Tongan Luau Burger

First, break up ground pork and mix in the Five Spice seasoning. Pour in 120 ml of the marinade.

Open the can of crushed pineapple. Using the lid as a press, squeeze out the juice and reserve it for a reduction sauce later. Fold in the entire contents (minus the juice).

Once all the ingredients are in the bowl, you’ll want to mix thoroughly. Again, don’t be afraid to get your hands messy.

Once you are satisfied that your ingredients are mixed well enough, pat out the mixture in the bowl and let it rest for about 30 minutes. At this point, you can go ahead and mix together 3 tablespoons of a teriyaki glaze and 3 tablespoons of the marinade and set them aside for basting.

You want to start your sauce reduction now. Using the remaining bottled marinade and the pineapple juice you reserved earlier, at a 2-to-1 ratio, pour the two liquids into a small saucepan. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer until it reduces by half. Remove from heat and cover.

Weigh 135 grams of meat mixture for each pattie. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray and place your patties on the sheet. It’s best to make them a couple of hours to a day ahead of time and let them rest in the refrigerator. If you are making them for immediate use, you can place your tray in a freezer for about 5 to 10 minutes. The outside should firm up quick.

With the grill heated to high, spray your burgers with your grilling spray and place your burgers directly on the grill and reduce the heat to medium. Once the burgers are on the grill, do not flip them for at least 6 minutes. Because you placed the burgers on a very high-temperature grill, the outside is getting seared while the inside is beginning to cook.

Fry the sausage and egg. Then set aside.

With the burgers on the grill, you’ll want to slice your pineapple. Cut off both ends, and you’ll peel it with a knife. Slice it into 8 even slices (about a 1/4 inch thick, depending on the fruit itself). Be sure not to core the centre out just yet. Leaving the core in allows the fruit to grill easier. You can core it out later before you eat it.

It’s finally time to flip your burgers. Flip each burger carefully and arrange them according to the heat pattern of your grill as to not over or under cook each of them. Take your teriyaki marinade mixture you made earlier and baste each burger. If you have extra, spread it evenly over the burgers. You’ll now add the pineapple slices directly to the heat.

After another 6 minutes, flip the pineapple slices and the burgers. By flipping only a few times, you create very lovely grill marks. Now it’s just a matter of personal preference. The more charred you want, the fruit and burgers is entirely up to you at this point.

Place the provolone cheese on the burgers and allow the cheese to melt. Once completely melted, remove the burgers and pineapple from the grill.

Coat one side of the bun with your reduction. Place your cheese pork/pineapple burger on the reduction. Using a knife, cut a slice of pineapple in half and core the centre. Set your cored pineapple slice on your burger and top with the fried egg, sausage, greens, and bun.