13th April 2026

There is a burger in Jan Braai’s cookbook that has been on the list for a while - a triple mushroom burger and we were due to have this Saturday but as Matt wanted it too, we pushed to today.

We started by following the recipe, we made effectively a mushroom duxelles and when it was cool we mixed it through beef and formed patties.  We left the patties for half an hour to firm.  I couldn’t get to the bakers for fresh rolls so used ‘burger buns’ which I wouldn’t usually. The problem with using brioche style buns is that when your burger is juicy, it turns to mush which is not only unpleasant to eat but also means you just cannot stay clean.  This burger definitely needs a firm bun.

I made the sauce according to JB but I have to say the bovril made it STRONG and salty, for me, this would have been better as a porcini sauce. In fact when I redo I will most definitely make it a porcini sauce.

The bottom is a portobello mushroom which is cooked with garlic butter which you top with the burger patty and then the sauce and then raw mushrooms. I did ponder making the raw mushrooms pickled and I think that would have worked extremely well so this is most definitely what I would do in future. 

This really does have potential, the burger patty was really nice, the garlic mushroom lovely and the other bits if changed slightly will be better.  All in all it was lovely.