Burger King Whopper Jan Braai’s Version

Total Time: 45 minutes

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 4 - 8 People

Suitable For: Hungry tummies that craves the best burgers in town. Perfect for friends and family get-togethers.

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Bring the burger king whopper home. What a better way to feed your face before or after watching a rugby game. This Jan Braai version is the most flavourful burger you have ever tastes. One of those recipes that you will write down for your recipe book. Enjoy!

Ingredients

500g beef (mince) from the front quarter with a little bit of fat, for example chuck

500g beef (mince) from the hind quarter with less fat, for example topside, rump or sirloin

4 burger rolls

Hellmans mayonnaise

Heinz ‘ketchup’ tomato sauce

2 tomatoes, sliced

Fresh lettuce

Cheese slices or grated cheese

gherkins, sliced

onion, sliced

Instructions

First prize is to have your own mincer at home for this will work best. Alternatively, you can also use a meat cleaver and just chop the meat until it resembles mincemeat. Option three is to ask your butcher for 1kg of fresh mince that is a blend of front quarter and hind quarter meat. At home cut the meat in blocks, mix the 2 types of meat and then put that through the mincer.
Use a patty press or your hands to form eight patties with the 1kg of meat. For this recipe I use 1kg of mince to make eight patties. Do not overwork and press the patties too much, we need texture as it adds flavour due to the air pockets in between the meat catching and preserving juices as the meat will cook on the fire.
Braai the meat over hot coals. Interestingly and importantly, for this recipe you do not need to add any salt. A Burger King Whopper does not have any additional salt added to the meat before or during the cooking process, hence I don’t add it here either. Just before you take the meat off the fire, add the cheese on top of the warm patty so it can melt a little bit. Also toast your buns on both sides so that they are golden brown.
Build your burger the Burger King way: Start with the bottom toasted buns. Then the patty with the cheese. Repeat with another patty and cheese (a Whopper only has one patty, but this is my interpretation, so I use two. At the real Burger King I always take my Whopper with cheese so that’s why I do it like this here as well). Next place two slices of tomato on top of the patty. Now add the sliced gherkins, onion, and drizzle tomato sauce on top of that. This is the exact order of proceedings in a Burger King kitchen and following this order will get you the closest to the authentic Burger King taste. Next you spread mayonnaise on the inside toasted side of the top bun, place lettuce on top of the mayo and close the burger. Art!