World on a Plate: Kiwiana (+recipe)

Home-cooked hamburgers. Photo / The Aucklander

Cooking gourmet treats in the microwave at a campground poses a few challenges - unless you're Alison Holst. "Microwave hamburgers are marvellous. You can freeze individual patties. Take one from the freezer, and in three minutes, you can be eating it." Today Alison will be demonstrating microwave cooking as part of the Kai to Pie exhibition at Auckland Museum.

Microwaved hamburgers

My basic recipe makes 8 patties, each of which weighs 90g-100g.

2 slices stale bread, crumbled
1 Tbs instant beef stock powder, or 1 tsp salt
pepper and herbs to taste, optional
500g minced raw beef
1/4 - 1/2 cup milk

1. Crumble the bread in a food processor, then mix the crumbs with the remaining ingredients, adding enough milk to make a fairly soft mixture.

2. With wet hands, make 8 evenly sized patties.(Make them thinner than normal, since they shrink and become thicker as they cook.) Brush the tops of each with soy or Worcestershire sauce if you can.

3. Cover with greaseproof paper and cook on high for 1 minute (2-2 1/2 minutes from frozen). Stand for 30 seconds, while you prepare the bun.

4. If you want to cook several patties at the same time, make sure they are equidistant from the centre of a larger plate. Two hamburgers will cook together for about 3 minutes, three burgers in about 4 minutes.

* For more on Auckland Museum's World on a Plate series, click here.