A few months back I left the safe haven of burger filled London and made my way to Brighton on the south coast for some burgers that were catching my eye on twitter. I wrote about the burgers here, raving about The Troll’s Pantry and the passionate and imaginative mind behind these delicious creations. With the distraction of a Bruce Springsteen filled summer, my burger eating did take a slight back seat. Bruce is gone (for now), and I am back.
Now, Brighton is only an hour away from London by train, but with so many tempting and unusual burgers to choose from, I feel I need to try as many in one sitting as possible. Therefore it’s become a little habit (well I’ve done it twice) for me to cycle there to get my burger fill. It’s not easy, but it works up an appetite and means I can eat more burgers when I visit.
I’ve been thinking about one of The Troll’s burgers in particular recently, the Stinky Breath. When I’m feeling hungry and craving some gooey cheesy burger, this is the one I day dream about. So I set out on bank holiday Monday, a hot and windless day and started the 60 mile bike ride to Brighton. About 15 miles from my destination, The Troll warned me that he was having particularly busy day and that if I wanted to get my normal burger fill I needed to pick up some speed. In a panic I cursed my leisurely pace, stuffed my cheeks with jelly babies and frantically pedalled faster.
If you haven’t cycled this route before and are considering it, I feel I need to warn you about one particular section called Ditchling’s Beacon, the third highest point in the South Downs. I knew I had this in front of me and was dreading it, as this is where the ride gets really steep, and I discover that for fifteen minutes, I can suddenly speak fluent French. As I huffed and puffed and cursed my way up, I thought to myself that if I’m going through this and don’t end up with a Stinky Breath burger at the other end, I might actually shed my first burger related tear. And throw my first burger related tantrum.
So I arrived in Brighton feeling hot and bothered, wild eyed and stressed at the prospect of missing out on a burger by minutes. Thankfully, my exertions were worth it, and there was still enough patties left. As mentioned in the previous post, The Troll places a massive importance on sourcing all of his ingredients locally, and this really isn’t a fad – he takes it very seriously. In fact one of his favourite spots for foraging is at the top of the dreaded Ditchling Beacon hill. Due to this focus on locally sourced seasonal ingredients, this does mean that the recipes are always going through a bit of tinkering, in line with the time of year. An example of this is the Smokey Mountain burger, which I tried for the first time on this day.
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| Smokey Mountain |
So much time and effort has gone into this burger. Forget using tomato puree or jarred tomatoes to make sauces, The Troll uses local vine ripened tomatoes which are roasted and then squeezed. Then the other ingredients are added including Langhams’ beer, local honey and spices including mace, black mustard and nutmeg. Wow. To add the smoke, The Troll fries onions and garlic with locally cold pressed, oak smoked oil. Piled high with shredded lettuce, thick bacon, smokey cheese and juicy tomato (I didn’t even remove it, which is saying something), after the long bike ride, I savoured every mouthful.
The second one I went for is still my favourite, the Stinky Breath. A messy burger, dripping with cheese and laced with, wait for it, anchovies. In all of my burger eating, with onion rings, pulled pork, peanut butter and all of the other ‘trendy’ items I’ve had in burgers, this is by far my favourite ‘off the wall’ burger. St Giles cheese, blue cheese, beer and anchovy sauce, garlic mayo and gherkins, every mouthful is a delight.
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| Stinky Breath |
Burgers from The Troll’s Pantry are made with pure love and passion. The Troll is a perfectionist for giving his customers the very best burgers he can, and he is always striving to create something new and original to try, he’s no one trick pony. With various other burger eateries opening in Brighton, I hope that his focus on supporting local producers and making everything from scratch (buns, mayo, the lot) will make burger lovers keen to visit. With an unusual combination of ingredients, occasionally The Troll’s Pantry burgers may sound weird. But they are also wonderful. Go with an open mind and you’ll leave with a happy heart (and stomach).
Read about my last visit to The Troll’s Pantry here.