Asian Apple-Pork Burger

Asian Apple-Pork burger©RhondaAdkinsPhotography 2014

Every month I go through the same thing, I receive my Secret Recipe Club assignment.  The goal: choose a recipe from a secretly assigned blog, make it, photograph it and write a little about it, then reveal your secret assignment on a scheduled post day. A Secret Santa club for food bloggers.  Only with Secret Santa, you struggle once a year to make that perfect gift selection.  With SRC, I struggle every month culling down a long list of mouth watering, tummy grumbling, creative cooking, inspiring recipes.

To help myself I’ve tried to impose some rules, first look for heritage/family recipes and/or look for recipes that utilize ingredients I need to use/have on hand. In this case, when I was assigned funky and fun Sashi’s blog “Get off the Couch and Cook” had a third component that helped me pick out my super secret recipe.

Asian Apple-Pork burger©RhondaAdkinsPhotography 2014

I had this late and fairly small and sorry head of cabbage that I grew that I needed to use ASAP, criteria #2 met (bonus I had local organic ground pork in my freezer). Now here’s the shocker, and anyone who reads my blog knows that this is truly a shocker…I heard that Asian foods are going to be a HOT trend for 2015 (proof of it is here and here).  That’s right, me, the make the 5 minute artisan bread for the first time, years after it was the rage; me, who didn’t even taste her first leaf of kale until a couple of years ago (and now grows it), that’s right, me the reluctant band-wagoner is ahead of the forecasted trend…on purpose! (and me, evidently the over comma user and run on sentence writer…)

Which is actually ironic because Sashi, is anything but trendy.  As a matter of interest she is the antithesis of trendy.  She’s not an eater of fast foods or convenience foods, but she is into reasonably quick meals, she’s also not a health food purveyor but she is an advocate for whole unprocessed foods.  For an artist she’s a refreshing bit of good commonsense in the food world.  And I totally dig that (and her pizza ring).

Sashi’s Pork Apple Burger already had an Asian flair but when I mentioned to my Baby boy that I was making pork apple burgers, his faced screwed up and an ewww escaped from his mouth.  So I said “what if I called it an Asian Apple-Pork Burger”, his eyes lit up and I think I saw a little drool drip out of his mouth.  He then gave it a double thumbs up when I said I was topping it with an Asian slaw (he is my cabbage lover). Maybe that’s why Asian is trending, it automatically makes a dish sounds better, giving it a mental umami.

Asian Apple-Pork burger©RhondaAdkinsPhotography 2014

I recently watched Hungry Games on Food Network that described a burger as an umami explosion in the mouth.  Umami, a Japanese (asian) word meaning ‘a pleasant savory taste’ and also touted as the ‘5th taste’ is the perfect description of this burger!

I upped the Asian-ish of this burger by adding a little hoison sauce and using fresh ginger, to the original recipe. I tossed the cabbage and apple slaw in a simple Asian dressing with a little bit of sesame seeds for a nice nutty flavor and then I spiced up the spread of sweet chile sauce by mixing in a little siracha with it.  Oh yes, it’s an umami explosion in the mouth, juicy, sweet, savory, spicy and crunchy, very trendy don’t you think?

Asian Apple-Pork burger©RhondaAdkinsPhotography 2014

A couple of notes: for the perfect sized burger to bun ratio, I use a 3 7/8″ biscuit cutter to size my burgers.  I get 4 burgers out of 1 pound of meat…a classic quarter-pounder seems to be just right with a regular sized bun.  I recommend cooking the burger in a non-stick fry pan (I like to use ceramic coated) and flipping the burger frequently.  Flipping it frequently will not only make it juicier but it will help prevent it from getting too charred, with hoison and apple in the meat we’ve upped the sugar and need to be careful that it doesn’t burn (a little char is perfect for me).

Asian Apple-Pork burger©RhondaAdkinsPhotography 2014

If you want to experience an umami explosion in your mouth, get ahead of the trend and sink your teeth into an Asian inspired Apple-Pork  Burger.

