No, this isn’t a rant about Macdonalds – this is my recipe for home-made beef burgers.

I’ve made burgers before, but they’ve always been a mess. Mother-in-law gave us a burger press from Lakeland – a useful gadget, and the firmer, better-shaped burgers were a hit with the children at Henry’s birthday party.

Ingredients – makes about 9 burgers

• 2 x 400g packs of organic minced beef
• 1 egg
• handful of breadcrumbs (I whizz slightly stale bread up in the magimix and freeze it)
• 1 large very finely chopped onion
• 2 or 3 finely chopped garlic cloves
• large teaspoon of mustard (I used French wholegrain)
• small sprinkling of fine mixed herbs (I used dried French ones from a stall in Borough Market)
• few dashes of Tabasco sauce
• burger buns
• lashings of Heinz Tomato Ketchup (if you can find it, the organic variety tastes sweeter)

Put the mince in a bowl and break it up with a fork – you could use your hands but with small children clutching at your apron strings, I get a bit paranoid about handling raw meat. Also, if you use a fork, your children can help.

Crack in the egg (2 if 1 isn’t enough), add 2 or more slugs of Tabasco sauce and the mustard. Sprinkle the herbs in. Stir in the onion and garlic. Then gradually add breadcrumbs until the mixture is nice and thick. Scoop into your burger press, press out the patties, cook, enjoy!