The secret ingredient? Would you guess it’s Pepsi Max Vanilla?
To celebrate the release of its newest flavour variant, Pepsi Max recently brought together some of Australia’s top chefs on an exciting new pop-up dining concept in Sydney’s ultimate food precinct, Kensington Street. Designed by Mitch Orr (ACME), Jimmy Hurlston (Guilty, Easey’s), Andy Bowdy (Andy Bowdy Pastry, Saga), Andres Walters (The Lobo Plantation, The Kittyhawke), and brought to you by the team at The Vanilla Kitchen, the pop-up offered visitors the ultimate culinary journey for three special nights, spanning Thursday 22nd, Friday 23rd and Saturday 25th June.
Although the pop-up is now closed, burger lord Jimmy Hurlston has kindly given us the recipes for the two most popular dishes served at Guilty and Easey’s: sliders and Mac N Cheese! Made using Pepsi Max Vanilla, the mini slider served with Mac N Cheese is a winning combination, topped with a vanilla bacon crumble.
Give this simple and easy-to-make recipe a try for yourself!
Mini Burger Served with Mac & Cheese
- 500g elbow pasta
- 250g tasty cheese
- 100g grated parmesan
- 250g vintage cheddar
- 200g cream cheese
- 200g mozzarella
- 5g citric acid
- 10g ground kola tut
- 50g butter
- 1/4 cup plain flour
- 2 1/2 cups of milk
- 7 rashes of bacon (any type)
- 200ml apple cider vinegar
- 5-10ml of vanilla essence
- 100g brown sugar
- 100ml Pepsi Max Vanilla
- 300g mince meat
- 5 burger buns
- 10 slices of cheddar cheese
- 10 rashes of belly bacon aka streaky bacon
- 200ml apple cider vinegar
- 5-10ml of vanilla essence
- 100g brown sugar
- 100ml Pepsi Max Vanilla
- 200ml ketchup
- 75ml Worcestershire sauce
- 20g ground kola nut
- 5g smoked paprika
- 10g cumin
- 2g celery salt
- 2g garlic powder
- 5g cracked pepper
- 2g cayenne pepper
- Cook the pasta elbows to al dente.
- Prepare the béchamel sauce (add butter, milk and flour together in a pan)
- Add to béchamel – 150g of shredded tasty, all the grated parmesan, 150g of vintage cheddar, 100g of mozzarella, all the cream cheese, citric acid and stir until melted.
- Add cooked pasta into sauce and stir through.
- Grate the remaining cheese and leave it to the side, this is going to set your mac apart from the rest.
- Dice bacon up and soak in vanilla essence with some apple cider vinegar and a bit of brown sugar for some sweet goodness.
- Lay out the bacon bits into a baking tray and bake on 200 degrees for 5 mins
- Add the pasta into ramekins and cover with a combination of the remaining cheeses, sprinkle with the bacon crumble and a pinch of ground kola nut.
- Bake this on 200 for about 3 minutes or until the cheese goes a nice golden colour on top and serve.
- Mix apple cider vinegar, brown sugar and vanilla essence in a bowl and dunk bacon strips in it. Make sure they are coated on both sides.
- Lay bacon on baking paper in a baking tray and then place it in the oven on 200 degrees for about 5 mins or until it starts to turn a bit darker.
- Pull tray out of oven and let it stand.
- Using a high fat content beef mix (75 CL to your butcher should get you
- something nice), shape about 60g of mince for a small or 120g for a larger sized burger into a patty shape.
- Combine all ingredients in a pot on a stove and simmer until all mixed through
- Let it cool before serving.
- Take one beef patty and press a shallow “dimple” in the middle.
- Season both sides with salt and pepper and place on chargrill.
- Cook for 3 minutes each side.
- Toast the buns on the griddle until they warm through.
- Prepare the top/crown with Kola Nut BBQ Sauce.
- Prepare the bottom/heel of the bun with Kola Nut BBQ sauce.
- When the meat is cooked, place it to rest on the cooling rack inside the steam tray, place 2 x 1/4 slice of cheese on top and cover for 30 seconds to melt the cheese.
- Place the patty onto the heel, cross prepared bacon over the top of the patty and close the burger.