Ultimate gourmet burger with pork, blue cheese and apple

preparation

Preparation

Burger

Barbecue the meat on high heat to get it caramelised and crunchy on the outside. Move to indirect heat and allow to cook through. Pork must always been well done. Place a Castello Blue Cheese Slice on top and let it melt

Burger bun

Burger buns. You can bake your own buns or buy good quality ones from your local bakery. Heat them in the oven, split open and toast lightly on the barbecue.

Apple ketchup

Why not try a nice fruit ketchup on your burger? Peel the apples, cut into cubes and place in a pot along with the water and the other ingredients. Make sure to cut the vanilla pod in half. Bring it all to a boil and simmer covered for approx. 20 min. Remove the vanilla pod and blend the rest into a smooth sauce with a hand blender. Let cool and then pour into a clean bottle or bowl.

Thinly slice 1 yellow onion. Heat a pan and add 1 tbsp olive oil. Sprinkle 2 tbsp sugar over it. Let it heat up before adding the onions and then cook them over medium heat for approx. 10 min. Season with a little salt and pepper. Stir carefully and allow the sugar to melt and caramelise the onions. Simmer for 10 more minutes.

Chipotle mayo

Grind a whole chipotle chilli in a spice grinder or mortar. Make sure the powder is very fine. Remove any large bits. Pour the powder into a tall container along with 1 whole egg, 1/2 tsp dijon mustard, 1 clove garlic, a pinch of salt and 2 tbsp lemon juice. Blend with a hand blender. Now add sunflower oil (or another neutral oil) very slowly until you have a nice and creamy mayonnaise. You will use approx. 200ml oil. Season to taste with additional sour (lemon) or salt. Refrigerate and allow the flavours to develop for a few hours before serving. If you don't have any chipotle, you can use a fresh chilli. But you will miss out of the fantastic smoked flavour, so try to get hold of some. You should be able to find it in major supermarkets in the spice section (in bags).

Crispy ham

Dry in the oven at 180°C on the convection setting until the ham is nice and crispy. Use a good quality ham.

You can of course, top the burger with lettuce. We recommend romaine as it has a nice crunch and a good flavour. Place a leaf on top of the mayo on the bottom bun, then place the burger on top.

Crisps can be made quick and easy by simply slicing a potato as thinly as you can by hand or in penny-thick slices on a mandolin. Then fry in plenty of neutral oil (1 litre). Use a deep pot and fry the crisps in batches. If you have too many crisps in the pot at once, you end up with a soggy mess rather than crunchy crisps.