How to make the perfect burger

It’s the ultimate in bread-contained comfort food. Mike Reid, head chef at Gaucho O2 (Gauchorestaurants.co.uk), gives us the blueprint for creating the perfect beefburger.

a) “Get a nice fatty steak such as a rib-eye, trim the fat and put it to one side. Mince the meat with a sharp knife, cutting cubes no more than 2mm across. Do the same with the fat, but rub in salt as you go along.”

b) “Put 180g meat and 20g fat into a bowl with 20g diced shallots, 10g chopped garlic, 20g chopped parsley, 1 tsp ketchup, 1 tsp Dijon mustard and season. Mix with your hands and shape, but don’t compress them too much. Put them in the fridge for an hour before cooking.”

c) “Put vegetable oil in a hot pan and seal off both sides, 60 per cent on the first side, 40 per cent on the second. Finish in the oven until medium — about six to eight minutes at 175C. Toast a sesame-seed bun, putting ketchup on the bottom, mayonnaise on the top. Add a slice of cheddar as the burger finishes, put it in the bun and top with crispy bacon, tomato, onion and baby gem lettuce.”