A burger with fig in the onions

Name: A burger with fig in the onions
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 10 oz ground beef; 2 burger buns, split; 1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced; 4 carrots, halved crosswise and quartered lengthwise; 1 oz goat cheese, crumbled; 1 tbsp fig jam; 1 tbsp sherry vinegar; 1 tbsp mayonnaise (whisked with a small squeeze of Dijon); 1 tsp smoked paprika; olive oil, salt, pepper

The buns finish face down in the pan the beef just left. That is where the whole argument is settled.

At a Glance

Time

40 min

Adjust servings

Story

Do not work the beef. Ground meat is a loose tangle of strands with air between them, and every extra squeeze presses that air out and links the protein into something springy. Handle it barely enough to hold, press it slightly wider than the bun because it will pull inward as it cooks, and put a shallow dent in the middle with your thumb. That dent is what stops the center swelling into a dome while the edges stay flat.

Ingredients

10 oz ground beef
2 burger bunssplit
1 red onionhalved and thinly sliced
4 carrotshalved crosswise and quartered lengthwise
1 oz goat cheesecrumbled
1 tbsp fig jam
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 tbsp mayonnaisewhisked with a small squeeze of Dijon
1 tsp smoked paprika
olive oilsalt, pepper

Method

A burger with an actual idea in it. The idea is fig jam cooked into the onions until they turn dark and jammy, which does what caramelising alone never quite manages in under half an hour.

Oven to 450F. Carrots on a lined tray with oil, salt, pepper and the paprika. 16 to 20 minutes, until the edges catch.
Whisk the fig jam, sherry vinegar and 1 tbsp water in a small bowl.
Onion into a pan with oil over medium-high, salt and pepper, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until they are properly browned, not just gone soft. The fig mixture in, 30 seconds to a minute, stirring, until it turns glossy and coats every strand. Out into a bowl.
Season the beef, handle it as little as possible, and shape 2 patties about ½ inch thick with a thumbprint in each middle. Same pan, 4 to 5 minutes a side.
Patties out to rest. Buns straight into the pan cut side down, into everything the beef left behind, 30 seconds to a minute. This is not toasting. It is the buns taking the pan's side.
Build them: the mustardy mayonnaise on the base, patty, goat cheese crumbled over while it is hot enough to soften, then the fig onions in a heap. Carrots alongside.