Barbecue chicken burgers

I didn't barbecue these burgers, so perhaps they shouldn't be really be called 'barbecue' anything. No, it was a bit too hot for me to be up for wandering down to the local park to gather the necessary wood. In an attempt to give them a barbecue flavour, though, I added a few drips of liquid smoke, a product my house mate picked up from USAFoods, to both the sauce and the burger patties during cooking. It's nowhere near as good as the real deal, of course, but when one is lazy one can't be fussy. Too, the secret behind making burger patties that don't fall apart in the pan or on the barbecue is to form the patties the night before and refrigerate them and then to cook them gently. There's absolutely no need to add egg, onion or bread crumbs to a burger patty.

Ingredients:

500 g chicken mince
4 burger buns, opened and lightly toasted under the broiler or on the grill
4 slices pineapple (well-drained if from a can)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tomato, sliced and seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 onion, sliced
a handful of rocket leaves, washed and drained
1/4 cup tomato ketchup
a shot of whisk(e)y
1 tbs Dijon mustard
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp smoked paprika, plus extra to season
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
hot sauce of your choice (I recommend a chipotle sauce, for its smoky flavour)
oil

A few hours, but preferably a day, before cooking the burgers, add a few drops of hot sauce, a pinch of paprika and a generous dose of freshly ground black pepper to the mince. Form the mince into patties. Don't make them too thin--if you're even close to McDonald's-style patties, you've overdone it. A good patty is just about 2 centimetres thick. Place the patties on a plate. Use the back of a teaspoon or the tip of your thumb to make a shallow indentation in the centre of each patty. Cover and refrigerate.

A half hour before cooking, take the patties out of the fridge and let them come up to room temperature. It's always important to do this when cooking meat, no matter your plans for it--roasting, barbecuing, frying, steaming--as it'll make for more even and marginally quicker cooking.

To make the sauce, fry the onions in a little oil for five minutes. Add the garlic. Fry until the onions are nicely caramelised, then add the shot of whisk(e)y. Once reduced, add the tomato ketchup, Dijon mustard, paprika and apple cider vinegar. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook for ten minutes over a low heat.

Fry the chicken patties in a little oil. Keep the heat low. Don't move them more than necessary. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper as they cook. When cooked, add the patties to the lightly toasted buns with the rocket leaves, pineapple, tomato and sauce.