Kotlety Mielone: Polish Ground Pork Patties (Cutlets)

Step 1

If you bought a whole cut of pork, ground it using the medium holes of your meat grinder.

Step 2

Slice half of the bread roll into pieces and place the slices into a container. Cover with milk, so that it’s fully covered. [You could also use stock or water instead]. Soak for at least 5 minutes.

Step 3

As you wait for the roll to soak, peel the onion and dice it finely. The finer the onion pieces are, the easier it will be to form the patties later.

Step 4

Heat up a touch of oil on the frying pan (skillet). Add the diced onion in and fry on a medium-low for 10 minutes or so, until the onion turns nicely golden. Move it over onto a plate and set it aside to cool.

Step 5

Move ground pork into a large bowl.

Step 6

Squeeze the milk out of the bread roll slices and add them to the meat.

Step 7

Crack in the egg. Add in diced onion we’ve fried and cooled.

Step 8

Sprinkle a tablespoon of marjoram, a teaspoon of salt, and half a teaspoon of ground black pepper. Add in the breadcrumbs.

Step 9

Start kneading the meat mass (I do so by hand, to avoid extra cleaning). To make the process easier, you can add a tablespoon or two of water. It takes around 5 minutes of kneading to get a smooth mass. Don’t try to skip this process, this is important!

Step 10

Form equally sized balls from the ground mixture. In my case, one cutlet usually weighs about 3-3.3 oz (85-95 g), and I end up with eight of them.

Step 11

First, form each cutlet by hand into a perfect ball, then lengthen and flatten it slightly (resembling a flattened tic-tac).

Step 12

If any onion pieces are sticking out on the surface, you can push them in and reshape the patty again.

Step 13

Coat each cutlet in breadcrumbs.

Step 14

Prepare a large frying pan (skillet), ideally with a heavier bottom. Heat 2-3 tablespoons of oil, lard, or clarified butter. Set the heat on the highest setting.

Step 15

Add the patties in, and fry them for 90 seconds from each side (that’s 3 minutes in total). Do be mindful of the time, we’re frying on a high heat here.

Step 16

Reduce the heat to medium and cover the frying pan with a lid. Fry for 3-4 minutes, then flip the patties and fry for another 30 seconds.

Step 17

If you’re unsure about the doneness, you can remove one cutlet onto a plate and cut it in half. If the inside has a uniform, slightly grey colour, that means the patties are done. Don’t extent the cooking time unnecessarily, that will turn them dry.

Step 18

Line a plate with 2 layers of paper towel and carefully move the cutlets over. That way, we’ll get rid of the excess fat.

Step 19

And we’re done! Smacznego.