The kitchen at the pub I work in is definitely not what you’d call big. It’s 10sq ft at a stretch and, with my 6ft 7in frame, my sous chef and someone at the kitchen sink, it’s fair to say there isn’t really much room to swing a cat.

So it might come as a bit of a surprise to learn that from this tiny space every week there emerge more than 500 square meals, each one freshly cooked by our good selves. We manage it by being streamlined and efficient, using really good quality ingredients and cooking simple, tasty dishes well.

So how chuffed was I when I found out the other week that one of our dishes had got us into the final of a national food award? More than just a little bit happy. I had read about the National Burger Awards in a magazine called Pub & Bar, and thought: “I like our burgers, our guests like our burgers and so do the people who work here.”

One of them even gave up being a vegetarian after 26 years of not eating meat when the temptation to try one proved too much. She now can’t get enough of them and nor can our guests – we serve more burgers than anything else on the menu.

I eat out a lot and eat a lot of burgers too. I didn’t honestly think I was being big headed by believing that ours are better than many I get served in other pubs and restaurants out there, so I decided to put my money where my mouth is and take part in this national burger challenge.

Off went my burger recipe – an Aubrey Allen Burger served in a Brown Sugar Bakery brioche bun, with Monterey Jack Cheddar and Aubrey Allen smoked bacon – and I thought nothing more of it. Not long afterwards an email dropped into the pub’s inbox saying I had made the finals and would be off to London to cook my burger for the judges. I was excited, honoured, and just a little bit nervous.

We naturally wanted to shout about getting into the finals, but we didn’t want to get carried away. There are some very fine chefs out there, 15 of them in fact, who will be coming with me to the Islington Metal Works in London when I have to cook my burger and face a technical burger challenge. Wednesday is D-Day.

So we have told a few people – good news tends to travel fast in Thame – and we’ve been encouraged by what people have said.

If you fancy a go at making your own burgers, I’d say definitely give it a go. Just make sure you use really good quality meat with a decent fat content (more than 20 per cent is good as it helps keep the burger really juicy while cooking), mix it really well, chill it for an hour before cooking it and then fry it in a nice hot pan for three minutes each side and then another seven or eight in the oven. I use finely diced onions, garlic purée, paprika, cayenne pepper, freshly chopped thyme and parsley, an egg, wholegrain mustard, Worcestershire sauce and black pepper in mine.

For the beef mince, it’s onglet steak which has a rich, deep flavour, brisket and chuck steak all finely minced and mixed together. I like to serve mine in a brioche bun with Monterey Jack Cheddar, baby gem lettuce, plum tomatoes and my home-made burger sauce. But that’s a secret recipe so I’m not going to tell you what goes into that!

Wish me luck for the finals and if you’re in Thame, come and say hello.

Follow the action live on Twitter here @CasualDiningMag #NationalBurgerAwards and @figgthame