Connecticut · Main
Steamed Cheeseburgers
- Intermediate
- 40 min
- roughly 2 of 4 for cost
Leads with richness that coats and comforts.
Ingredients
- 700g ground beef (80/20), formed into 4 thick patties
- 250g extra-sharp cheddar, cut in thick chunks
- 4 hard rolls or kaiser buns
- 1 onion, sliced
- Mustard and sliced tomato to serve
- Salt and pepper
Equipment
Steamer · Sheet pan
The skills inside
Steaming: basket, leaf and lid
Allergen screen
Found: dairy · mustard
Screened for: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, molluscs, soy, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin, alcohol. Not screened: sulphites.
Screened by keyword from the ingredient list, not reviewed by a person; check every label for what the list cannot show.
Method
- Set a steamer over simmering water. Season the patties well.
- Place the patties in the steamer trays and steam, covered, 8-10 min until cooked through and juicy. 10 min
- Steam the cheddar chunks separately in a small dish for the last 5 min until molten and pooling. 5 min
- Toast the buns lightly if you like.
- Set a patty in each bun and pour the molten cheddar over generously. Top with onion, mustard, and tomato.
How to tell it is going right
This dish has no standard of its own yet. It is judged on the technique it exercises: checked at the pan, while there is still something to be done about it.
Steaming: basket, leaf and lid 130 recipes
- Steam was running before the food went in: the water at a rolling boil and vapour coming steadily through the basket, rather than the whole thing warming up together.
- Nothing touches the water at any point: the food sits clear of it throughout, and the level neither drops enough to boil dry nor rises enough to wet it.
- The lid stayed on. Every lift costs the chamber its heat, and the number of lifts should be as close to none as the dish allows.
- Lifted out, the surface is glossy and plump with its colour heightened rather than dulled: greens brighter than they went in, not olive.
- Cooked through with the shape intact: it yields at the centre without having slumped or split, and there is no more than a spoonful of clean condensate beneath it.
Where it goes wrong The lid was loose or dripping and the condensate fell back onto the food, so it arrives waterlogged and pale with its seasoning washed down into the bottom of the dish.
At the Table
- The Pour
- Cabernet Sauvignon or Malbec
- Also Right
- Zinfandel or Tempranillo
- From the Taps
- IPA or amber ale
- Zero-Proof
- Root beer, no apology
A burger is seared beef plus fat plus bread: tannic reds do the steakhouse work, and a hop-bitter IPA scrubs the griddle richness between bites.
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