Gordon Ramsay’s burger recipe blends 400g of minced chuck with 200g of short rib and 200g of brisket, plus 80g of minced beef fat worked in by hand. The patties rest for 10 minutes, pan-fry for 5 minutes a side and finish with two slices of Monterey Jack each, ready in about 35 minutes.
This is the BSK burger from his Bread Street Kitchen book, the one his restaurant built its weekend crowds on. He writes that “it’s the combination of different cuts of beef and the minced fat running through the mixture that makes our burgers famously good.” The book also holds his real secret, an optional Char Siu butter with honey, hoisin and black bean paste that melts over each patty. Skip it and you’re making a different burger.
The technique that decides everything happens in the bowl. The fat goes in a little at a time, and he warns against overmixing, because overworked mince turns bouncy instead of tender. Then the shaped patties sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before cooking, the same rule he repeats in interviews, so the centre isn’t fridge-cold when the crust is already done.
Gordon Ramsay Burger Recipe (The BSK Beef Burger)
Course: DinnerCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Medium4
15
minutes10
minutes1030
kcal35
minutesThe famous BSK burger from Bread Street Kitchen: three cuts of beef and minced fat folded together by hand, rested, pan-fried, then topped with his optional honey-hoisin Char Siu butter and a double layer of Monterey Jack melted under the grill. Serves 4 generously.
Ingredients
- For the burgers:
200g minced short rib
400g minced chuck
200g minced brisket
80g minced beef fat
Vegetable oil, for frying
8 slices of Monterey Jack cheese (or Cheddar or Gouda)
4 burger buns, such as brioche
1 Little Gem lettuce, separated into leaves
3 plum tomatoes, sliced
2 gherkins, thinly sliced lengthways
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the Char Siu butter (optional):
75g butter, softened
1 tsp runny honey
2 tsp hoisin sauce
2 tsp black bean paste or sauce
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
Directions
- Mix the cuts by hand: Put the minced short rib, chuck and brisket into a large bowl and mix with your hands, adding the fat a little at a time. Stop the moment it’s combined, since overmixing is what makes burgers bouncy.
- Shape and rest: Divide into four portions, roll into balls and press gently into patties, then leave them at room temperature for about 10 minutes before cooking.
- Season and fry: Season both sides with plenty of salt and pepper. Heat a dash of vegetable oil in a large frying pan until hot, then fry for 5 minutes each side for medium, or 8 to 10 for well done. A preheated barbecue works the same way with the patties brushed in oil.
- Make the Char Siu butter: While the burgers cook, preheat your overhead grill to high. Mix the softened butter with the honey, hoisin, black bean paste and garlic, and spoon a tablespoon over each cooked patty. Optional, but this is the juiciest version of this burger.
- Double cheese under the grill: Lay two slices of cheese on each patty, over the butter if using, and flash under the hot grill until melted and drooping.
- Toast and build: Lightly toast the halved buns, then layer lettuce, tomato and gherkin under each cheese-topped patty and crown with the lids. Serve immediately.
FAQs
Does Gordon Ramsay put Worcestershire, Dijon or ketchup in his burgers?
No. The recipe behind that idea is a community-site invention called “Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Burger,” stuffed with ketchup, sun-dried tomato, Worcestershire and honey mustard. It’s attributed to him with no book, show or video as a source, and it has circulated for years. His actual BSK mix is beef, fat, salt and pepper, nothing else.
The honest fine print: his quick Ramsay in 10 burger binds the mince with egg yolks and grates a frozen chilli through it, and the blue cheese burger in World Kitchen mixes Worcestershire through the meat to stand up to the cheese. Those are real, sourced exceptions. The Dijon-and-ketchup patty isn’t one of them.
What is Char Siu butter and is it worth making?
It’s the easiest line in the book to skip past: softened butter beaten with honey, hoisin, black bean paste and garlic, with a tablespoon melted over each patty before the cheese goes on. Char siu is the sticky glaze on Chinese barbecued pork, and the butter brings that same sweet-savoury lacquer to beef, basting the patty as it melts.
He calls it optional but “seriously tasty,” and it’s the difference between making this burger and making it the way Bread Street Kitchen actually serves it. The same sweet-meets-pork logic runs through his pork burger, where grated apple does the job the honey does here.
Why is his restaurant burger different from this one?
His restaurant site publishes the American Style Dirty Burger with a different build: a 40% chuck, 40% rib, 20% fat blend, shaped into thin 100g patties and stacked two per bun, grilled 2 minutes a side. The book burger is one thick 220g patty from three named cuts. Same chef, two official burgers.
The principle never changes though: chuck for the beefy base, a richer cut for depth, and visible fat worked through, because that running fat is what he credits the burgers’ fame to. Thick book-style suits a pan at home, the thin double suits a blazing flat-top.
Can you make it with regular minced beef?
Yes, and that permission comes from him, not me: “if you can’t get hold of the different cuts, regular minced beef will still work a treat.” Pick standard 20% fat mince rather than lean, since you’re replacing both the brisket richness and the 80g of added fat in one go.
His bigger ask is the butcher: get the cuts minced fresh for you, or as he puts it, invest in a mincer for a lifetime of great burgers. The blend technique transfers to other meats too, and his turkey burger applies the same fat-management thinking to a leaner bird.
How does he melt the cheese?
In this recipe, under a hot overhead grill: two slices per patty, melted until drooping over the edges, which is why the burger gets its cheese AFTER leaving the pan. Two thin slices melt faster and more evenly than one thick one, with a layer of his Char Siu butter underneath if you’ve made it.
On a barbecue or in a pan without a grill, his video method works instead: cheese on, lid on, heat off, and the trapped steam melts it without overcooking the patty underneath.
What should you serve with it?
The book’s own answer is his Kohlslaw, the crunchy slaw he points to as the refreshing side for this exact burger. That’s the version behind my crisp yoghurt-dressed coleslaw, and against a 220g patty with double cheese, something sharp and fresh earns its place more than chips do.
If you’re weighing this burger against his others before committing the butcher trip, the whole lineup sits in the burger recipes roundup, every one of his burgers we’ve tested in one place.
