One all pork patty, no special sauce, no lettuce, yes onion, no sesame seed bun

I got this hunk o' meat the other day called “pork shoulder blade steak.” I have experience with this cut. In spite of the use of the “steak” word, this is long-cooking meat for sure. Last time I slow-cooked it with sauerkraut. It was good, real good when it was finally finished (2 hours). This time I wanted faster results. Hence the pork burger.

We usually have sandwiches for lunch, so I didn't feel a bun was a necessity for dinner as well. Brining was, as was the addition of a number of other consequential flavors.

One all pork patty (makes three 6 oz. burgers)
18 oz. pork steak (weight after trimming)
1 great big scallion, rough chopped
¼ jalapeno, partly seeded as per your taste
¼ cup cooked button mushrooms in ½ inch pieces
black pepper
2/3 cup torn bread pieces soaked in milk

Brine the pork overnight. Google “brine meat” if you need help with this. Rinse thoroughly and dry with paper towels. Trim out any bone or extraneous fat and cut into ½ inch pieces.

Place in the food processor along with everything else and buzz until very thoroughly pureed. Put a 1 inch ball of it into your microwave and zap for 15 seconds. Taste for seasonings and adjust as necessary.

Form into 3 burgers. Fry in some butter or oil for 5 minutes per side or until the pink is gone from the center (you'll need to make a little cut in one of them to check this out). Add a slice of cheese after turning them if you wish.

Pork burger Indochine

A sandwich for dinner? Yep. You could make this with ground turkey or chicken. As it happens, we had a boatload of thin-cut pork loin chops. After removing the bones from 3 of them, we had 10 oz. of meat which I ground, using an attachment for my mixer. A food processor works too.

This is a recipe we’ve had for a long, long time. I had to use my calculator to adjust the proportions of ingredients to meat, but it was no big deal. I’m listing the original amounts just to make it easy for anyone who might want to try this.

I couldn’t find any brown sugar in the pantry, so I subbed maple syrup.

Pork burgers Indochine
Dressing:
¾ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup finely chopped basil leaves
¼ cup finely chopped cilantro
2 scallions, finely chopped
2 tbsp lime juice

Patties:
¼ cup fish sauce (nuoc mam)
4 tsp brown sugar, honey or maple syrup
1 tsp sriracha or other hot chili sauce
2 lbs. freshly ground pork
¼ cup chunky peanut butter
2 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp minced garlic
½ tsp ground star anise (or clove)
lettuce

Mix all dressing ingredients in a bowl. Do the same with the whole patty thing.

Form into burgers (4). Heat a skillet and add a bit of olive oil and butter to it. Cook the burgers about 4 minutes per side over medium-high heat (5 on my electric range 1-10 dial). Serve on your favorite rolls with sauce and lettuce.