The history of the hamburger is shrouded in mystery. Many point to Hamburg in Germany where it is believed it was invented by a man called Otto Kuase. After all, Hamburgers contain beef, not ham, so it makes sense that it was named after a city.

However, there are conflicting reports of the Hamburger being invented in 1900 by a Danish immigrant, Louis Lassen, as well as the Chicago Daily Tribune reporting in 1896 of a ‘hamburger sandwich’.

We’ll never truly know who was responsible for the Hamburger, but whoever they were, I certainly salute them!

It’s difficult to think of how a Hamburger can be made better, but I think I’ve done it with this avocado stuffed burger. Try it – you’ll be a convert!

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 20 mins (plus 10 minutes resting time)

Total time: 50 mins

Servings: 8

Ingredients:

• 4 ripe avocados
• 2 lemons
• 4 pounds of ground beef
• 2 tablespoons of black pepper
• 4 teaspoons of salt
• 2 cups of sun dried tomatoes
• Bacon fat (optional)
• Round rolls / buns
• Condiments of your choice

Directions:

• Preheat your grill (or outdoor grill) to a medium heat.

• Peel the avocado and scoop out the flesh. Use the Chef Remi Avocado Slicer with Knife (link to avocado slicer). It allows you to split, slice and scoop your avocado safely and effectively.

• Grate the lemon rinds using the zesting grate of a box grater. Juice one of the lemons and set the juice aside.

We recommend using the Chef Remi Box Grater as it’s is the ultimate, multi-tasking food prep device. 4 different plates give you the versatility to grate, chop, slice and grind all types of food.

The razor-sharp stainless steel teeth will cut through food like a knife through butter, whilst also resisting rust, corrosion and dulling for a lifetime of use.

• Place the ground beef into a large bowl and add the lemon zest, 2 teaspoons of salt and the pepper. Mix together gently with your hands (do not overwork the meat).

• Use a burger press to create thin patties. You want them to be thin as you will be use 2 of them to make one patty.

We recommend using the Chef Remi Non-stick Burger Press as it allows you to make perfectly even burgers, every time.

Homemade burgers can be difficult to make by hand. If the burger mixture is not compressed properly, the patties can fall apart on the grill. But overworking the burger mixture, to ensure the patties stay together, can cause you to drive out meat juices, leaving you with dry, tasteless burgers.

Our burger press will compress burger mixture just enough so it will hold its shape when grilling, whilst not losing a drop of its juiciness. Plus the nonstick coating means patties will drop out without fuss!

• Drain the sun-dried tomatoes of all oil and then finely chop using a paring knife.

We recommend using the Chef Remi Paring Knife as the small and nimble 4” blade, made from razor sharp stainless steel, will easily cut through slippery sun-dried tomatoes.

• In a separate bowl, mash together the avocados, lemon juice, sun dried tomatoes and the remaining 2 teaspoons of salt until smooth.

• Spoon the avocado mixture onto half of the burgers. Leave space at the edges of each patty so you have room to seal the burgers without the avocado leaking out.

• Place the other half of the burgers over the top of your avocado-topped burgers, and use your fingers to pinch the edges of your burgers together to seal all the way around.

• Place the burgers onto the grill for 6 to 8 minutes on each side for medium to rare patties, turning just once. Adjust cooking times if your preference is rare, medium or well done. Do not press down with a spatula!

We recommend you cover your grill grates with a Chef Remi’s Barbeque Grill Mat as it will stop the patties sticking to the grates, without needing to add oil, yet it’s thin enough for you to still get those perfect grill marks.

• After cooking, allow your burgers to rest for 10 minutes. To serve, split each roll and place a patty inside. If you have any leftover avocado mixture, use it to top your burgers as a relish. Add any condiments you want.

Long live the Hamburger!