Teriyaki Pork Burgers

Exciting news #1: The Zojirushi plays MUSIC whenever I turn it on (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star) and when it finishes cooking (a good 30 seconds of music that I'm not familiar with) another one. LOVE it. The sheer ridiculousness of it makes me so happy.
Exciting news #2: Teriyaki pork burgers are the awesome sauce. No. Seriously. Super awesome sauce.

This isn't exciting to anyone but me, is it?

Covered with glazed goodness.

Soy-Glazed Pork Burgers

(adapted from Elizabeth Andoh's Washoku)

Ingredients

1 small onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons saké, divided
1 lb lean ground pork (I used heritage pork from HOPE eco-farms)
½ cup panko
1 egg
1 tbsp miso

2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp hot water
3 tbsp soy sauce

Directions

1. Heat a large skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-low heat. Add onions and sauté for about 2 minutes, or until tender, but not browned (but if they do brown, it's not the end of the world). Add 1 tbsp sake to the pan and deglaze the whole thing, scraping up all of those delicious brown bits. Remove onions from pan with any leftover sake bits and let cool in a bowl.

2. In a large bowl, combine pork, panko, egg, miso and cooled onions. I get in there and use my hands to thoroughly mix it all together.

3. Divide the mixture into however many patties you desire (somewhere between 4 and 10 [I made 10 minis].

4. Return the same skillet you used for the onions to the heat, and cover again with cooking spray. Add patties and sear on the first side until browned, about 1 minute. [If you've done several patties, you may need to do the browning and steaming in two batches.]

Flip, and sear the patties on the second side. If the surface cracks a bit, don't freak out. It'll all work out in the long run. Add the remaining sake, 1 tbsp, to the pan, cover quickly with a lid and let cook for 5 or so minutes (for minis - 8-10 minutes for larger ones). If you're doing two batches, use ½ tbsp sake for each batch.

5. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the sugar with the hot water, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the soy sauce. Return the skillet to med-high heat and pour the soy sauce over the burgers into it. Shake the skillet to coat the beef patties and flip them after a minute to make sure they're evenly glazed.

If you're like me, you'll probably spend 4-5 minutes with the flippy and glazing. I love me a thick sauce.

See? That's some mighty fine thick sauce. I had a hard time not licking the plate!

Serve over rice, with a side of sugar-free carrot kinpira.