Christmas Burger
A seasonal institution at Hawksmoor restaurants, you can now recreate their famous Christmas Burger, featuring fried turkey and all the trimmings, at home.
From the book
Hawksmoor: Restaurants & Recipes
Recipes for the best-loved dishes from the London restaurant scene favourite
Distinctly British food revolving around quality meat and seafood
Indulgent comfort foods
Ingredients
| 4 X 150g | turkey thighs |
| 400g | good-quality sausagemeat |
| vegetable oil, for deep frying | |
| 4 | slices of smoked bacon |
| 4 | brioche burger buns |
| 40ml | mayonnaise and 40ml mustard, mixed together |
| 8 | sprout top leaves, cooked |
| 100g / 4 | slices of Ogleshield |
| For the cranberry ketchup: | |
| ½ | a medium onion, chopped |
| 250g | fresh or frozen cranberries |
| zest and juice of ½ an orange | |
| 75g | light brown muscovado sugar |
| 75ml | Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar |
| ¼ tsp | Chinese five-spice powder |
| ½ tbsp | Maldon sea salt |
| For the turkey seasoning: | |
| 25g | table salt |
| 1 tsp | cayenne pepper |
| 1 tsp | garlic powder |
| 1 tsp | onion powder |
| a pinch of ground white pepper | |
| 1 tsp | paprika |
| For the turkey flour: | |
| 150g | plain flour |
| 20g | rice flour |
| 10g | cornflour |
| 10g | baking powder |
| 20g | turkey seasoning (see above) |
Method
For the cranberry ketchup:
Put all the ingredients for the cranberry ketchup into a pan and bring to a gentle simmer, then cook until reduced by one-third.
Pass through a fine sieve and allow to cool.
For the turkey seasoning and turkey flour:
To make the turkey seasoning, mix all the ingredients together and put to one side.
To make the turkey flour, mix all the ingredients together and put to one side.
For the burgers :
Remove the tendons from the turkey thighs and bat out with a meat hammer (or rolling pin) until around 1cm thickness. Lightly dust with the turkey seasoning and refrigerate until needed.
Form the pork sausagemeat into four 100g patties and place under the grill to cook.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan on the hob.
Dip the turkey thighs into iced water, then coat them well with the turkey flour. Repeat this process again, then deep-fry the thighs at 172°C until the turkey is golden brown. Rather than crowd the pan, you may need to do this in two batches.
Briefly drain on kitchen paper and, if necessary, keep the first batch of cooked thighs warm in the oven while you cook the rest.
Meanwhile, add 4 slices of bacon to the grill alongside the sausage patties and toast the brioche buns. Spread the bottoms of the buns with the mixture of mustard and mayonnaise and dip the cut sides of the tops into the turkey gravy.
Make up the burger by stacking it in this order: bun, sprout tops, turkey thigh, cranberry ketchup, sausage patty, cheese, then bacon.
Serve with a wide-mouthed jug of turkey gravy to French dip as you eat, and a few roast potatoes.
