Spicy Pork Po'Boys

A po'boy is a sandwich from Louisiana consisting of either fried seafood or meat and is usually paired with a remoulade. I've made shrimp po'boys before and it was a huge hit so I decided to try pork po'boys today.

Spicy Pork Po'Boys

Recipe from Food and Wine

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb ground pork

1 1/2 tsp paprika

1 1/4 tsp dried thyme

3/4 tsp cayenne pepper

3/4 tsp garlic powder

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup mayo

1 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 medium kosher dill pickles, very finely chopped

1/2 small shallot, minced

four 8-inch soft baguettes, split

2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce

2 tomatoes, thinly sliced

hot sauce, for serving

Directions

1. Preheat a grill pan. In a large bowl, using your hands, mix the ground pork with the paprika, thyme, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, 1 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of black pepper. Form the pork into twelve 1/2-inch thick patties. Grill the pork patties over moderate heat, turning once, until they are cooked through, about 8 minutes total. 
2. Meanwhile, mix the mayonnaise with the Dijon mustard, pickles and shallot and season with salt and pepper. Spread the mayonnaise on both sides of the baguettes.
3. Place 3 pork patties on the bottom of each baguette and top with the lettuce, tomato, and a few splashes of hot sauce. Close the sandwiches and serve.

Nutritional Analysis:
per serving : 815 calories, 59.9g fat (17.1g saturated, 15.9g polyunsaturated, 22g monounsaturated), 33.8g carbohydrates, 3.4g fiber, 34.6 protein

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

The great thing about using ground pork is that you don't need a binder to hold the meat together. There's enough fat in the meat to hold it nicely together as it cooks. I increased the cayenne pepper and garlic powder by 1 teaspoon each. Make sure to taste a sample of the pork before grilling all of the patties! You want to make sure you have enough seasoning before shaping and cooking all of the pork. 

Because I had almost 100 patties to make, I grilled them beforehand to get the grill marks and finished them in the oven. Since the patties are quite thick, they took about 20 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees. 

This is relatively a easy sandwich to make and put together. I loved the flavor of the pork with the seasoning; it was reminiscent of Louisiana food. I would imagine that Cajun seasoning would also work well with this dish. The mayo, Dijon mustard mixture was good, but next time I would make my special remoulade that has red onion, capers, cornichons, hard boiled eggs, parsley, hot sauce, and mayo. Honestly, 3 patties per person ended up being quite a large sandwich. Two patties were plenty to fill everyone up! (Especially when you have a side dish of zucchini cheddar potato cakes.) 

To make this dish less calories, I suggest using another bread other than baguettes. You do need a sturdy bread but baguettes are high in calories (one 22 inch baguette has 888 calories!). Try smaller sandwich loaves, or wheat bread to be healthier. You can also serve as sliders!