Botham Burger

Ingredients

• 2 pounds minced beef, preferably organic
• 2 medium red onions, finely chopped
• 2 eggs
• 1 to 2 handfuls fresh bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, crushed
• 1 small pinch cumin seeds, crushed
• 1 heaped teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Mix and scrunch all the ingredients together. Use the bread crumbs as required to bind and lighten the mixture. Divide into 4, then gently and lightly mold and pack each burger together into smallish cricket-ball-sized shapes. Place in the oven and roast for 25 minutes, which should leave the middle slightly pink and the outside nice and crispy. Serve with a griddled bun, a little salad, some gherkins, tomato salsa, a pint of Guinness and a bottle of Ketchup. Howzat!

The good thing about burgers is you can make them thin and big, fat and big, or even turn them into meatballs. In the early days of Cricketers, the pub where I grew up, I remember my dad used to serve a whopping great burger the size of a cricket-ball topped with a huge amount of Cheddar cheese and homemade tomato relish. He very classily called it the Botham burger.

That's what I love about Essex boys' sheer taste. Feel free to add extra spices if that's what takes your fancy, but here's a really solid basic beefburger recipe. I never thought when I became a chef that I would come back round to respecting the famous beefburger. Unfortunately it hasn't been on the pub's menu for about 10 years, what a shame. This might change Dad's mind.