Minced meat is the basis of many dishes. If you cook it properly without auxiliary tools like a meat grinder or blender, then you will learn a great base for steaks and burgers. Minced meat: 7 cooking tips.
How to choose beef tenderloin: the color of fresh meat is bright red or with a slight pinkish tinge, if it is the meat of a dairy calf. The clipping must consist of all three parts. Meat fibers should be very soft. When you click on a high-quality cut, it leaves a dent that gradually disappears. When choosing a tenderloin, always give preference to chilled meat.
There are three main ways to prepare minced meat. The fastest and most familiar way is to twist the meat in a meat grinder. The second – grind with a blender and the third-chop manually. Let’s look at each of them in more detail.
What happens to meat in the meat grinder? Under the influence of pressure, it shrinks and loses its juices. The meat is ground in a blender, so it is easy to make a mistake with the desired consistency. The best option is considered to be manual chopping with knives. When meat is chopped with knives, it retains its juiciness and taste.
For manual chopping of meat, you will need a sharp, heavy knife and a stable cutting board. Professional chefs use two knives, much speeding up the process of getting minced meat. One knife should be long and narrow – we will use it to cut a whole piece of meat into small pieces. And you can chop them with a cooking hatchet with a wide square blade. You can use two ordinary knives, but you will have to chop the meat with both hands at the same time, shifting the mince to the center.
Start cooking minced meat, cutting a whole piece of meat lengthwise into three parts. Now each part should be cut into thin slices across the fibers. Put these slices of 3-4 pieces together and chop them into small cubes (about a centimeter each).
In the preparation of minced meat, combinations are allowed. The most familiar for us is beef and pork. But beef and lamb, beef and chicken, lamb and chicken gives new, interesting flavor combinations. However, there is an exception. If a Burger cutlet is prepared from minced meat, it is better to use only beef without additional additives. No matter what kind of meat you choose, it must be stripped of films and veins before chopping.
As additional ingredients, you can add butter, grated cheese and some raw vegetables grated on a grater to the minced meat. They will give the minced meat extra juiciness. And spices will help to give new shades of taste. For beef, this is black pepper and nutmeg, for lamb, zira and coriander are ideal.
Chopped and seasoned minced meat should be well beaten off with your hands into a uniform springy lump. This is necessary to ensure that the minced meat does not disintegrate when frying. After all these manipulations, minced meat needs “rest”. It should be put in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.
Ready minced meat can be stored no more than a day, hermetically closed on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.Bon Appetit!
