My hamburger

Cookery has always been one of the greatest exercises in style and creativity, especially for those who are not content to eat run-of-the-mill dishes, who enjoy challenging their palates, and those of others, to little-known ingredients and traditional methods handed down from mother to son, with the satisfaction of someone who really knows what they’re doing. But sometimes you just want to make one of those simple dishes, rich in taste and perhaps a little unhealthy, that is for just this reason is utterly delicious, tempting, and satisfying to the senses - what better than a good burger? The idea here, however, is to make one of these burgers "my way", forgetting every rule, abandoning ourselves solely to the pleasure of taste, ditching every other aspect of preparation, in particular aesthetics. And then, what can you say? Once made, burgers should be eaten with your hands because that’s the only way you can really taste them!

In a bowl, mix the minced meat with a few drops of Worcester sauce, a pinch of salt, a little oil and a quarter of a coarsely chopped onion. In this way you get much tastier hamburger meat than one with only plain mince, which can be dry and stringy. With a burger mould, if necessary, make two big ones. If you don’t have a mould, use your hands and you’ll see that it comes out the same! Cut the onion and pepper into julienne strips, heat a frying pan with a little oil (use a little kitchen paper so as not to leave too much oil and therefore avoid too much smoke), then "grill them" adding a bit more salt for flavour. Cook the burgers over high heat in the same pan where you fry the vegetables. When they seem nicely browned, transfer the hamburgers to a chopping board and cut them in half horizontally. You do this so as to give the final bit of cooking to the centre of the hamburger and also to better distribute them in a bread roll. While the meat is cooking, put a large frying pan on a high heat on which you lightly toast (but not dry out) the bread rolls cut in half. When the burgers are ready it's time to move quickly! You have to keep everything as hot as possible. Put everything you have in the rolls: the meat at the bottom, then a slice of Swiss cheese (I have sliced it myself at home with a potato peeler) so that it melts with the heat, the peppers and onion, gherkins, mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard. Cover with the other half of the roll and eat!