 

Asian Apple-Pork Burger
Yields 4
Write a review
Print
Prep Time
25 min
Cook Time
7 min
Total Time
32 min
Prep Time
25 min
Cook Time
7 min
Total Time
32 min
Burger
  1. 1 pound ground pork
  2. 1/2 large apple, chopped
  3. 1/4 soy sauce
  4. 2 tablespoons hoison sauce
  5. 2 tablespoons sweet chile sauce
  6. 1/2 tablespoon siracha
  7. Mayonnaise
  8. 4 hamburger buns, toasted
Slaw
  1. 1/4 cup soy sauce
  2. 1 clove garlic, minced
  3. 1 1/2 tablespoon oil
  4. 1 tablespoon honey
  5. 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
  6. 2 cups shredded cabbage
  7. 1/2 large tart apple, julienned
Instructions
  1. For the burger meat: in a medium bowl mix the ground pork, chopped apples, hoison, ginger and soy sauce until thoroughly blended. Shape into 4 patties. Cook over medium heat in a non-stick frying pan, flipping every 15 seconds until cooked through. Remove to a plate and let rest a minimum of 5 minutes.
  2. In a small bowl mix together the siracha and sweet chile sauce (use more or less siracha depending on the heat level you prefer).
  3. To make the slaw: in a small bowl whisk together the soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, garlic, oil and sesame seeds. In a large bowl toss together the cabbage, apples and dressing.
  4. Build the burger: spread a little mayonnaise on the bottom and tops of the bun (this will keep it from getting soggy). Place burger on top of bottom bun, spread with the sweet chile/siracha mix, generously top with slaw and the top bun.
The Kitchen Witch https://www.thekitchenwitchblog.com/

Make sure to check out all of the other SRC reveals!

Related Posts with Thumbnails

, , , , ,

16 Responses to Asian Apple-Pork Burger

  1. Veronica November 16, 2014 at 11:15 pm #

    OK I love that “EAT” art in the background – is that your kitchen wall? This burger….all I can say is WOW. And YUM. and GIVE ME SOME!!

    • Giggles November 18, 2014 at 6:12 am #

      Veronica, actually it is my office/studio wall. I purchased a package of kitchen vinyl stickers over a year ago, always with the intent to do this. Finally gave it a go!

  2. Nicole Neverman November 17, 2014 at 12:28 am #

    Now this is a burger! What a delicious combination! Great choice of recipe!

    • Giggles November 18, 2014 at 6:19 am #

      Nicole it really is a great combination, I actually made extra and put it in the freezer for a quick burger meal later on.

  3. Sashi @ GetOffTheCouchAndCook November 17, 2014 at 8:22 am #

    Yes, yes, and YES! I *love* the changes you made to this! 🙂 At home. we’ve talked about giving it a more Asian flair as well. Your burger looks and sounds absolutely divine! Thank you for all the wonderful things you said about me and my blog.. and my pizza ring. 😀

    • Giggles November 18, 2014 at 6:20 am #

      Sashi, I really enjoyed having your blog and love your food philosophy and as you know your pizza ring. It was easy to write wonderful things about you!

  4. Deanna Segrave-Daly (@tspbasil) November 17, 2014 at 9:49 am #

    Ha – you described SRC perfectly – what recipe to make every single month – always a delicious struggle. This is genius – I’m not even waiting to make the burgers to make that slaw with my next cabbage!

    • Giggles November 18, 2014 at 6:32 am #

      Anyone who does SRC knows what a struggle picking a recipe out is, but I love how you phrased it “a delicious struggle”. I’ve made an Asian slaw like this before, which was my inspiration. I also put the slaw in spring roll wrappers, oh yeah!

  5. Feast on the Cheap November 17, 2014 at 10:44 am #

    Oooh I love all the flavors in this. Right up my alley

    • Giggles November 18, 2014 at 6:37 am #

      This burger is definitely high on the flavor profile. Being made with ground pork, high on the juicy scale also.

  6. Erin @ Making Memories November 17, 2014 at 12:23 pm #

    Your burger sounds heavenly. What a great combination of flavors!
    http://makingmemorieswithyourkids.com

    • Giggles November 18, 2014 at 6:44 am #

      Thanks Erin, and great job on that Jello Pretzel Salad!

  7. Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen November 17, 2014 at 2:57 pm #

    These sound absolutely delicious!!

  8. chelsy e. November 17, 2014 at 4:17 pm #

    Oh my that looks absolutely mouth-watering…I want that slaw asap!

  9. Debra November 18, 2014 at 2:40 am #

    I miss you guys! I’ll be back for January’s post. Love the EAT backdrop for the final pic, and of course, love the sounds of this burger, Rhonda!

    • Giggles November 18, 2014 at 6:44 am #

      Deb the background is just some cheap vinyl stickers that I finally got around to using. Really how adorable, why’d I wait so long?