Set up

Outdoors – BBQ, frying pan or plancha direct heat, cloche or bowl
Indoors – Hob, frying pan, cloche (or large metal bowl)

Method

1. Place a frying pan or plancha over direct heat in your outdoor cooker or on top of your stove. Make sure it’s hot so that you can quickly build up a crust. Season with salt and pepper. I like to add a pinch of garlic and onion granules for extra flavour and a pinch of cayenne for kick.
2. Drizzle some oil and chuck in a knob or two of butter. Cast in the onions and allow to cook down, adding a dash of soy sauce and a little brown sugar for a minimum of 15 minutes (or go as long as 30 minutes if you’ve got the time!). The slower, the lower, the better! Halfway through cooking the onions, add in the mushrooms and slow cook down until soft.
3. Slice the burger buns in half and toast on the BBQ until the bread forms a good toasted crust and set aside.
4. Divide the mince into 6 balls (3x balls per burger). There will be shrinkage when the fat renders so make them at least 1/3 bigger than the buns. If you want more meat, double em up.
5. Place the patties onto the plancha on the heat and hit em hot, season with salt and pepper. Flip em after a couple of minutes to work the other side. Once the burger has a nice brown crust on both sides, brush on some yellow mustard and allow to cook into the burger.
6. Now it’s time to cheese! The key to making this the best burger ever - get your cloche/bowl ready with some water in a squirty bottle, lay your cheeses onto the patties on the heat (we suggest a different age for each patty if you’ve been able to get hold of different ages) and place the cloche over the pan. Do this for 20-30 seconds or until the cheese has started to melt. Now place the top burger bun onto the onion, mushroom cheese layer and squirt a little water next to the burger and quickly replace the cloche. This creates lovely steam that will make the burger nice and squishy. You only need to leave the cloche on for 10-20 seconds to achieve ultimate steamy squishy goodness.
7. Hit the bottom bun with a handful of lettuce. Throw the rest of the burgers on top and you’re ready to indulge. A couple of tomato and pickle slices will always send the burger to tasty town!