Steamed Pork and Beef Patties

The mince

1. Cooking with hot steam is the gentlest way to heat-treat food. Whatever the ground meat is made of, steamed patties come out very tender, with a delicate meaty flavor. For the mince we use a mix of slightly fatty pork and veal, which is the most successful combination. We also add onion and a few spices. We don’t use any binders at all. But to make the mixture more uniform, we grind the meat additionally with a blender and add boiled water, just as for kebabs and ćevapi.

2. Thoroughly trim the meat of bones, sinews and connective tissue.

   

3. Cut the meat into pieces the size of a chicken egg, so it is easier to put through the meat grinder.

4. Peel an onion, not a very big one, as it blends in harmoniously with the overall flavor of the finished patties.

5. Grind the onion and meat in the meat grinder.

   

6. Salt the mince and add the spices. Plain black pepper is enough. Don’t add anything too aromatic, because steamed patties should taste and smell of meat, not seasonings.

7. Transfer the mince to the bowl of a blender with rotating blades and process it until it is uniform and fine enough for the meat particles to bind together.

   

8. Mix cooled boiled water into the mince: for half a kilo of meat, 50–70 ml is enough.

9. Knead the mixture thoroughly. It becomes soft and even slightly elastic, completely uniform.

   

Steaming

1. We use a Chinese multi-tier bamboo steamer, in which we successfully cook steamed patties and various kinds of Chinese dumplings, such as jiaozi, baozi and so on.

2. Line the bottom of the steamer basket with a special cloth liner.

3. Fill a suitable pot that the steamer sits on with water to about a third of its height and put it over high heat.

4. With wet hands, shape small oval patties weighing about 50 g each.

5. Place the patties in the steamer basket, not touching each other.

   

6. As soon as the water in the pot boils, set the basket with the patties on top and cover it with the bamboo lid. Turn the heat down to medium so the water boils steadily.

7. Steam for 8-10 minutes. That is guaranteed to cook the meat without saturating the mince with extra moisture. A cooked patty is firm, with no pink inside and clear juices.

   Be careful when working with a steamer: you can get burned by the steam when lifting the lid.

   

Serving

1. Put the patties on a plate, add a bit of fresh herbs, and serve the mashed potatoes separately in a small bowl. Serve the patties right away, while they are very hot.

   Meat patties, whatever the cooking method, are usually served with a side dish. To my taste, the best side for patties is mashed potatoes with a little butter, the taste of my childhood.

   If you use chicken instead of pork and beef, you can shorten the cooking time slightly. You can add finely chopped herbs to the mince, such as parsley or cilantro. If you like, also make a light sauce or gravy based on butter, which goes great with the dish.