Beef Burgers and Beer-Battered Onion Rings

I kind of love that the onion rings are about the same size as the burger..

Om nom nom.

This is just food that people want to eat. No one can turn down a homemade onion ring. And batter it in beer? You’ll have a queue outside your door! The absolute key to delicious onion rings is to soak them in buttermilk before cooking, it takes away a lot of the sharp taste that onions can have and both sweetens and softens them. They have a crunchy, yet melt in the mouth quality that I’ve just never gotten from any other onion rings.

Now, I know that I have made burgers before on this blog, but I am always looking for ways to improve recipes in my repertoire. The addition of cream crackers is, I suppose, a substitute for breadcrumbs found in other recipes. I feel like it added an interesting texture element but didn’t really alter the flavour. If I had crackers on-hand in the future I’d definitely add them to my burgers.

Makes 4 chunky burgers

Ingredients for the onion rings

• 1 large onion
• Buttermilk, approx. 350ml
• 150g plain flour
• Pinch salt
• ½ tsp baking powder
• Can of beer, 440 ml
• Approx. 100g flour extra, for dredging
• 350ml groundnut oil

Ingredients for the burgers

• ½ an onion (or, the leftover smaller parts of the onion-ring onion)
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp beef stock granules
• Salt and pepper
• 6 Jacob’s cream crackers
• 1 egg
• 500g minced beef
• Drizzle of oil

Method

Begin by prepping the onion rings. Chop your large onion into chunky rings, and place in a bowl. Pour over the buttermilk and allow to soak for approx. 30 minutes.

As these are set aside, start your burgers.

Chop the onion or the remainder of your onion-ring onions and fry in a little butter for 5 minutes until soft and nearly translucent.

Throw into a bowl with the garlic, paprika, stock cube and seasoning and stir. 

Crush the crackers (easiest is to put them in a ziplock bag and bash them with a rolling pin) until they resemble fine breadcrumbs. Put this into the bowl with the egg and beef and get mixing!

So, using your hands, smush and mash and mix all the ingredients together.

Form into 4 burger patties, place on a plate and drizzle some oil over the top. Put the plate in the fridge to help them firm up for easier cooking.

Now, your burgers are firming, so it is time to get back to your onion rings.

Prepare the batter by measuring 150g of plain flour into a bowl, and adding the salt, baking powder, and mixing well. Pour in the beer and stir well.

Spread some flour on a plate, and heat up the groundnut oil in a heavy based pan.

Now you’re ready to fry – best done in batches.

At this point I heat up a griddle pan and put my burgers on to fry, everything should take about the same amount of time. Be sure to flip once or twice during cooking.

So, take 4-5 onion rings out of the milk, roll them in the flour, and carefully place them in the boiling oil. Cook until browned, 2-3 minutes, then place on some kitchen roll to get rid of excess oil. If you have a lot of rings, keep the cooked ones warm by placing in a warm oven.

Yep, that's a lot of oil..

Continue until all your onion rings are cooked.

At this point, your burgers should be done, too.

Serve the beef burgers on a soft burger bun, and top with the onion rings, and whatever else you desire. I like peri peri mayo and salad leaves, with a small sprinkling of cheese. But if you’re a ketchup and mayo person, stick that on.

Then, dislocate jaw to fit burger in. YUM.