DJ BBQ's The Burger Book: Recipes from the Sunday roast to bacon and cheese omelette

A burger is absolutely a glorified – and hot – sandwich, so don’t confine it to the traditional beef patty, cheese and lettuce. Christian Stevenson, aka DJ BBQ, shares alternative creations from his latest book

The tastiest bagel burger in the history of bagel burgers (David Loftus)

Bacon and cheese omelette bagel

I used to live in Birmingham – the second biggest city in the UK and the birthplace of heavy metal. It’s the home of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Judas Priest, while Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott was born there. I was a disc jockey/host of the evening show at Kerrang! Radio at 7-10am every Monday to Thursday. My favourite on-the-go breakfast was this tasty concoction of utter greatness. I would knock it up in seven minutes, jump on my skateboard and bomb hills to work while enjoying the tastiest bagel burger in the history of bagel burgers.

Makes 2 burgers

Outdoors: Half and half technique, with frying pan
Indoors: Frying pan on the hob

4 smoked streaky bacon rashers
Knob of butter
3 eggs
Glug of cream or full-fat milk
50g cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, grated
1 spring onion, sliced
2 bagels (best with onion or “everything” bagels)
Ketchup
Sea salt and black pepper

Heat up your frying pan – either over the direct heat on the grill, or a high heat on the hob – and get your bacon cooked. Make it nice and crispy for this recipe.

Remove the bacon onto some paper towel, then roughly chop. Leave the bacon fat in the pan so you can cook the omelette in all that awesomeness. (If you ain’t digging that, you can wipe the pan clean and throw a knob of butter in instead.)

Half-beat the eggs in a mixing bowl, then add the glug of cream or milk and season with salt and pepper. Get your frying pan hot but not too hot (nothing worse than burnt eggs) – either over a cooler part of the grill or over a medium heat on the hob.

Pour the eggs into the pan. Keep the egg moving with a fork until it’s almost cooked. Then add the cheese, crispy bacon and spring onion. Fold, flip and cut into two. Toast your bagels and place your omelette inside. Ketchup is good in the mix too.

(David Loftus)

Fish and chips burger

Makes 4 burgers

Outdoors: Not recommended for frying
Indoors: Oven, plus saucepan on the hob, plus deep-fat fryer or deep saucepan

Back in 2003, I used to host a radio show called the Rock Copter for Total Rock. The station was above a pub in south London. Across the road was the best fish and chip restaurant in London, run by twin brothers. They spent their lives buying rundown fish and chip joints, rebuilding them, turning them around and flipping them for a nice profit so that they could go off travelling. When the money ran out, they would return to London and find another chippy.

These dudes taught me how to make the perfect fish and chips – it’s all about the temperature of the oil. If it’s not hot enough, you’ll just boil the food and it won’t crisp up properly. No one wants soggy chips (apart from my 11-year-old son. Weird kid). Sometimes I wouldn’t finish the meal and would get a doggy bag for the next day – and that’s when this burger was born. Let’s do this!

3 or 4 baking potatoes (you’ll only need 2 for the burgers but make extra to nibble on the side)
Vegetable oil, for deep-fat frying (at least 2 litres)
4 portions of white fish fillet (cod/ haddock/coley/plaice all work well but my fave is haddock – make each portion a bit bigger than your bun)
Malt vinegar
4 soft white buns
Sea salt and black pepper

Batter

200g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
300ml beer

Mushy peas

1 x 300g can marrowfat peas
30g butter

Tartare sauce

100g mayonnaise
1 gherkin, finely chopped
1tbsp capers, finely chopped
½tsp English mustard
1tbsp cider vinegar
1tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

First, let’s get those chips rocking. The best chips come from baked potatoes. It’s pretty much like doing a twice-cooked chip. Make them the day before, as the potatoes need to cool completely before deep-frying. Preheat the oven to 180C.

Bake your potatoes for 45-60 minutes. Pull them out and let them cool. When you’re ready to fry, cut the potatoes into chip-like wedges. Batter batter, hey BATTER! Batter up! Whisk the flour, beer and a pinch of salt and pepper in a large bowl until smooth. Or as smooth as you can – don’t worry if there are a couple of lumps.

Empty your tin of peas into a small saucepan. Add the butter and stir over a low heat on the hob (or indirect heat on the outdoor grill) for 10 minutes until mushy. Season with salt and pepper. Mix all your tartare sauce ingredients together in a bowl and set aside, ready for the build.

Now for the interesting part. Pour the oil into a large deep saucepan (or you can use a deep-fat fryer) – it needs to be about half-filled. Set it over a high heat and get that oil hot. Once the temperature reaches 180C, you are good to fry.

Chuck some flour on a plate or chopping board and press your fish in it until it is lightly coated with flour. Now dip the fish into the batter so that it’s completely covered. Pull it out and let the excess batter drip off, then carefully slip the battered fish into the hot oil. Leave to cook for 6-7 minutes until golden brown.

Remove the fish onto a paper towel with a slotted spoon and repeat. While your fish is resting, season with malt vinegar, salt and pepper. When your fish is done, it’s time to batch-fry your chips. Make sure the temperature is still at 180C, then carefully lower a handful of chips into the oil. Cook for 1-2 minutes until golden brown and crispy. Remove and drain alongside the fish. Season with salt.

