Mayfields may be a window box of a storefront East London restaurant treasured for deftly crafted small plates of boutique produce, meat and fish. Yet there was nothing dainty about the steakburger chef Matthew Young created for the January 13th BurgerMonday, was there (see below)?
 


 
Matthew’s initial inspiration, the acclaimed burger at Diner in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, served only as a departure point. His end burger was a true original drawing more on influences closer to home, with one innovation layered over another.

1. Bun

The sesame-seeded brioche was sourced from Bread Ahead, the London bakery and baking school opened at Borough Market by Matt Jones and Justin Gellatly. It marked the second BurgerMonday premiere of a Justin Gellatly burger bun: Three years earlier the buns Justin created at St John Bakery were showcased at a BurgerMonday by chefs James Lowe, Isaac McHale and Ben Greeno.

2. Beef

Matthew turned to a trusted supplier, Jorge Thomas of Swaledale Farms in West Yorkshire, and together they came up with a rich blend of three bistro steak cuts – flank, skirt, onglet – enriched with beef cheeks.

3. Cheese

When Beaufort, which Brillat-Savarin called “the prince of gruyères”, was melted over a patty the cheese’s nutty, butter character seemed to vanish before the chef’s eyes. His solution was to sit the Beaufort on the cut side of the top bun half instead and melt it under the salamander. Once the flipped and fitted atop the burger the cheese slowly dripped down over the toppings and patty.

4. Accessories

Lettuce, red onion, fresh mint, beet root, red miso-and-yellow mustard seed mayonnaise. The true revelations were the fresh mint, which enhanced the flavour of the beef (who knew mint was not only for lamb?) and the miso mustard mayo, with umami accent from the miso and some zip from the mustard.

5. Paper

Yes, paper. Karl Doering, one of Matthew’s sidemen, lined the griddles with parchment paper. The enormous benefit of this disposable, nonstick surface proved to be even, uniform cooking. As the burger grease collected in the parchment the patties were effectively fried in their own fat. Doering locked the patties in the deep pink zone between rare and medium-rare – the narrow space where outstanding burgers reside.

 
As the Mayfields burger was designed as a one-off I’m not sure we’ll ever it see again, sadly. (It is hoped Matthew will have second thoughts after he’s viewed the video and then third, fourth and fifth thoughts after he’s browsed Ian Sargent’s photos.) The surer bet is our seeing more burger chefs keeping the interior beef in the pink by frying their patties on parchment.

All photos by Ian Sargent.

Nothing is better than toast and jam, if it’s slices of the hand-mixed pain de compagne from Ben Mackinnon’s E5 Bakehouse that go in the toaster and nearly any combo from Lillie O’Brien’s London Borough of Jam spread over ’em.

It goes without saying – or billing – there’s good butter melting there in East London, over that toasted sourdough toast and under those Technicolor jams.

London weekends abound with exceptional  food diversions from cutting-edge chefs at posh restaurants to kerb-side cooks at street carts. Even at E5 Bakehouse, tucked under the railway arches near London Fields station (see map), there are brunch temptations to lure you and your £2 away from Ben and Lillie’s great Hackney T & J, from poached eggs to Full English, both with strong backup from the same exceptional toast. On Saturday afternoons E5 has good sourdough bagels.

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The merits of those distractions notwithstanding your attention must turn back to those jams with fruit flavours as sharp and pointed as darts: On Saturday the luminous rhubarb and rose geranium duo I spread on one slice marked my introduction to a new colour that’s neither rhubarb pink nor pink rose. The peachy peach and fennel seed jam I spread a little too generously on the other slice left me with a single regret: Such a pity the five of us – the bread, the butter, the peach, the rose, the me – hadn’t met before.