When I was a child, burgers didn't really feature in my diet with the exception of the rare visit to The Wimpy Bar. The first Wimpy Bar opened in the UK in 1954, we had a a Wimpy in my home town of Catford and my mother first took me there when I was around five years old. I remember it vividly because there were red curtains across the walls and I sat in anticipation of a puppet show. I don't remember being overly impressed with my burger which came in a bun with fried onions, however, I do remember being fascinated by the rum babas in the chiller cabinet.
The first McDonald's opened in 1974 in the UK not far from my home in South East England. My friend Wendy and I were eleven years old and were very excited one Saturday when we set off on the bus with our pocket money to have our first McDonald's meal.
I have to tell you that even back then I was a bit of a food snob, I hated everything about McDonald's, the soggy cheeseburger, the milkshake that was too thick to drink, and I laugh when I remember complaining to Wendy that there was no cutlery (a bit grandiose for an eleven year old.) I just didn't get the 'fast food' concept (I still don't) coming from a family which was half Italian, meals were long leisurely affairs, tables were laid with beautiful tablecloths, crockery and cutlery and the bright, noisy, plastic interior of McDonald's was an enigma to me.
Today there are over 33,000 McDonald's worldwide and they sell more than 75 hamburgers every second. Americans alone consume 1 billion pounds of beef at McDonald's in a year - that's five and a half million head of cattle. It's astonishing to think there was life before McWorld, as it's been coined, I suspect there are few children in the UK who haven't eaten McDonald's and many who simply can't live without it (even though the human race managed for centuries beforehand.)
I had to be in town early in the morning recently and was shocked to see the empty car park strewn with McDonald's rubbish. I think the whole concept of eating in the car is pretty disgusting, but to then just chuck your rubbish out of the window is despicable. Unfortunately the whole concept of fast food has created an attitude of greed and oafishness, not to mention a obesity epidemic.
In recent years I've taken to eating burgers (although not McDonald's) lots of gastro pubs now make homemade burgers and it's all become a bit trendy (rather like eating liver or pork belly.) But the burgers I enjoy most are my own homemade versions, I like to buy my meat from a butcher and I tend to opt for a 30% fat ratio to 70% lean meat, I always get my butcher to grind my meat and obviously I only buy outdoor- bred beef. Once you have the meat there are no end of ingredients you can add to your patty such as chillies, onions and herbs.
Take mince and seperate into small handfuls, add chosen herbs and spices then roll meat into balls
With the palm of your hand, flatten and shape patties
Place on a baking tray (I line mine with greaseproof paper) and place under a hot grill for 3 minutes
Turn patties over and cook for a further 3 minutes
Add fried onions
Place in toasted brioche buns and enjoy.
'Let me ask you: who do you prefer, a clown organising your menu -with all due respect to Mr McDonald - or a chef? I do believe it's a very simple answer.'
- Jose Andres Puerta.
Love Donna xxxxxxx
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