Taiwanese breakfast burger (han bao dan)

Whenever I'm in Taiwan, I love to eat Taiwanese breakfast burgers. I keep experimenting and this batch came the closest to what I have had in Taiwan.

Usually I cook them on my cast iron grill. I heat the grill on the stove top and I open the window to let out the smoke given off by the grill, but it's now 20 F/ - 8 C where I live, so I switched to a 4 in 1 George Foreman Grill for the winter. These patties weigh about 2 ounces/54 grams before they hit the grill. I cook them this size so they cook faster , I can fit 2 of them side by side on a slice of bread, and I have a 3 year old so it's easier for him to eat.

To make

1.5 lbs of ground pork

1 Tablespoon of Japanese rice cooking wine

1 Tablespoon of sugar (you can substitute shredded carrot that's equal in amount to the onion)

3 Heaping tablespoons of Korean Seasoned Soybean Paste (Doenjang).

1 small onion, diced

Combine the sugar, rice wine, Seasoned soybean paste in a bowl and stir to mix them together. Add the ground pork and diced onion. Let sit for 20 minutes or so to marinate.

I preheated the George Foreman to medium high. I then cooked 6 small burgers at a time. I served them on bread with Miracle Whip (salad dressing) and a sliced pickle.

You can also add a fried egg (that' what they do in Taiwan) onto each burger and use sliced Lebanese or Japanese cucumber instead of pickles.