Beer Can Burgers

These can be cooked on the barbecue or in the oven: the barbecue is best as it gets a nice char on the bottom.

Ingredients:

• 500g minced beef, about 15% fat is best
• 8 rashers of streaky bacon
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 4 or 5 medium sized mushrooms, cut in half and sliced
• 1 beef stock cube
• 1 red pepper, cut into small strips
• 100g of finely grated Emmental (or other Swiss-style cheese)

Method:

1. Season the mince with salt and pepper (the salt will help to keep the shape of the cup) and divide into quarters
2. Kneed each ball of mince a little to help it bind together (you're looking to get rid of the distinct edges of the mincing process
3. Take each quarter of the meat and shape around the bottom of a chilled, but unopened, beer can
4. You want to end up with somewhere between a cm and two cm of meat up the side of the can, so that it pokes out a bit from either side once the bacon strip is wrapped around it
5. Wrap two strips of streaky bacon around the sides of the beef while it is still on the can
6. Carefully slide the beef and bacon off the can and place carefully on a plate
7. Repeat for the remaining three portions of mince
8. Place the cups in the fridge and chill for at least an hour
9. When you're ready to cook the burgers, heat your barbecue to a low setting or put the oven on to 150 degrees
10. Fry the onion in the sunflower oil in a frying pan over a medium heat for a couple of minutes
11. Add the mushrooms, crumble in the beef stock cube and fry for a couple more minutes
12. Add the pepper and stir well, frying for a further couple of minutes
13. Take the beef cups out of the fridge and distribute the vegetable mix between them
14. Top each beef cup with the finely grated cheese
15. Carefully place on the barbecue grill and close the lid (or on a baking tray in the oven)
16. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the beef and bacon look cooked
17. Serve on burger buns with a dollop of tomato chutney

Serves 2