Pork Banh Mi Burger

Name: Pork Banh Mi Burger
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 70 min
Ingredients: 1 Pound Home Ground Pork; 1/4 Cup of Finely Chopped Fresh Basil; 4 Garlic Cloves (Minced); 3 Scallions (Minced); 1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce; 1 Tablespoon Sriracha; 1 Tablespoon Sugar; 2 Teaspoons Cornstarch; 1 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper; 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt; Sesame Oil; 2 Cups Jullienned Daikon; 2 Cups Jullienned Carrot; 1/3 Cup Unseasoned Rice Vinegar; 1/3 Cup Sugar; 1 1/2 Teaspoons Kosher Salt; For The Sriracha-Mayo Sauce; 1 1/3 Cup Kewpie Mayonnaise; 4 Scallions (Minced); 2 Tablespoons Sriracha; 1 Baguette; Cilantro Leaves; Sliced Jalapeño (Optional)

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This Pork Banh Mi Burger has all the flavors of a modern Vietnamese classic in burger form! Possibly the best burger you’ll ever make #BurgerMonth 2016

#BurgerMonth!

What do you call a pig thief?

A Hamburglar!

Did you now that May is National Burger Month? Well if you’re wondering why every month isn’t burger month, you have a valid point. Let’s do something about that! I started a petition on Change.org to make every month National Burger Month.

Burgers! Burgers! Burgers!

Translated from Dutch that means Citizens! Citizens! Citizens! Believe in the power to the people! Flex your democratic muscle! #Murica!

Seriously though, folks, May is National Burger Month and a few other bloggers and I got together to post at least one burger a day for the whole month. Now, when I say a few, I mean 57 and that means almost 2 killer burger recipes a day. The whole show is being run by the Kickass Kita Roberts, Queen Bee of the blog Girl Carnivore. Girl Carnivore “Because boys aren’t the only ones who like to play with their meat!”

We’re also doing a raffle! You can enter right now and check out some of the super swag that our Dear Leader Kita secured for us:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Where this epic burger creation is my own for #BurgerMonth 2016, I would love to thank Certified Angus Beef, Cowboy Charcoal, Char-broil, Dreamfarm, Cabot Cheese, Grill Master Club, American Lamb Board, and CuttingBoard.com for the kick ass grill prize packages!

So, What’s A Banh Mi Burger?

A few months ago I posted a recipe for Pork Banh Mi’t Balls which were pork meatballs with all the flavor of a Banh Mi packed into one bite. They were a huge hit and I said to myself that I’d make a burger out of them in the spring. Well, it’s the spring and I’ve transformed it into (and I don’t say this lightly) the most delicious burger I have ever tasted. I mean it. I kind of went all Meg Ryan on this burger.

Back Up. WTF is a Banh Mi?!

Right. I’m more or less going to copy and paste an excerpt from the Banh Mi’t Balls post and we are going talk about the French occupation of Indochina from 1887-1954.

OMG That Sounds BORING!

Yeah Yeah. History can be fun! So basically the French occupied Vietnam for well over half a century. Usually when an occupying force holds a territory the soldiers bring their own food to that territory. In this case the French brought baguettes, and when 2 cultures merge cuisines, everyone wins. Don’t believe me? Just try Korean Tacos, Pork Loco Moco Mazeman (Spicy Pork Ramen), or mochiko chicken. Basically, Banh Mi is a sandwich made with Vietnamese flavored meat or tofu, cilantro, and other veggies inside a French baguette. If you’ve never had one, you are missing out.
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Grinding Your Own Meat

Grinding your own meat with a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer couldn’t be easier. Here are full instructions for DIY ground meat.

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Burger Ingredients Assemble!

