I cooked: Homemade Pork Burgers

Since our Jamie Oliver inspired beef burgers were a huge success, Hubby suggested we make them again. My friends have recently been raving about pork burgers, so I in turn suggested that we tried making them instead of the beef ones. So after a quick search on the Internet, I came across this recipe on BBC Good Food and thought to myself "This is the one." It looked simple enough to make plus I had all the ingredients on hand.

The pork burgers turned out mighty fine, the patties were extremely juicy and I loved the combination of the savoury pork with the sweet chili sauce. If I was asked to choose between a beef or pork burger, it would be a difficult decision to make... but the pork burger would possibly be the winner for me. The pork meat and the chili sauce resulted in a sweeter tasting burger compared to the more savoury beef patty.

The next time you find yourself craving for a pork burger, why not just make your own? It's cheap, easy and delicious!

Sweet Chilli Pork Burgers

Preparation time: 5-10 minutes

Cooking time: 12-14 minutes

Makes 2

Ingredients

250g pork mince

1 small onion, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, finely diced

1 1/2 tbsp sweet chilli dipping sauce (I used Lingham's)

Dried parsley

3 1/2 tbsp of fresh breadcrumbs

1 egg yolk

A pinch of salt

1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

2 burger buns

1 tomato, thinly sliced

1/4 Japanese cucumber, sliced

2 shallots, sliced thinly

1. To make your own fresh breadcrumbs, you can use either a bread knife, food processor or blender. Since I was only making a small amount, I stuck to the knife. Leave a piece of bread on the counter for it to dry out a little. Trim the crust off a slice of white bread and using the knife, cut the bread into crumbs ie chop it finely. 1 slice of bread will yield approximately 3 1/2 tbsp of breadcrumbs. I decided to use more breadcrumbs than asked in the recipe, because the commentors on the website stated that their patty turned out too wet.

2. Place the pork mince, onion, garlics, chili sauce, parsley, breadcrumbs, salt and egg yolk into a large bowl and mix together with your hands. You may want to put on some disposable gloves for this as it can get pretty messy.

3. Divide into 2, and mold each piece into a roundish shape around 1 inch thick. Cover with cling film and refrigerate until required. This will help them firm up.

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Some heart-shaped tomatoes for Valentine's day?

4. Preheat the oil in a frying pan and then cook the burgers for 6-7 minutes on each side over a medium heat, or until cooked through. Halve your burger buns, spread with some butter and lightly toast them in a frying pan for 30 seconds.