Charcoal Grilled Cherry Pork Burgers

Directions

1. Fill a chimney starter to the top with charcoal briquettes. Place a lighter cube below the chimney and ignite. Allow the briquettes to fully light within the chimney for 15-20 minutes.
2. In the meantime, combine the ground pork with all ingredients in a bowl. Using a light delicate hand, gently mix the ingredients together. Don’t ‘go to town’ on the mixture, or your patties will turn into dry little pucks and nobody wants that!
3. Form the mixture into eight equal patties and place them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. If they aren’t the perfect shape – don’t fret! The beauty of these patties is that they’re homemade; you don’t want them to look like they’ve just left a factory conveyor belt.
4. Place the cookie sheet with the patties into the freezer for 5-10 minutes to allow the patties to firm up before hitting the grill.
5. Using grill gloves, pour lit briquettes into charcoal baskets and close the lid of your charcoal barbecue. Allow the grill to preheat for 15 minutes.
6. Remove patties from the freezer. Cook directly over top of coals until prominent grill marks are formed (about 2-3 minutes), and then flip. Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, and transfer patties to the outer ring of the barbecue to ensure they’re cooked throughout. Close the lid and allow the patties to continue cooking.
7. Using a probe thermometer, remove patties from the grill once an internal temperature of 72⁰C(160⁰F) is reached. Allow to rest on a plate partially covered with aluminum foil.
8. Serving suggestions: We love to serve these patties as part of a simple, but decadent weekend brunch with sunny side up eggs, and crispy hash browns. Plus, we love dousing the entire plate with even more maple syrup and letting it ooze all over the patties. Talk about breakfast heaven!