Maple Bacon Burger

The beginning of August marks 6 months of being back in England after living in South Africa for 4 years, and although I love my home country, after being away for so long there have been some things that I have come to question…

One of them being: Why do we deprive ourselves of BBQ’s so much?

As a country who absolutely loves to have them, it feels like we only save them for the two hottest days in the year?? (which i might add is one of the worst times to be standing in front of a fire).

I understand that for majority of the year, the weather permits it, but I do think we should take a leaf out of the South African book and at least be doing it more frequently during the warmer months. Food is so much tastier over fire!

After some careful analysis I think I know where we go wrong: we make it too much of an event…

1. We always invite way too many people (why have i never been to a BBQ here with less than 10 people?)

2. And we insist on cooking every type barbecue food possible every single time: sausages, burgers, chicken, ribs, steak, corn. Absolutely anything that can be thrown on a fire at once, we will do it! Meaning the poor person who volunteered to do the cooking is standing there for 3 hours in 32°C weather, sunburnt, dehydrated and more than likely, fed up.

Of course we don’t want to do it every week, its a ball ache!

My suggested solution: We invite less people and choose one of two showstoppers to put on the fire per bbq.

I have a few recommendations, some of which you can find here: The Final Braai Menu but if you want a burger option these Maple Bacon Burgers are a crowd favourite - they’re salty, sweet and mean you don’t have to be standing there for hours.

You can cook this recipe on anything: gas, induction or fire. It’s not a recipe that only requires to be made over a fire, however, it is a lot more fun and tasty doing so.

The full recipe below has been written for cooking in a classic kitchen, the reason being that it’s generally going to be how most people will want to make the recipe.

Cooking the burger over the fire is also a lot easier when you have some cast iron pots and pans like the Le Creuset BBQ range I used. It makes cooking them the same process as it would be on gas but you get the additional smokey flavour into everything - which does take the taste levels up a notch or two.

Some fire tips I have learnt from a very trustworthy advisor - my father-in-law, the South African Braai master! A man who has more years experience cooking over fire than I have living.

1. Always set up your coals on one side of the barbecue drum, not in the centre. This way you will always have a hot side and a cold side, giving you so much control over heat - which is arguably the most difficult thing about cooking over flames.

2. Make sure you have enough charcoal. Having too many coals at the end is a whole lot better than running out of heat mid way through. I can say from personal experience, running out of heat during the cook is a very stressful event. You have to rush to get more coals on, which takes longer to properly heat up than you expect leaving you with hungry guests.

3. Buy charcoal not briquettes. Coals are real chunks of wood that have been burnt which burn hotter, for longer and create less ash. Briquettes are compressed wood, they take longer to heat up and then burn out quicker. Having charcoal is a slightly pricier choice but is worth every penny.

4. Lastly, stop cooking over the flame itself. When the fat drips off your food it will likely create a flame which will burn your food, coat it in carbon and overall ruin it. This is why its handy to have a cooler side of the barbecue, so you can move the food over to this side until the flame dies down. Use the flame to your advantage towards the end of the cook for a final quick sear if you need it.