First we’re going to need a bun and a banh mi just isn’t a banh mi if you don’t use a baguette. Next we need ground pork. It’s simple enough to go to the butcher section of your local grocery store and pick up a package of ground meat. That is an option with this recipe, but it is an option I’d highly recommend you don’t take. Your burger will not reach the orgasmic level it could reach with store bought ground pork. What I do recommend, however, is grinding your own pork loin. If you’re not squeamish about handling ground meat you should totally do it. If you are squeamish, then you suck. #SorryNotSorry[/twocol_one_last]
We’ll be making enough burgers for 4, so just buy roughly a pound of pork loin and 1 baguette. We also need basil, garlic, scallions, and some standard other produce. I’m going to have to hit you with some unique ingredients, though, that you will probably only find at Asian stores, fancy grocers such as Whole Foods, or Amazon. You’re going to be needing Nam Pla (aka fish sauce) for the meat. Next, we’re going to use a type of Japanese mayonnaise called Kewpie (pronounced Kew-Pee-Ay). Kewpie mayo is made with rice vinegar instead of white or cider vinegar and is so much creamier and richer in flavor than Hellman’s.

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You can find Kewpie mayonaise at Asian grocery stores and also on Amazon. It comes in squeeze bottles only and has very distinct packaging with, for reasons I don’t understand, a baby printed on the wrapper. Anyway, it looks just like it does in these pictures.

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Also, we’re going to need a daikon (pronounced Die-Con). A daikon is a large, long, white radish native to Asia and translated from the Chinese and Japanese it literally means “big root”.

Daikon

Lastly, this is totally optional, our Pork Banh Mi Burger comes with shrimp chips on the side.

Shrimp Chips?!

OMG they’re so good. Uncooked, they look like little colored discs, but toss them in some hot oil and bloom like flowers in seconds. Literally seconds. Just check out this picture of cooked and uncooked shrimp chips side by side. Well, top to bottom. You know what I mean!

You can find shrimp chips at any Asian food store or Amazon and they usually come in a box like this.

Can We Make Burgers Now?

Well, actually we’re going to make the topping first. Julienne 2 cups of carrot and 2 cups of daikon each. Throw them into a glass bowl and add some rice vinegar, sugar, and kosher salt. Toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Next, on to the burgers. Take your nice, beautiful, home ground meat and toss it in a bowl with all the burger ingredients. Loosely, and I mean loosely, toss to combine. You want to keep your meat grounds as intact as possible to make sure you get a tender, melt in your mouth burger. A Pork Banh Mi Burger is sandwiched between two slices of baguette and baguettes are usually thin loaves of bread. I measured mine at 2.5 inches wide. So make your patties about 2.5 inches in diameter. You don’t have to be anal about this, but just make sure it fits in the bun. There should be about 4 ounces of meat per patty which is basically a large handful of meat. Form a patty and make an indent with your thumb in the center. This step helps the patty hold it’s shape during cooking.

Lastly we need to make the sriracha mayonnaise. It’s simple, really. Add the Kewpie mayonnaise and sriracha to a bowl. Finely mince 4 scallions and add to the bowl. Mix them all until well blended.

I’m so hungry! Where’s My Damn Burger Already?!

Alright, alright! Cut the baguette into 4 equal parts and then slice them in half. Slather the bottom with the sriracha-mayo. Heat a cast iron or other heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat. Once the skillet is nice and hot, add a thin layer of sesame oil. Add your patties and sear until cooked through and browned on the edges (about 4 minutes on each side). Place the burger on the bun, top with the pickled daikon and carrot, cilantro leaves, and optional sliced jalapeño. Serve with shrimp chips.

Currently Jamming To

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This recipe requires a little something special. Here’s a list of what you will need:

[list][list_item icon=”fa-cutlery”]Sriracha[/list_item][list_item icon=”fa-cutlery”]Large Cast Iron Skillet[/list_item][list_item icon=”fa-cutlery”]Sesame Oil[/list_item][list_item icon=”fa-cutlery”]Mandolin Slicer[/list_item][list_item icon=”fa-cutlery”]Kewpie Mayonaisse[/list_item][list_item icon=”fa-cutlery”]Shrimp Chips[/list_item][/list]

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