Cutlets are a classic dish for homemade lunch or dinner. Such a popular love for meatballs is simply explained: preparing this dish is quite simple, besides, it is not only tasty, but also convenient. After all, cutlets can be eaten both hot and cold, any side dish goes well with them. Delicious sandwiches can be made with cutlets, it is convenient to take them with you to a picnic or to work for a lunch snack.
However, in the home kitchen, cutlets are most often prepared from minced meat, undeservingly forgetting about an equally tasty and healthy version of poultry meat. By the way, many people think that minced chicken cutlets are an exclusively dietary dish. This is partly true, it all depends entirely on the cooking technology. For example, if you cook chopped chicken cutlets from lean breasts, and even do not fry them in a frying pan, but bring them to readiness in an air grill or a double boiler, then the dish will turn out to be light and non-greasy.
However, many cutlets made from chicken breasts seem dry and not too tasty. In this case, we can advise you to cook minced chicken cutlets according to a different recipe, they will turn out to be less dietary, but tender and juicy.
Let's start cooking with a selection of products. Ideally, minced meat for cutlets should be prepared independently. The fact is that the main component of minced meat, which is sold in stores, as a rule, is chicken skin. Therefore, the prepared mincemeat is excessively fatty, and when frying the meatballs are greatly reduced in volume, since the fat tends to melt. Therefore, you can buy ready-made chicken mincemeat only if there is no doubt in its quality.
To prepare juicy chicken minced meatballs, it is better to use meat removed from chicken legs. Or make mixed minced meat from chicken and chicken meat. It is extremely undesirable to add skin to the meat, however, this is a matter of taste. If someone likes fatter cutlets, then you can grind the skin as well.
The classic recipe for minced chicken involves adding finely chopped onions, bread and eggs to the minced meat. Onions can be added fried or raw. But the main thing is that it should be very finely chopped or chopped. The fact is that chicken cutlets are fried very quickly, so large pieces of onion will not have time to become soft and will crunch on the teeth, giving the dish a sharp aftertaste. You should put no more than 150 grams of well chopped onion per kilogram of minced meat.
As for bread, it is added to the minced meat not at all with the aim of saving meat, but to give juiciness and softness. Here the main thing is to observe the proportions, the classic recipe provides that 250 grams of white bread without crusts are required per kilogram of minced meat. If you put less, the cutlets will come out a bit dry, and if you overdo it, you will get "bread" cutlets with the smell of meat, which are often cooked in cheap dining rooms.
Chicken eggs are a must, as cutlets often fall apart without them. But laying too many eggs is not worth it; the dish will turn out tough. For our number of products (a kilogram of minced meat, 250 grams of bread and 200 grams of onions) it is enough to take two eggs.
After the stuffing is well mixed and homogeneous, it must be put in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes, not forgetting to cover the bowl with a lid or cling film.
You can cook cutlets from the actual minced meat. By the way, to give them greater juiciness, experienced chefs advise adding a little finely chopped ice to the finished mass. Before frying, cutlets should be breaded using flour, crushed crackers or sesame seeds.
For a change, minced chicken cutlets can be cooked with various additives. For example, you can add finely chopped mushrooms, grated cheese or greens when kneading the minced meat. In this case, cutlets will have a different, but no less interesting taste.