Turkey Drumstick Cutlets with Cheese

Ground meat

1. A drumstick is very convenient for the ground meat. It’s a large piece with plenty of meat.

2. Debone the drumstick. Cut off the skin; I don’t like it even in soup, so the yard cats are always happy to get it. With a sharp knife, cut out the large bone.

   

   The whole drumstick is covered with tough connective tissue, which is lighter than the meat. Cut the meat off this membrane with a knife. A drumstick contains quite a few thin, long bones that look like “needles”. All of them, without exception, must be cut out. Only reddish-pink meat should remain, with no bones, sinews or membranes.

   

3. Grind the cleaned turkey in a meat grinder. The ground meat turns out quite “dry”. To make it softer, add fried onion.

4. Fry the onion. Peel one medium onion and chop it finely. Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a saucepan and fry the onion until golden. It’s best to do this over low heat so the onion becomes soft and doesn’t burn.

5. Mix the ground meat with the slightly cooled fried onion, then add sweet paprika, salt and black pepper.

   

   Mix the ground meat very thoroughly so all the ingredients are well distributed. By the way, instead of salt we sometimes add 1 tbsp of soy sauce. It’s salty enough and makes the ground meat moister and juicier.

   

Cutlets

1. It’s best to use a cheese that melts well: Radamer, Dutch cheese, Emmental, Swiss. If you decide to use butter as the filling, shape it into short cylinders and freeze them.

2. Shape the cutlets with cheese. Cut the cheese into four oblong sticks. Divide the ground meat into four parts and shape them into small flat cakes. Put a piece of cheese on each cake and wrap the meat around it with your hands, shaping a large oval cutlet. In size, these turkey cutlets with cheese are like chicken Kyiv.

   

3. Press the cutlets slightly with your hands to get a smooth, rounded shape. It’s important that the layer of meat is uniform in thickness and density, so the melted cheese doesn’t leak out during cooking. Transfer the cutlets to a plate.

   

4. Coat the prepared cutlets in breadcrumbs. The crumbs stick well even without egg. For breading we don’t use store-bought crumbs; we grate a dried French baguette. Bread crumbs are an excellent breading, better than store-bought.

   

Frying

1. To improve the flavor and aroma, we fry the cutlets in butter. The cutlets are fairly large, so it takes time for the meat to cook through and the filling to melt. Don’t rush the heat.

2. Melt 50 g of butter in a frying pan, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Put the cutlets into the butter and fry on all sides until a nice golden crust forms.

3. Turning them often, fry the cutlets over low heat until the first signs of melted cheese seeping through the pores of the meat appear, usually about 20 minutes. This is a guarantee that the turkey is done.

   Alternatively, you can cover the pan with a lid and bring the meat to doneness. But then cracks will most likely appear in the meat and some of the filling will leak out. Still, it even looks nice.

   

Serving

1. We rarely add a side dish when serving these cutlets, since there is a lot of meat and it’s filling.

2. Put the cutlets on a plate with lettuce leaves and sliced vegetables, and add tomato ketchup or a sauce. Serve the dish hot.

   

   If you do decide to serve a side dish, mashed potatoes would be just perfect. I think turkey would also go well with fried rice.