Barbecue Pork Burgers
Spicing up store-bought barbecue sauce with cayenne and vinegar is an easy trick that makes a big difference. Here, the sauce is mixed into the meat, slathered onto the cooked burgers for the last minute of grilling, and brushed on the bun.
Ingredients
For the coleslaw
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
- 2 cups thinly sliced green cabbage
- 1/2 cup thinly shredded carrot
- 1 tablespoon thinly sliced chives or scallions
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the barbecue pork burgers
- 1/2 cup your fave store-bought or homemade barbecue sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 1/2 pounds ground pork* (see WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW below)
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Olive oil, for the grill rack
- 4 buns or kaiser rolls or soft squishy breadstuff of some sort, split and toasted or grilled
Instructions
Make the coleslaw
- In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, milk, and vinegar until smooth.
- Toss in the cabbage, carrot, chives, and salt and pepper to taste and gently toss to combine.
- Let the slaw stand at room temperature while you cook the burgers or cover and refrigerate for up to 8 hours.
Make the barbecue pork burgers
- Prepare your grill for direct-heat cooking over medium-hot charcoal or medium heat for gas.
- In a small bowl, stir together the barbecue sauce, cayenne, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and vinegar.
- In a large bowl, gently combine the pork, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons barbecue sauce mixture until combined. Do not overmix.
- Using your hands, gently form the mixture into 4 patties, each about 4 inches in diameter and 3/4 inch thick, being careful not to pack the pork too tightly.
- Carefully slick the grill rack with oil, plop the burgers on top, and grill, flipping the burgers every few minutes, until no trace of pink remain and the burgers register 155°F (68°C), 6 to 12 minutes total, depending on the thickness.
☞ TESTER TIP: If you're measuring the temperature of the burgers, for the most accurate reading, hold the prong of the thermometer horizontal to the grill rack and insert it in sideways until it reaches the center. In other words, don't try to insert the prong from the top down toward the grill. You'll get a more accurate read this way.
- Brush the top of each burger with 1 tablespoon remaining barbecue sauce mixture, flip, and grill for 30 seconds. Brush each burger with about 1 tablespoon remaining sauce, remove from the heat, and let them rest for at least 5 minutes.
- While the burgers rest, brush the cut sides of each of the buns with the remaining barbecue sauce mixture.
- Assemble the barbecue pork burgers, toping each bun with a burger and a heaping spoonful of coleslaw. Serve immediately with A LOT of napkins.
Notes
*What you need to know about how to buy the best ground pork
The editors at Gourmet have the following to say about how to buy the best ground pork: “Although most of the ground pork that you buy in the supermarket doesn’t indicate what part of the pig it hails from, we know that good pork burgers, like good beef burgers, is made from shoulder meat. If you have access to a butcher, ask for pork ground from the shoulder (ask for what’s known as ‘pork butt,’ a confusingly named cut that’s actually from the shoulder). It’s got a desirable ratio of meat to fat that you need for a juicy, flavorful burger. Lean is not the way to go; fat is where the real flavor is. For the best texture, ask the butcher to run it through the grinder only once, on a coarse setting.”Nutrition
Serving: 1burger, with bun | Calories: 743kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 34g | Fat: 49g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Monounsaturated Fat: 19g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 129mg | Sodium: 1217mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 17g