Michishige’s first meal in the competition, she commented that this was something she often made with her mother. This was her first dish she said she would be making on her own before she started.

Ingredients

For the burger/sides

1/2 onion
100 ml milk
30 g panko/bread crumbs
1 egg
90 g ground beef/pork
1/8 carrot
1/2 potato
1 tsp mentsuyu*
small amount of oil to cook (roughly 2 tsp)

For the sauce

1 tsp ketchup
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
50 ml water

*The mentsuyu amount wasn’t mentioned, but it looked like about 1 tsp at undiluted strength. Adjust based on the concentration of your mentsuyu.

Method

1. Soak the bread crumbs in the milk as you prep the rest of the recipe.
2. Dice and fry the onion on medium/medium-high heat until it just browns.
3. Cut the carrot and potato into bite-sized discs. Cut out shapes with a small cutter or with a knife.
4. Combine the ground meat, fried onion, soaked bread crumbs, egg, and mentsuyu. Knead until well-combined and slightly sticky.
5. Shape into a heart (or hearts) and fry over medium-high heat.**
You can cook the potato/carrot at the same time in the open spots on the pan. Remove the vegetables when cooked to your liking.
6. Create the glaze by combining the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and water in the already heated pan. The sauce is ready when the sauce is thickened but still pourable.
7. Pour the glaze over the plated burger and vegetables. Done!

Serve with your preferred starch.

** You can cover the pan for faster cooking. Brown for 3 minutes on one side, then flip. For medium-well, cook for an addition 5-8 minutes after flipping (8-11 minutes altogether). This will depend on the thickness of your burger. Add 2-3 minutes for any ground poultry (5 minutes before flipping, 7-11 minutes additional).