Banh Mi Pork Burgers

Back in January, Bon Apetit had a pork meatball sandwich recipe made with the Vietnamese ingredients and flavors found in the Vietnamese Sandwich, Banh Mi -one of my absolutely favorite foods. They substituted ground pork meatballs for the usual pate and/or grilled pork found in Banh Mi Sandwiches. I thought, "How can this not be a good thing?" but for one reason or the other, I never got around to making them. Months later, I saw Bahn Mi Burgers (a burger is just a huge flattened meatball, right?) on the food porn site, Tastespotting and after that it snowballed. It seemed I was seeing recipes for Banh Mi Burgers everywhere: Serious Eats, Saveur, All recipes.com and others. EVERYBODY it seems was onto the Banh Mi Burger idea.



This was a few months ago, but we had to wait until our ground pork was in packages in the freezer, and not nosing around in the mud in her pen, to make these burgers. That's part of the deal with raising your own foods: you eat what you raise, and you try and raise what you want to eat; you sometimes have to wait months for that food's season to come around -and you see its face. Chaos in the Kitchen's recipe for Banh Mi Burgers is adapted from Bon Apetit's meatball sandwich recipe, and the recipe I adapted last night. These burgers taste more like the filling for Vietnamese Spring Rolls tucked into a burger bun than a Vietnamese sandwich -which is every bit as good, or even better, than I thought they would be.



Banh Mi Pork Burgers

Mix salad and set aside for 1 hour or so.
2 c. shredded cabbage
2 c. grated daikon radish
2 c. grated carrots
1 jalapeno, seeded and thinly sliced
1/2 c. cilantro leaves
1/4 c. rice vinegar
1 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
Use on burgers and also serve on the side with the seasoned mayo dressing.

Mix seasoned mayo dressing.
1 c. mayo
1 T. Maggi Seasoning
2 T. rice vinegar
2 T. sugar
1 t. hot chili-garlic sauce (sriracha)

Mix for burgers:
1 lb. ground pork
1/4 c. basil, minced
2 T. cilantro, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 small leeks, finely shredded
1 T. fish sauce
1 T. Maggi Seasoning
1 t. hot chili garlic sauce (sriracha)
1 t. sugar
1 T. cornstarch
1/4 t. black pepper
1/2 t. salt
1 T. sesame oil
Form four patties and fry in a caste iron skillet with a bit of sesame oil (or cook on a grill) until done. Lightly coat burger buns with sauce, add a dollop of salad, tomato slices and pork burgers. Serve with French fries, seasoned mayo dressing for dipping sauce, and more salad on the side.