When everything is cooked, it’s time to build this next-level burger. Slather the mushy peas on the bottom bun, top with a handful of chips, then “plaice” the fish on top. (Get it?! Plaice! Like the fish. It’s the “sole” reason to include this recipe. Oh, for “cod’s” sake. Sorry.)

Spoon the tartare sauce onto the fish, then finish with the other half of the bun. Wow! Yeah, you just did that! You made an almighty fish and chips burger. Well done, you wonderful member of Earth. Now get eating. And save some for us!

(David Loftus)

Sunday roast chicken burger

Everyone loves a Sunday roast, especially when it comes with all the fixings. How about a Sunday roast that you can hold in the palm of your hand? With all the fixings? Well, I made it, and it was way beyond my expectations. And then I smothered it in gravy, taking it to the upper atmosphere of deliciousness and messiness.

The easiest way to make this burger is to use the leftovers from your Sunday roast. But, if you don’t have that luxury, then here’s the complete method for making the ultimate Sunday lunch burger.

Makes 6 burgers

Outdoors: Kettle-style grill with lid, half and half technique
Indoors: Oven and hob

You’ll need two roasting tins and a muffin tray with at least six holes

6 brioche buns
½ green cabbage, sliced

Roast chicken

1 medium chicken
Olive oil
Sprig of fresh rosemary, chopped
1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 carrot, chopped
1 whole garlic bulb, halved
Sea salt and black pepper

Roast veg

3 large potatoes, quartered
100g beef dripping
3 carrots, quartered
3 parsnips, quartered

Yorkshire pudding

100g plain flour
100ml beaten eggs (about 2-3 eggs)
100ml milk
100g beef dripping

Gravy

500ml chicken stock
2tbsp plain flour

Bread sauce

500ml full-fat milk
10 cloves
2 bay leaves
1tsp black peppercorns
1tbsp butter

Get your outdoor grill rocking or preheat your oven to 180C.

Oil the chicken, and sprinkle over the rosemary, salt and pepper. Place the chicken in a roasting tin, along with the onion, carrot and garlic, and stick it in the oven. If you’re cooking outdoors, put the tin straight onto the grill over the indirect heat and close the cooker lid. Leave it to cook for about an hour, until cooked through to a core temperature of 72C.

While the chicken is cooking, you need to prepare your roast potatoes. Boil the spuds for about 15 minutes until nearly cooked through. Drain into a colander and leave to cool and dry. Whisk together the flour, eggs and milk for the Yorkshire pudding, season and set aside.

When the chicken is ready, leave it to rest on a plate in a warm place for at least 30 minutes (keeping the veg in the tin). This is the most important part of cooking a chicken (apart from the heat part). Turn the oven up to 220C or whack some more fuel into your grill and get it hot.

Put the beef dripping (for the roast veg) in another roasting tin and heat in the oven or on the outdoor grill until smoking hot. Add the par-cooked spuds to the hot dripping in their tin, along with the carrots and parsnips. Roast in the oven or on the grill with the cooker lid closed for about 30-40 minutes until crispy, turning every so often.

Damn these things are good… drain on paper towels when done. While the potatoes and veg are roasting, divide the beef dripping for the Yorkshire pudding into six holes of a muffin tray, and heat that in the oven until smoking hot as well. Then pour the batter mix into the dripping and slam back in the oven.

Let your puddings of savoury beauty puff up but be careful not to take them out of the oven too early as you want them nice and golden (about 20-25 minutes).

Meanwhile, make the gravy. Take your veg left over from cooking the chicken and place over a medium heat – either on the hob or over direct heat. Whisk the flour into the fat making sure you don’t have any lumps, then pour in the chicken stock. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until thick brown. Strain through a sieve into a jug (discarding the veg) and keep warm.

While the gravy is simmering, get started on your bread sauce. Roughly chop up the bread bun bottoms – “What am I gonna serve all this food on, you crazy lunatic?” – well, you will find out next episode (in about two paragraphs’ time). Add these to a small pan with the rest of the bread sauce ingredients. Simmer over a gentle heat (hob or indirect heat on the grill) for about 5 minutes, stirring all the time, until thick and creamy. Season with a little salt.

Finally, boil the cabbage in salted water (hob or direct heat on the grill) for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside. Season with salt and pepper. Now, you are almost there to turn this titan of Sunday afternoons into the most handy hand snack ever. Carve your chicken into six juicy pieces (two breasts, two drumsticks, two thighs).

Cut each breast into two and remove the bones from the drumsticks and thighs (the thighs make probably the best two burgers – save them for you and your best buddy). Lay out your Yorkshire puddings and fill each one with a chunk of roasted potato, carrot and parsnip. Make sure you munch on the extras as you go. Follow with a large pinch of cabbage and some roast chicken. If you don’t think it can take any more… it will. Don’t give up!

Spoon bread sauce all over the chicken, add the bun tops and you’re almost done… Just before you hit your buddies with this most Sunday of burgers, pour a gallon of gravy all over. If you don’t want it too messy, pour it on under the lid so you get a little pool in your Yorkshire base. Radelicious!

Extracted from ‘The Burger Book’ by DJ BBQ (Quadrille, £12.99) Photography © David Loftus