Homemade burgers, beef or shredded chicken, with lettuce, tomato, onion and melting cheese, and a mustard and honey sauce mixed while they cook. Fifteen minutes, four burgers.
The sauce, and the word nobody could translate
The ingredient list asks for 100 grams of ranch mustaneza and 50 of mayo mustard, which reads like nonsense in English and is not.
Mostaneza is a Colombian supermarket staple: mustard and mayonnaise already blended, sold in a bottle, squeezed onto hot dogs, burgers, arepas and chips. The ranch version adds herbs and a buttermilk tang.
Neither exists on most shelves outside Colombia, and neither needs to. Equal parts mayonnaise and mild yellow mustard is mostaneza. Stir a spoonful of ranch dressing into it and you have the ranch kind. The rest of the sauce is cream, Dijon, honey and parsley, mixed cold in a bowl.
Shape them wider than the bun
Meat contracts as it cooks. A patty pressed out to exactly the size of the bun comes off the pan visibly smaller, sitting in the middle of the bread with a ring of empty bun around it.
Make them a centimetre or so wider all round. Press a shallow dent into the centre with your thumb as well, which counteracts the tendency to swell into a dome and gives you something flat enough to build on.
Cheese in the pan, not on the plate
The fourth step puts the cheese on the patty while it is still cooking, gives it a minute, and only then lifts the whole thing into the bun.
That minute is what melts it. Cheese laid on a patty that is already in the bun sits there cold, because a cooked patty loses its heat within seconds of leaving the pan.
Onion two ways
The third step offers a choice and does not push either: raw onion cut into strips, or onion browned with a little honey.
They make different burgers. Raw is sharp and crunchy and cuts through the fat. Browned in honey is sweet and soft and leans the whole thing towards the sauce, which already has honey in it. Worth trying both.
More fast food
- Colombian chicken sandwich — with mortadella.
- Hawaiian sandwich — with caramelised pineapple.
- Homemade pizza — the other Friday night.
- Homemade barbecue sauce — another sauce for it.
- Beef patties — the patty on its own.
Burger FAQ
The Colombian blend of mustard and mayonnaise, sold ready made and used on everything from hot dogs to burgers. If you cannot find it, mix equal parts mayonnaise and mild yellow mustard and you have it.
The same blend with herbs and buttermilk notes, closer to a ranch dressing. A spoonful of ranch stirred into mustard mayonnaise gets you there.
That is 250 grams a patty, which is a large burger. Halve it for something closer to a standard one, and drop the cooking time to about 3 minutes a side.
Because meat shrinks and thickens as it cooks. A patty shaped to the size of the bun comes out noticeably smaller than it. A dent pressed into the middle with your thumb also stops them doming.
The recipe offers both. Raw strips give crunch and bite; browned with a little honey they go sweet and soft. It says either way is delicious and it is right.
On the patty while it is still in the pan, about a minute before it comes out, so it melts over the meat rather than sitting cold on top of it.
Yes, a kilo of it, and it goes into the assembled burger rather than being shaped into patties. That is what the fourth step means when it says this is the point to add it.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 kg ground beef or shredded chicken (250 g per burger, which makes a large one)
- 4 hamburger buns
- 4 leaves curly lettuce
- 1 tomato (sliced)
- 2 onions
- 4 slices mozzarella or cheddar cheese
- Oil
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
For the Sauce
- 100 gr ranch-style mostaneza (the Colombian mustard and mayonnaise blend: see the notes)
- 50 gr mustard mayonnaise
- 50 gr cream
- 10 gr honey
- 8 gr Dijon mustard
- 3 gr parsley (finely chopped)
Notas
Instructions
- Divide the meat or chicken into 4 portions and season with salt and pepper. If you are using ground beef, shape each portion into a ball and flatten it with the palm of your hand.
- Heat a little oil in a pan over medium heat and, when it is hot, lay in the patties. Cook them for 3 to 5 minutes on each side.
- While they cook, start assembling the burgers. Open each bun, lay in the lettuce leaves and the tomato slices. The onion can go in raw, cut into strips, or browned first with a little honey. Either works.
- When the patties are almost done, put a slice of cheese on each so it starts melting, give it a minute, and lift it onto the onion in the bun. If you are using shredded chicken, this is the point to add it. Spoon over the sauce and close the burger. A minute on a grill or in the microwave finishes it.
For the Sauce
- Finely chop the parsley and put it in a bowl with the mostaneza, the mustard mayonnaise, the cream, the Dijon mustard and the honey. Stir until everything is combined.
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