American Hamburgers – South African Style!
As we wind down #NationalBurgerMonth today, what better way than with an “American Burger” that has a delicious South African twist!
My good blogging friend Robbie Cheadle shared a recipe for an “American Burger”, shown above – and it intrigued me because it has an incredible array of flavors that are never on an “all American” burger!
But you see, she didn’t call it an “All American” burger, which is this:
Here’s the “All American” burger: toasted bun, ketchup mustard and/or mayo on the bottom before eyou add lettuce , pickle and tomato – then the burgers which are topped with cheese and onion – this is the “In-N-Out” Double Double by the way. More on that later.
Robbie used “American” to describe the type of food it was – a well known “American” food item – because American hamburgers are so universal now. But then she sent me this description of her recipe:
“It is uniquely South African and so it is a local adaption of a food concept that originates from America. We do call it an American hamburger but it is not at all American. I ever really thought about it when I posted the recipe or that an American hamburger is a specific food item with its own unique attributes. Here, a meat patty is an American hamburger.”
As you see, it was a South African adaptation of the “American Burger” and it is indeed – with some truly unique flavors that make it an incredible burger all its own – oh yes, that is a jar of jam and a box of oatmeal you need down below!
Here is the recipe – check out all the unique flavors involved!
2 kg good quality minced meat
1 onion finely chopped
2 eggs
250 ml oats
50 ml tomato sauce
100 ml Worcestershire sauce
50 ml chutney
15 ml apricot jam
25 ml red wine
15 ml salt
5 ml mixed herbs – I used Basil, Thyme and Oregano.
3 ml cloves – I didn’t have these
5 ml ground black peppers
2 ml coriander – so unique and really pulls out the meat flavor!
Here is how it all began:
Put the mince into a mixing box and break into small pieces. Add the chopped onion and eggs and mix well. Add the tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, chutney, apricot jam, red wine, salt, mixed herbs, cloves, black pepper, and coriander. Mix well with your hands. Roll the mixture into golf ball sized balls and then roll in the oats until completely covered. Flatten to about 1 cm thick all over.
Robbie, I gave your recipe one American contribution: the cheese! If you haven’t had it, “American cheese” is a processed cheese, typically made from a blend of cheeses like cheddar and Colby, mixed with milk, dairy fats, and emulsifying agents, resulting in a smooth, uniform product that melts exceptionally well, making it a classic for burgers.
And it actually saved the day for my cooking mistake!
Time to cook!
It was time to take the burger mix and introduce it to rolled oats!
After mixing all of the ingredients together and covering in the oats, you take the patty and cook in vegetable or olive oil in a hot frying pan for approximately 5 minutes on each side. The middle should be slightly pink. I you watched the video you see that mine was a bit soft and broke apart a little – but I covered that up with the American cheese!
While the hamburgers were frying, I put my frozen pickle fries in the oven – a perfect accompaniment!
For the bottom bun, make a sauce using 100 ml tomato sauce, 100 ml chutney, and 100 ml mayonnaise. Mix well.
Cut your bread rolls in half. Butter the bottom half and cover the top half in sauce. Add a slice of fresh tomato and a piece of lettuce to the bottom. When the hamburgers are cooked, place on the bottom half and close. You can add any other items like cooked mushrooms, fried onion rings, and cheese.
Here’s how easy it was:
See the crispy oats on the meat patty? I also love the melty cheese as well!
Those oats were a unique and delicious addition:
Add the pickle fries and here’s what I had:
Robbie’s “American Burger!”
This was so much fun to make – yes, it’s an American burger to look at it like this, but cut it open and you can really see Robbie’s South African flavors!
You can see the sauce and tomatoes underneath…oh let me remind you just how delicious pickle fries are as well!
Of course I had to put a large dollop of mayonnaise – this was a delicious treat!
Even without a few of Robbie’s ingredients, the unique blend of flavors was there: the jam, the coriander and the red wine were all great pops of flavor that are so much more dynamic than how American’s flavor their burgers….thank you Robbie for a great recipe!
Robbie originally shared this recipe here, along with a look at a new book from a fellow Author – check out her blog:
That was a great way to wrap up National Burger Month – oh, and remember that “Double double” I showed you earlier?
Click here for the story of this iconic US burger!
And I had another international take on the burger as well – in Botswana!
Last year I went on safari for the first time, and was served this “Botswana Burger!”
See what was on my “Safari Slider” – and why I ate it in the shadow of a Hippo!
I also had the chance to check out a truly unique burger here in the US:
Click here to see my review of McD’s biggest burger ever!
And I travelled all across America to sample burgers like this one:
So what exactly IS a “Butter Burger” and how did it taste? Was it worth going to Ohio for?
See my review here!
Hope you enjoyed the end of #NationalBurgerMonth!
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Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Burgers, Cheeseburgers, Chef memoirs, Eat This!, Fast Food, Food, Food Travel, Food Writing, Recipes, Sliders, Travel, Wacky Food, World's Wildest Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
Hi John, I’m delighted you made this burger and I hope you enjoyed it. I’ve never heard of pickle fries before. Are they made from potatoes? Thank you also for linking to the original post and giving Tim’s book a boost.
Robbie, they are regular French fries that have been seasoned with pickle flavor! I loved the burger and will make it again for sure – thank you for sharing!
Thanks for confirming 😁🩵
Jam in a burger sounds strange, but I often put red onion relish in a burger, so it’s not that much of a stretch. Shared on Twitter, John.
Best wishes, Pete.
What a fun post. This burger sounds amazing!!
Thank you for a fun month of learning _ I may not eat burgers as a rule but still love to know 🙂 ! Interesting about the South African burger – the use of chutney, jam, red wine and oats are all new . . . but, as you know, Australia does not consider a burger a burger unless it has beetroot, a fried egg and oft pineapple in it!
I’m still in search of the perfect veggie burger. I wonder if black beans could be substituted for the meat in Robbie’s recipe.