Home-ground pork burgers - our new favorite

[c oliver]

We've been grinding meats for several years including pork. But I've always made sausage (a Batali recipe) with it. For a while now, we've been leaving the pork as is and making burgers out of it. It really has won out for us over beef burgers. They take about 4/3 minutes on the grill and are so flavorful. As I've said many times, that $50 meat grinder was about the best $50 I've ever spent.

The picture shows the burger on a grilled English muffin, avocado and grilled onions, red bell pepper and poblano slices and Cheddar cheese. That was last night's dinner and I woke up this morning thinking about it. Highly recommend.

[mike0989]

James McNair does the Build a Better Burger contest up in Napa each year. The winning recipe in 2005 for Alternative burger was Grilled Pork burgers Indochine. I tried them after seeing them prepared and they are awesome.

http://www.buildabetterburger.com/fin...

[c oliver]

Holy cow! THAT is amazing. That's going to be fixed SOON. Thanks a mil for sharing this. Whew :)

[The Professor]

Pork burgers rule!
So much tastier (and healthier) than beef. I've been enjoying these since being introduced to them 42 years ago in Iowa during my college years.

[c oliver]

We really feel like we'd been missing out on something awfully good. Glad you agree.

[fourunder]

I've been making ground pork, veal and veal & pork patties for years....great for sandwiches and faux cutlets for parmigiana/parmesan.

[eLizard]

can u paraphrase the batali sausage recipe?

[c oliver]

Here's a link but he obviously changed it or the editors screwed up. The recipe for the sausage ends at 'sheep casings' which, BTW, I've never had the guts (haha) to triy. I just make bulk. In addition to the salt and pepper, there 2T fennel seeds and 1T red pepper flakes.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ma...

As you can see, super easy. Oh, and I use bacon cause no way am I paying for two pounds of pancetta. I don't think the recipe suffers at all and I've been making this for several years.

[eLizard]

i saw this, and i noticed that the comments indicated a deviation from his recipe, and that with the pancetta, the 4 T of salt was too much. is that your experience? thanks so much!!

so you just form into patties?

[c oliver]

Wow, I didn't notice the salt. I'm not going to be home til early next week to check. IIRC, it's 2T not 4. If you need the details before then, you could probably post separately and someone would look up in Molto Italiano.

And, yes, I do 8 and 10 oz. patties and use for everything from breakfast through dinner :) Love the stuff.

[eLizard]

thank you!! i just may try it this weekend.

[greygarious]

My yarn group meets at a Starbucks. One of my friends was discussing a soup recipe she likes, in which she uses homemade sausage without casing, in chunks. Someone mentioned preferring link sausage for soup. She loudly proclaimed, "I don't want condoms in my soup!". A man at another table tried very hard not to crack up. He must have wondered about the context all evening.

Have you considered mixing a bit of simple mayo-based coleslaw into the ground pork? I'll bet that would go well.

[c oliver]

GREAT story! Maybe that's my aversion to casings :)

I think I'd rather have the slaw on top but it's something I should think about. Thanks, Grey.

[Cheese Boy]

"Excuse me waiter, but there's a condom in my soup".

[charles_sills]

ever since i got my grinder from my wonderful sister for christmas, i have been wanting to do pork burgers with a grilled pineapple/onion relish/slaw/salsa/whathaveyou. probably a bit of mayo mixed with diced habeneros on it too!

[c oliver]

That sounds so good! I'd probably wimp out for jalapenos :) Do you roast them before mixing with the mayo? TIA.

[charles_sills]

i havent dont it yet. but i probably wouldnt roast them first, just becuase i feel like its a hassle to roast habaneros. jalepenos would be great roasted first though. you can even just do a can of chipotle chilies in adobo sauce blended with a small jar of mayo.

[c oliver]

The chipotle in adobo is an idea that I really like. I'm guessing it would keep just about forever, wouldn't you?

[Veggo]

It will last forever because it will be way too hot to eat if you use a whole can of chipotles in adobo. Maybe one chili, or less. Pork, pineapple, and chipotle in a reasonable amount do go together well.

[c oliver]

Sounds ilke the voice of experience! Thanks, Veg.

[charles_sills]

i often do a whole can and i mix it with an entire large bottle of mayo. and i it lasts and lasts. with the larger jar of mayo it comes out to not to spicy. but if you just have one of those small jars of mayo, yes, ouch!!!!! haha .

edit, i just noticed that i did previously say a small jar of mayo! whoops. yeah, DO NOT use a hole can of chilies with that. haha. sorry for my mistake.

[c oliver]

Been meaning to report back. I've been finely chopping one chipotle with some of the adobo sauce and mixing with maybe 1/3c or less of mayo. Perfect. Thanks for the tip.

[Siobhan]

You slice pork from the shoulder and grind? And then form patties and cook on grill? Thanks for info.

[c oliver]

Yes, so simple. I use the larger-hole thingy on my KA grinder. This round of action gave us 21 - 6oz patties. BTW, 6oz. is almost too much. Five oz. is fine.

[Siobhan]

Thanks. Will try this weekend. Mmmmmmmmm

[c oliver]

I look forward to welcoming you to the fold :)

[greygarious]

I assume you remove the skin from the shoulder before grinding, but what about the rest of the layer of fat under the skin. Keep it all, or only some?

[c oliver]

The shoulders I get always have the skin removed and quite a lot of the fat so I grind as is. I would do that myself. The meat with just a little fat on the outside has plenty of fat.

[fourunder]

That's a nice picture.....one question, were you able to get a piece of each in the first bite...i.e. including the top and bottom of the English Muffin? Now that would be an amazing picture.

: o )

I agree wit you...ground pork alone...or in combination with another ground meat makes a nice burger.....a nice burger.

[c oliver]

YES!!! And, at 65 y.o., I'm wearing braces on my teeth so that is indeed a feat. But I was motivated :) I did have to "smush" it a bit.

As you know, home ground meat just can't be beat.

[andrewtree]

What do you add to the ground meat?

[c oliver]

Nada, zero, zip :) Just like the beef burgers. A little s&p after cooking. Perfect!

[Veggo]

Interesting - how thoroughly do you cook the centers?

[c oliver]

With 3 or 4 minutes on one side and 3 on the other, it's done but not overdone and not rare either. Doing it with pork shoulder, which I neglected to mention, there's really no worry about it drying out. It still kinda surprises us how strongly we prefer it to beef.