traditional Aussie Burger with beetroot, bacon, bbq sauce and of course… Vegemite

There’s a few ingredients that you can count on to find their way into a traditional Aussie burger. A beef patty, beetroot, bacon, cheese and BBQ sauce usually make an appearance along with lettuce, tomato and onion. All told they make for a great burger. However, I wanted to make a burger that was even more Aussie and there’s no more an iconic Australian food than Vegemite. I have previously used it before in my Vegemite Burger and I was really pleased with how it worked and tasted.

Vegemite acts as a natural flavour enhancer. It’s salty and malty and shares similar traits to beef stock. By simply spreading out some vegemite over baking paper on an oven tray and baking at 170c (340f) until the Vegemite hardens you can then grind it up using a mortar and pestle. I combined the dust with some salt and coarse black pepper at a ratio of two parts Vegemite, one part salt and one part pepper.

You’ll notice in the directions that prior to adding the dust to the patty it says to lightly brush them with olive oil or mayonnaise. I have been using mayo a lot when grilling recently after Marina discovered an article in the LA Times that discusses the benefits of using mayo when grilling. Simply, mayo helps to avoid the meat sticking to the grill, it encourages the Maillard reaction (similar to carmelisation) that brings the golden brown colour to the meat, it helps rubs and seasonings to stick and possibly helps to retain moisture in the meat. I recommend you give it a try!

ingredients

• 500g beef mince to make 4 large patties (we used exclusively chuck meat with roughly 25% fat)
• 2.5 tbsp vegemite
• kosher salt
• coarse black pepper
• cheese slices
• lettuce
• white onion slices
• tomato slices
• beetroot slices
• fried eggs
• barbecue sauce
• buns (we used ciabatta… yep, we know, not uniquely Australian but they were Australian made)

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 160c/320f.
2. Line a baking tray with baking paper and spread the Vegemite out thinly and evenly across the paper.
3. Bake in the oven for 7 to 10 minutes. When ready, you should be able to hold a corner of the paper and by bending slightly the Vegemite should fracture. The timing will come down to how thinly you spread the Vegemite. The first time around the Vegemite burned so stand close to your oven.
4. Transfer to a mortar and pestle and grind the Vegemite to dust. Add salt and pepper to the dust and mix through.
5. Make 4 patties handling the mince as little as possible. Check out our Extreme Beef Burger recipe to view our patty making technique.
6. Apply a thin layer of olive oil or mayonnaise to the patties and then season with the dust.
7. Fire up your grill or barbecue to a medium-high heat.
8. Cook the patties, turning every 2 minutes. Add a slice of cheese 30 seconds before taking off the grill.
9. You can layer your burger any way you like. With ours we went with bun, lettuce, tomato, onion, beetroot, patty, bacon, egg, sauce, top burger bun.
10. Enjoy your Aussie burger!

For other burger ideas click here.