One of the best things about summer is the chance to chill outside at the campsite with friends, your favourite drink and a red-hot BBQ. There’s nothing quite like the smell and sound of campers enjoying one of the greatest pleasures of camping.
Whether you fire up the coals for communal burgers, steamed mussels or take the time to gut, marinade and cook a fish, anything goes with this type of cooking, and the added bonus is the regular cook usually gets the night off as everyone always wants to get involved.
So we decided to think about our own favourite burgers and come up with a list of 5 we felt (in our humble opinion) were the best. We even believe if made in this way they make perfectly respectable and healthy camping food, especially if layered with tomatoes, cucumber, gherkins, avocado, BBQ’d pineapple, grated carrot, onions or campfire roasted peppers. Yummy!
Easy Classic Beef Burgers 500g topside chunky mince, 1 small grated red onion and 1 clove of crushed garlic 1 tbs ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard and seasoning to taste Mix everything together, divide into 10-12 burgers and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. Yep that’s all…they don’t need to go black! Chicken Burgers With Smoked Paprika Chicken split to be thin Half a lemon juice and zest Smoked paprika and seasoning to taste 1 tbs sesame oil and sesame seeds Split some chicken fillets or boned chicken legs and thighs into pieces thin enough to cook easily in 3-4 minutes. Cover in all the ingredients for at least 20 minutes before cooking. Fiery Pork Burgers 500g good pork mince 1 tsp grated ginger, Chinese 5 spice, hot chilli and soy sauce 1 spring onion and coriander finely chopped Mix together and divide into 10-12 burgers and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. It’s as easy as that! Aromatic Tofu Burgers 400g tofu 2 tsp toasted and ground cumin seeds and 2 ground cloves 1 tbs grated ginger and 2 tbs chopped coriander 1 tbs crunchy peanut butter Zest of 1 lime and salt and pepper to taste 1 egg and toasted breadcrumbs to bind Mix all the ingredients and add the egg and breadcrumbs last to bind the mix into burgers that take 3-4 minutes to cook on each side. Burgers with Hot Peanut Sauce Any of the above burgers with this gorgeous sauce, which has to be prepared before the camping trip. However it can last more than a week if kept chilled: 1 medium onion and 2 small chillies finely chopped 2 cloves of garlic and 2 cm piece of ginger grated 2 tablespoons of good olive oil Zest of 1 lime 2 cups of roasted peanuts 1 tbs sweet chilli sauce and 2 tbs soy sauce Half a cup of waterSizzle the onions and chillies in the oil until tender. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for a few minutes. Then whizz up in a blender until its smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and whizz again until it’s the consistency you like (we like ours crunchy).
Now all you have to do is sit in that comfy camping chair, put your feet up and sunglasses on, take your burger in both hands, look at it for a while… then… enjoy!
