Vietnamese Pork Burgers with Splendid Sauce

These are truly the definition of a better burger. Big rich flavors meld beautifully with the bright, tangy sauce. They work well on a lettuce wrap or with your favorite bun. Take a trip to your local Asian market or the Asian food aisle at your favorite grocery store and see how much fun these ingredients can be. Adapted from an Epicurious recipe

Servings people

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 20

Total Time 35

Ingredients

Vietnamese Pork Burgers

2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp grated fresh ginger or 1 tsp ground ginger
1 stalk lemongrass or the zest of one lime
1 bunch scallions
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 pounds ground pork
2 tbsp fish sauce or soy sauce

Splendid Sauce

4 tbsp rice vinegar unseasoned, or white wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp fish sauce or soy sauce
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

Instructions

Make the burgers

Press the garlic or mince it really fine
Grate the ginger or mince it really fine. I often peel a big knob of ginger and store it in the freezer. It grates beautifully with a Microplane
Chop the scallions - all the white and the first part of the green
Wash the lemongrass. This is a wonderful ingredient. It can be found at Asian markets and sometimes at large grocery stores. It's inexpensive and smells amazing (if you are using lime zest instead, skip to step 8)
Peel the outer layer off of the lemongrass and smack it with the back of a knife to reveal the softer inner layers.
Chop the innermost layers of the lemongrass into small pieces. You will love how it smells
Place the ground pork in a large bowl and add the chopped lemongrass (or lime zest), scallions, ginger, garlic, fish sauce (or soy sauce), salt and pepper
Gently mix the ingredients into the pork and form into 6 burgers
Heat the grill (or grill pan or broiler) and cook the pork burgers until internal temperature measures 145 degrees and they are cooked through - 6-8 minutes per side depending on thickness. Let the burgers rest for 5-10 minutes

Make the splendid sauce

Mix the rice vinegar, fish sauce, sugar, water and red pepper flakes in a small bowl. Stir to dissolve the sugar.
Serve the burgers on lettuce or your favorite bun with the splendid sauce and dip away! We love to eat these with my Savory Rice with Ginger and Cilantro - recipe also on the blog

Notes

For this recipe and many great recipes to come, I highly recommend purchasing both fish sauce and unseasoned rice vinegar. Both ingredients are easily found at Asian markets or large grocery stores. There are many good brands, these two are my favorites. Both are high quality and gluten free. You can substitute white wine vinegar and soy sauce. The flavors won't be as rich, but it will still taste great

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Vietnamese Pork Burgers with Splendid Sauce