A burger quartet for barbecue time

Add a little summery flavor to your burger menus with the following recipes ideas. Chef Jason Slimak’s Hawaii 5-0 Burger, featuring Angus beef and braised pork, is served at Lockdown Bar and Grill in Chicago. Also, check out the Spicy Sweet Barbecue Beef Burgers, Grilled Pacific Burgers, and Blueberry Turkey Burgers with Lemon-Basil Mayonnaise. For an eye-catching beverage, try the Pink Blueberry Lemonade recipe, chilled with blueberry ice cubes and served in a clear glass.

Hawaii 5-0 Burger

From: Chef Jason Slimak, Lockdown Bar and Grill, Chicago. Yield: 5 servings.

Braised Pork Spice Rub:
as needed, kosher salt
as needed, cayenne pepper
as needed, cumin
as needed, cinnamon
as needed, onion powder
as needed, granulated garlic
as needed, smoked paprika

1 lb. pork butt
2 large yellow onions, julienned
as needed, bacon fat (may substitute vegetable oil)
2 pints brown ale
5 10-oz. Angus beef burger patties
5 slices red onion, sliced 1/8” thick
as needed, barbecue sauce (instructions follow)
5 slices fresh cut pineapple, ½” thick
to taste, kosher salt and black pepper
5 hamburger buns

For spice rub: Combine ingredients.

For braised pork: Remove excess fat from pork butt, leaving around ¼  to ½ of it for flavor. Rub pork butt with spice rub. Heat bacon fat in large skillet just to smoking point. Sear all sides of the pork butt, then remove from pan to a large oven-proof pan. Pan should be deep enough to submerge pork butt ¾ in the pan. Turn heat off under skillet with bacon fat and add yellow onions. Heat will be high enough to sauté onions without burning them. Cook onions for 4 minute, then turn heat back on to medium flame. Add 2 pints brown ale. Reduce beer for a few minutes to cook off the alcohol. Add liquid and onion mixture to pork butt in the deep oven-proof pan. (If needed, top off the pan with chicken stock so pork butt is ¾ covered with liquid.) Cook pork butt, covered, in a 350°F oven for approximately 3 hours or until pork butt falls apart when you try to pick it up.  Remove from oven and immediately refrigerate. Pull pork as needed.

For barbecue sauce: Combine Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce, kosher salt to taste, sriracha sauce and instant coffee thinned with a little water.

For burgers: Generously season beef patties with kosher salt and black pepper. Cook to desired temperature on grill. Grill fresh-cut pineapple slices on a cooler part of the grill so slices cook slowly and brown without burning.

To assemble burgers: Place grilled burger patty on bun. Top with slice of red onion and slice of grilled pineapple.  Add pulled pork on top of pineapple and dress with barbecue sauce.  Place top of bun on sandwich and serve.

PHOTO: LOCKDOWN BAR AND GRILL