Horse these Burgers into You (Homemade pork and beefburgers)

I don't know about anyone else but all the talk about burgers recently made me really want some.  Not the ones in the news which, to put it mildly, are not anything like described on the tin.  But my own burger recipe modified from one I saw Jamie Oliver do a while back.

Normally I only get the urge to make them for a BBQ in the summer.  When you have fresh herbs in the garden they are really delicious.  But in winter they work equally as well.


Ingredients Pork and Beef Burgers







250g mince pork ( you need about 20% fat to keep the burgers moist and juicy)
250g mince beef
2 red onions
1 garlic clove (optional)
salt, pepper
fresh thyme and oregano or what ever herbs you have
1 good big teaspoon of Dijon mustard
a glug of Worcestershire sauce


This quantity should make enough for 6-8 burgers depending on how big you like them.

Sauté the red onions and garlic with salt, pepper in some good quality oil.  Add some fresh thyme at this time of year.  When they are softened remove from heat and cool.

Add to your meat mix and then if you have some fresh oregano add it.  Scoop out a good big teaspoon of Dijon mustard and a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce.  Add some more seasoning and mix well.

If not binding you can add a beaten egg but I rarely find it necessary. Chill for about an hour.  They can also be frozen individually wrapped in cling film.

I like all my meat cooked rare or twitching and burgers are the same.  I buy meat and mince it myself in a mincer attachment I have for my Kitchen Aid.  That way I know exactly how fresh it is and what is in it.  For this reason I have no problem cooking them rare. However, I am sure your butcher would mince your meat for you, if you ask. My mother never bought mince when we were young. She always wanted to see the butcher mince it in front of her.

To serve buy decent bread rolls not the nasty burger buns in sweaty packets full of Calcium propionate (mould inhibitor).

Tags: Irish Food Jamie Oliver  Pork and Beef Burgers  BBQ  Dijon mustard  Worcestershire sauce  Kitchen Aid 
Horseburgergate  Horse Meat  

No Time? (Make a few minutes to bake bread and make delicious soup and stock)

There is a pot of vegetable soup simmering on my hob.  Hardly remarkable, however, it took me less than ten minutes to prepare.

So many people say they have no time to cook.  It baffles me really.  How long does it take to chop a few vegetables and throw in some stock or water?

Here's how.

I roasted a chicken the other day. We got two days out of it. I saved the bones from the first meal and when the carcass was picked clean I threw it and the bones in a big pot with water and put it on to simmer really gently while I went in to watch tv. Hours later when a smell of chicken wafted into the room I remembered it.  I put the pot into our "walk-in-fridge" or it could also be called the lazy fridge.  It's just a small "sun" porch that is effectively freezing.

Next day I strained the homemade stock into two plastic containers and froze them. I gave the dogs the bones and carcass now softened from the long cooking time, so no sharp edges (very happy dogs).

So today I chopped my vegetables and softened them in some rape seed oil.  The vegetables I had were onion, garlic, leek, carrot, a potato and celery including some leaves.  Salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons of red lentils were added in along with the 500ml chicken stock.  Add in another 500ml water and cover and gently simmer while you go off and watch tv or whatever.

So how did this take time? It took less time than it takes me to have a bath or wash my hair or clean the bathroom.  I also used up a carcass that most people throw in the bin.  I saved an outrageous amount on buying stock cubes ( calculate the price per kg if you don't believe me) for salty, fatty water.

I now have a delicious pot of homemade soup which will serve 2 people lunch for 3 days.

The Bread is also easily made in a few minutes.

Recipe Simple Soda bread

1 mug of wholemeal flour

1 mug plain flour

2 tbsp oat bran

1 level teaspoon bread soda (bicarbonate)

1 tbsp poppy seeds

Buttermilk to mix to a fairly wet consistency

Mix dry ingredients sieving the bread soda.  Add buttermilk.  Remove to a floured surface and just gather lightly into a round (do not knead or be heavy handed). You can also use a pastry cutters to cut out scone shapes.  Cut a cross in the loaf (not necessary in individual) and put on a floured tray in a pre-heated oven 190 degrees for approx. 35 minutes or about 10 minutes for individual rolls. Cool on a wire rack.  

Tags: Chicken stock  Vegetable soup  Poppy seed bread  Simple soda bread

Fast Cars or Fast Food? (Gadgets or Healthy Food Choices)

The final straw was when yet another person commented on the current horse meat scandal in beef burgers. The assumption is that only people on low incomes or with very constrained budgets buy cheap, processed foods.  I think it is not only inaccurate but it is patronising and smug. 

In my experience over the years, through the recession in the 80's to the boom of the noughtys back to the current recession, it has nothing got to do with budget.  The vast majority of people care little about what they eat and are incredibly uneducated about food, nutrition or budgeting.  And before everyone gets up on their collective horses let me explain.

When I was growing up in Dublin, the kids on my road lived in houses where the "good room" was locked up and not available to them.  They ate kids' food - fish fingers, burgers, tinned beans and peas, white sliced bread with plastic cheese for their tea while the adults entertained in the good room and went on foreign holidays.  

I remember asking my mother why we did not have a "good room".  The answer I got was that we did not have such a room in the same way we did not eat "children's food" nor did we go on foreign holidays.  This was, she explained, because we spent our money on food and education.  I don't know what age I was but I remember it clearly and from then on I began to notice what she meant.

Years later when my own kids were small and we lived in a middle class area in the UK.  I noticed the same thing.  But even more surprisingly I noticed how well-educated people on good incomes spent so little on food.  Oh they had the cars, the foreign holidays, the sound system and the good room. But very often the fridge was empty and the cupboards bare. 

Now back to the current debate and the people on very tight budgets.  Stand in a supermarket any day of the week and look at what people on all sorts of budgets put in their trolleys.  Then stand back and look at their clothes, their kids' shoes, their watches, their smart phones and their cars.  Then check out the price per kg of many of the processed foods they are buying.  In almost all cases the processed foods are considerably more expensive than buying the basics.  Yes they lack the knowledge and the skills and to a certain extent the time, but they have plenty of knowledge and skill and time when it comes to operating technology so they are not dumb.

So now do you see my point? It is a matter of priority.  People regardless of budget have different priorities.  Food is in many cases low priority after the latest must-have gadget for adult and child alike.

On last night's debate on RTE's Frontline programme, Darina Allen said she would rather spend her money on food than give it to the doctor or the chemist.  But how many really think like this?

Instead we have people including journalists writing for The Guardian making sweeping statements about poeple on low budgets in the same breath as denigrating people who have an interest in food. How do they know the people they sneer at as "lifestyle foodies" are not prioritising their budgets in favour of good, healthy, wholesome food?

RTE Frontline  The Guardian  Darina Allen  Horse Meat in Burgers