When The Grillfather in Mitchell’s Plain restaurant, The Grillfather, set the record for the biggest burger in South Africa – with a 19.6kg offering in early July – it encouraged a Bellville burger joint owner to go one better.
Joe Redelinghuys has now made The Grillfather’s burger look like an hors d’oeuvre at one of those larney restaurants where the main courses should be served with magnifying glasses.
Joe, who owns Joe’s Monster Braai Patties, produced a 79.5kg monster burger for his wife Annie’s 60th birthday on Saturday July 27.
“I have a driver named Albertus (van Heerden), and he saw the article about The Grillfather in the paper and I told myself that it was something that we could do easily,” says Joe.
“My wife, Annie, and I both have patty businesses, and she also owns Annie’s Ladies Bar, where we make monster burgers, so I knew it was something we could do.”
And once he had set his mind to it, there was no stopping Joe, who is 95% blind because of diabetes.
“I got all the beef together. It was 35kg raw, and it took about one night to mix it all together. And then I put it in the deep freeze for about three days. I then had an issue with the buns,” he says.
He couldn’t find a baker who could make big enough buns, so he made them himself, using four large trays.
“So in the end, it was four large buns at the bottom and four again on top. That also took another day to make.”
With the bun under his belt, Joe turned his attention to the patty and assembling the toppings – all of which are available at Annie’s pub and grill in Stikland Industrial.
Both Joe and Annie, who stay in Penhill, have owned various eateries over the years and they’re both passionate about preparing their own patties.
“The idea with the patty, and for all of the patties I make, is that it must be made on the braai so on the day of Annie’s birthday bash, we set up the specially made grill and we braaied the patty for about an hour and 25 minutes,” says Joe.
“After we made the patty, we assembled the burger on a special scale. First we placed the bottom rolls down, then about a kilo of garlic butter, a lot of lettuce leaves, about 3.5kg of tomato slices, 1.2kg onion rings, 1.2kg cucumber slices, 1.2kg gherkins, 2kg back bacon strips, 2kg ham, 1.4kg pineapple pieces, 1kg of green, yellow and red peppers, grated cheddar and mozzarella, the 35kg patty, mushroom sauce, pepper sauce, garlic sauce, chilli sauce (all homemade), more grated cheese and then it was topped with 24 fried eggs.”
The burger was made in front of a crowd of people at Annie’s birthday bash, at Annie’s Ladies Bar, and afterwards, it served as the food for the night.
“The burger fed about 120 people at the party for free, and afterwards we cut up the rest and put it into doggie bags which meant that the burger fed about 150 people in total,” says Annie.
For the record to stand, the burger has to be available on the menu of the place that makes it and just like the massive burger at The Grillfather, the 79.5kg is available via special order at Annie’s Ladies Bar.
