Grilled Hamburger with Cheddar Cheese on Toasted English Muffin with Parsley-Shallot Butter

Run your hands under very cold water for a minute, then gently combine the two meats.

Put parchment or film on the electronic scale before weighing, please. Divide the meat into equal portions (170 grams each) and then gently form portions into patties that are 1¼" thick and 3" in diameter.

Season each burger all over—top, bottom, and the circumference—with ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Hold your hands high and “rain” the salt and pepper.

Touch the patties as tenderly and as little as possible. The more you manhandle and compact the meat, the tougher it becomes.

On the medium-high heat section of the grill, place the burgers 2 inches apart from each other. Cook to accurate temperature. For medium rare, cook for 7 minutes on one side, flip, and cook for 5 more minutes. Do not turn, touch, press down on, or otherwise molest the burgers while they are cooking. Put burger on a sizzle plate, place cheese on top, and drop under the broiler until the cheese is just melted but not liquefied.

Split the English muffins by deeply pricking them along the horizontal seam with the tines of a dinner fork.

Toast well and generously schmear both the tops and the bottoms with the room temperature parsley-shallot butter, “wall to wall” as we always say at Prune, so that every bite will be seasoned and not just the center ones.

Place the burgers on the bottoms and close with the buttered English muffin lids.

* Ground chuck in original American recipe, use if readily available
** Kosher salt in original recipe, available in the U.S.

Parsley-Shallot Butter

2 garlic cloves, peeled
3/4 cup peeled and coarsely chopped shallots
2 cups picked-clean parsley leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 pound unsalted butter cut into 1-inch cubes, at coolish room temperature. 

In food processor chop garlic. Add shallots and chop finely. Add parsley and salt, process to coarsely chopped, then add butter. Process to smooth and emerald green.

This is an edited extract from Prune by Gabrielle Hamilton published by Hardie Grant RRP $NZ 96.99 available in stores nationwide.