New Gadget: Hark Stuffed Burger Press

I’ve been over in Sydney and Byron Bay for a week so I’m a bit behind on my posting and was in need of some inspiration.

Luckily upon arrival back in Perth I had a care package from my pals at Hark, who make and import smokers and other related accessories; the main item of interest being a stuffed burger press.

I’ve been meaning to make stuffed burgers for some time; they’re pretty popular in the States but for those that don’t know they basically let you pimp out a regular burger by helping you stuff all sorts of wondrous fillings inside.

The operation is fairly simple, there is a base which you partially fill with mince (for best results mince your own beef – I use chuck or brisket).

Use around 150 – 200g mince per burger – I didn’t weigh everything out this time I just used the force.  The press makes it pretty foolproof but I’ll do some more accurate measurements for y’all in a later post.

Then create a well or indent in the mince using the smaller press.

Once you have made the well it’s time to choose your ingredients.  For the first burger I thought I would run with classic flavours and make what I call The Reverse Bacon Cheeseburger.

As the name implies you add bacon…

Cheese…

Add a top layer of mince and seal it all up using the larger press.

My first thought was that these patties look like a giant meat brick, but you have to remember that it also contains the topping.

Now this burger already has his two best mates, cheese and bacon, so you don’t need a great deal else to finish this.  I used baby spinach for some greenery and a smokey special sauce I whipped up with mayo, liquid smoke and Dr Paul’s Hot Sauce.

Then all you need to do is grill your burgers, preferably on charcoal.  I found the press flattened out the burger a lot more than when I do it by hand and made them much easier to flip and handle on the BBQ.

So that’s how you make a stuffed burger!

As usual I’ve got a few zany, pun-driven ideas floating around this big ol’ head of mine so stay tuned.

Let me know if you have any requests – the more absurd the better. Maybe I’ll run a competition…

Please note: Hark provided the burger press to me at no cost but all thoughts, puns and delicious burger pics are my own.