To tell dh I hate his pride&joy burgers?

[Jux]

I am immensely grateful that dh cooks quite often. He's an OK plain cook - sausages, chips, a bit of veg - and makes a mean dumpling, and pretty good beef stew.

However, about once a month he insists on doing burgers. He loves them. He squashes a handful of mince together really hard to make a ball, then squashes it flat. Then cooks it. That's it. No seasoning, herbs, nothing.

I think they're pretty vile and so does dd. Mind you, I don't like burgers much anyway.

It is hard to tell him, as he is soooooooo proud of them. I think there's an element of competition as his best mate makes 'fantastic' burgers, and that's probably rolling about in dh's mind somewhere.

Today he wanted to have burgers. He was really desperate to do them, and I'm not feeling brilliant, so am pleased to have someone else cook, and as he's cooking he obviously gets to choose what we eat, especially as he felt so strongly about it.

So I am dreading supper, though I'm really hungry!

Could you say that you've gone off mince/red meat? My DH also makes his own burgers in the summer so he can BBQ them - he chops red onion into his, but they are pretty bland and boring even so! I don't eat a lot of red meat so I don't have to admit that I don't like them, I just say "not really in the mood for burger today, I'll have some chicken or a vegeburger".

Rave about something else he cooks? If you go on about another meal he does, perhaps he'll concentrate on it as his "signature" dish rather than the burgers?

I saw a burger cookbook in Tesco last week, get it for valentines day for him

Just tell him you're a Catholic. We aren't supposed to eat meat on Fridays. They brought that back in.

I was going to suggest a burger cook book. Good luck with dinner!

Are you married to my dh?!

I was subjected this for years, basically squashed mince on a roll. He walked in on me watching Jamie Oliver making burgers in his 15 minutes meals. Something twigged in his mind, he added salt, pepper, chilli flakes, melted smoked cheese over it,carded mustard oh and crucially rolled them flat. They are now delicious

lots of ketchup required!

Make some one time, yourself.

Use some minced garlic, chopped parsley, pepper and salt, in with the mince.

Yum!

It could be worse - it could be lamb and rosemary burgers which are really just shown the heat rather than actually cooked to any extent and are completely bloody horrible so please don't ever cook them again .

Burger cookbook.

I'd tell him the truth. I'm a big beliver in honesty being the best policy in all but very few circumstances. Trying to get out of eating them by lying is going to cause you all sorts of headaches trying to come up with excuses in the future. I'm the main cook in our house and if I cook something DH doesn't like he lets me know, no point me doing it again if he's not going to enjoy it. Just soften the blow a bit by telling how much you like his other culinary efforts.

Just read the review - not so good But I'm sure you get the gist.

Ketchup is your friend.

Awww, just suck it up OP if he is so proud and happy with them. Whats the harm really? Sneak a sandwich later.

My DH cooks several things I don't love but he puts such effort into it and is similarly proud, telling me all about the ingrediants etc. I eat and smile and say mmmmm- thank you sweetheart. Costs me very little.

I think I would just have to tell him! If he really thinks that squashing together some mince on its own makes a good burger, then he needs telling.

It's surprisingly hard to make decent burgers yourself. I think they benefit from generous seasoning, finely chopped onion and breadcrumbs to hold in the fat (fat = flavour) but they need to hold together as well.

Hassled, lamb and rosemary are actually my v. fave type of burger, with a little bit of finely chopped smoked bacon in as well. Yum!

Yanbu. The only good burger to eat at home is a Birds Eye quarter pounder.

Trewfact.

Just be honest with him. Don't be completely brutal, obviously, but just let him know neither you or your daughter like them, and could he please cook something else instead?

I think MrsKeithRichards has it, chat to him, "I saw this great burger recipe, had herbs and mustard and stuff in it, looked fab. Do you fancy trying it? I know how good you are with burgers." etc etc

Burger cook book? He'd be mortified! He is absolutely determined that his burgers are the best. He truly believes they are better because there is only meat inmthem and nothing else. He's not an idiot generally, but how he can think this is beyond me. Poor chap.

I do praise his culinary efforts, massively so when they are good. So his stew is great and he will do it once a week in the winter, with dumplings. But this does not mean he doesn't want to do his fabulous burgers as well, and he really does love them.

I think I will just have to eat them (as I have this evening, and thanked him nicely for cooking) rather than just tell him, because I've already turned up my nose at his other favourite thing - potato fritters, which are also, apparently, even better for no seasoning. That was hurtful enough to him.

Yup, I'll be eating those darn things for a looooong time to come

can you leave a recipe and ingredients out?

Can you make your own burgers and get people to do a taste test

Mash up the burger with ketchup, put the potato fritter on top, drink a very large glass of wine, pray, pretend its Shepards Pie.

go veggie............

Does he ever tell you if you make something he doesn't like?

Or does he eat everything without complaint?

Flipping heck I would struggle with that.

DH once made carrot and coriander soup, which I loved at the time. Instead of adding white wine, he decided to use the end of a bottle of red which was on the side in the kitchen.

I came in and went 'WTF is that', he genuinely thought it had been a good idea. I got him to taste it, and we threw it in the bin together and went out for dinner.

Honesty in a marriage is all important, IMO.