, but a darker side appeared as thinly veiled xenophobia with people pointing the finger at Europeans and their awful practice of eating "la cheval". We also have a belief in this country (true or not) that horses end up in dog food after there working life is over, meaning it’s perceived as a lower quality meat. Debates took over TV with people taking a harsh stance against the supermarkets involved, and if you listened to them you would end up believing the supermarkets were trying to kill us. These people probably think a hamburger has to have ham in it. But was there really a problem? As a long term lover of the humble burger I must have eaten hundreds of them from burger vans at concerts, out door events even car parks. Now in all that time I never questioned what was in them, to be honest if they told me they were 100% quality horse meat I would have been quite happy considering the gruesome alternatives such as “mechanically reclaimed” meat. Then there is what the term “meat” actually means, it won’t be prime cuts going into these burgers, and with preservative and antioxidants that are added with water, salt and binders it’s not the most appealing list of ingredients. So even if cheap burgers are 100% beef they are not the most savoury things to be analysing, it would be interesting to compare the burgers causing all the fuss with other pure beef value burgers as perhaps by adding horse meat the product quality was improved. If nobody had picked this up then no one would be any the wiser, and lord knows how many had already been served on the tables of Britain or possibly by a major fast food chain. But the panic was a little overblown as this is no health issue, it's no mad cow scare.

So what’s the big deal here?

I know, I know it’s horse and some people don’t agree with eating it because it has “personality”, but really? Here’s an example - I was in the supermarket the other day and saw an offer in the frozen fish section, I took a look as I never like to miss a bargain, and the product was described as “white fish fillets”. Now what on earth does that mean, what are they cod, haddock? Throw me a bone! Perhaps I should have reported it to the press… A great marketing ploy would be to rebrand burgers as “red meat burgers” a level of ambiguity which should keep everyone happy. If you are now one of the many who don’t trust the burgers in your local store don’t fret. The solution is to make your own, at least then you will know exactly what is in them, and oh you lucky people they are so simple to make.

Follow my simple method for perfect burgers

• 500g or 1lb of minced beef 
• 1 heaped teaspoon of salt

The minced beef can be of any quality you can afford, but note the optimal amount of fat is 20-30%. This is where all the flavour comes from, fat also helps bind and will give you a juicy, succulent burger. Add the ingredients into a bowl, take a fork and mash it thoroughly. Now this is important, rubbing it with your fingers won’t get the meat fibres to bind and you will end up with burgers that split with chunks falling off the side. It’s a bit of work but well worth it for the end result. Keep mashing until the all the strands of mince are combined. You should now have a ball of seasoned meat with uniform texture. Split the balls into 4 for quarter pounders, then hand shape your burgers to your preferred style. Alternatively I like to put a ball of meat on a sheet of clingfilm and use the bottom of a plate, line up the circle under the plate and push down. For me this always gives even looking burgers. Serve when cooked completely through, test by cutting or splitting one of them. Cooking times will vary greatly depending on thickness of your burger. There you have it, simple! You can add black pepper or other seasonings, you could also try the recipe replacing beef with pork, lamb, turkey or even horse if you’re feeling little adventurous! ;) Did you try the recipe? How did it work out for you?