Hawaiian Pork Burgers

While it might be the first day of Autumn, here in Hawaii, where it is almost seasonless, we are enjoying a day of blue skies, light breezes, and temperatures ascending into the mid 80’s!

HAWAIIAN PORK BURGERS

ALOHA!

These pork burgers are all the rage here and

can be found in a few different verities on every menu.

E LEalea! (enjoy)

INGREDIENTS:

METHOD:

1. Using your hands, in a bowl, mix the ground pork, green onion, allspice, salt, pepper and ground ginger together until well combined but not mashed. If you knead the mixture too much the burgers will be tough. Use the salt sparingly because there is salt in the ham and the barbecue sauce.
2. To form the patties, gently form 4 patties of equal size with a slight indentation in the middle (the burgers will contract as they cook and this indentation keeps the burgers from bulging in the middle).
3. Separate the patties with wax paper and store in refrigerator for a few hours before grilling.
4. Prepare the grill for medium high heat.  Scrape down the grill grates and coat with vegetable oil. Place the pork patties on the hot grill and coat the top with some of the barbecue sauce.
5. Cover the grill and cook for 5 or 7 minutes (or to your desired wellness) flipping the burgers and coating them with more barbecue sauce.
6. After you have flipped the burgers, lay the pineapple rings down on a hot part of the grill and cook for 3-5, minutes until you get nice grill marks on one side.
7. Flip and grill for another 1-2 minutes. Let the burgers cook for another 2-3 minutes or, as before, cook until your desired doneness. Remove all from the grill and let rest while you toast the buns on the grill until the ends are turning brown.
8. Assemble the burgers by laying some lettuce on the bun, add the burger and coat with some barbecue sauce. Top with the ham, then the pineapple and a little more barbecue sauce, if needed. Top with the other bun.