Pork, bacon & chorizo burgers with pulled pork

Pork, bacon & chorizo burgers with pulled pork

For the pork

• Pork shoulder (size depending on how many you are feeding, 5kg serves approx. 10)
• Olive oil
• Sea salt & ground black pepper
• 2 heaped teaspoons of smoked paprika

For the burgers (makes approx 6)

• 1 ½ teaspoons cumin seeds
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ½ cup diced shallots
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp thyme leaves
• 2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
• 2 chiles de arbol finely diced
• 2 lbs pork mince
• Salt & Pepper
• 120g finely diced chorizo
• 4 slices smoked bacon finely diced
• 6 burger buns

 Method:-

Preheat your oven to the highest temperature, score the pork skin about 1cm deep all over with a sharp knife (if not done already).  Drizzle over a little olive oil, season generously with salt, pepper and the paprika and rub in to the pork.  Place the pork into a roasting tin (I suggest lining the tin with foil) then place in the oven, turn the heat down to 160 degrees and cook for 4 hours, basting occasionally.  After 4 hours turn the heat down to 150 degrees and cook for a further 2 hours or until you can pull the meat apart easily.  Remove the crackling and leave to one side and pull the pork apart using two forks, cover with tin foil until needed.

Whilst the pork is cooking, in a medium pan, toast the cumin seeds over a medium heat for a few minutes until the seeds release their aroma and darken slightly.  Pound the seeds in a mortar or grinder until coarsely ground.  Return the pan to the stove, add the olive oil and heat for a couple of minutes, add the shallots, turn the heat down to medium and cook for a few minutes until they start to soften.  Add the garlic, thyme, cumin, sliced chile, a few grinds of black pepper and a couple of pinches of salt.  Cook for 3-4 minutes until the shallots become translucent, set aside to cool.  In a large bowl combine the pork, chorizo, bacon, shallot mixture & parsley, season with a few grinds of black pepper and a few good pinches of salt.  Shape the meat into 6 burgers, chill in the refrigerator if not using right away.

You can either BBQ your burgers, grill them or fry them in a frying pan with a little olive oil.  Once cooked through, place your burger onto a toasted bun and top with the pulled pork.  For this recipe, I mixed the pulled pork with Kankun Chipotle sauce to give it extra flavour, I also topped with burger with smoked cheese and served with slaw and spicy wedges.  

These burgers are perfect for a summer bbq and always go down a treat.