It is not difficult to guess that the main components of this minced meat are pork and beef. In this article we will give useful tips on choosing meat for minced meat and its preparation.
To force the minced meat to be tasty, tender, melting in your mouth, you need to choose high-quality raw materials from which the mince will be prepared.
Pork
The best options for pork meat for minced meat are the neck, brisket and back. They have a lot of meat and fat, this will add minced meat.
When choosing pork meat, pay attention to its appearance: the color should be pale pink, turning into grapefruit. The fatty layers in the meat are pure white, dense, with clear outlines, with a thickness of not more than 1.5-2 cm, otherwise the stuffing will be greasy.
Young pork has little connective tissue, the fibers are thin, tightly compressed.
When buying pulp, inspect other pieces, with skin. The peel should be warm milk color, without a hard bristle resembling a shoe brush. When pressed, the pulp is elastic and quickly returns to its shape.
Beef
Choose beef slices for minced meat, not containing a lot of fat. This is the basis of minced meat, which should not "diverge" during cooking, but rather form meat balls.
The flesh of young beef is soft, soft-garnet in color from large, tightly closed fibers. If fat is present, it should be the color of homemade cream or sour cream. Yellow, dark-colored fat indicates old age, stiffness of meat, even if it is pale pink.
Any part, even sinewy, is suitable for mincemeat - a meat grinder will fix everything.
The gelatin content in beef is higher than in pork, and this property “binds” the minced meat, does not allow it to disintegrate if the correct proportions are observed.
Proportions and Cooking
The ideal proportion of ground beef is 1: 1. That is, if they take 1 kg of pork, then beef should also be 1 kg.
Before cooking the meat, be sure to rinse all the pieces of meat with cold running water to remove small fragments of bones and dirt, dry with a napkin, so the area of contact with the knives of the meat grinder will be larger.
Cut the meat across the fibers with 2 cm wide slices. Cut the slices lengthwise to make large and fairly long slices.
Arrange the chopped meat in two cooked separate bowls - for pork and beef. When passing pieces of meat through a meat grinder, take an equal amount of pieces from both bowls in order to make the minced meat more homogeneous and will not require thorough mixing.
Harvesting and recipes
If minced meat is procured for the future, no components need to be added to it. Form the balls of minced meat, wrap them with cling film and place on the shelf in the freezer for quick freezing. Forcemeat frozen in this way can last up to 6 months.
If you plan to cook minced meat, prepare minced pork and ground beef. The method is presented below.
- 3-4 onions.
- 1 kg of pork and ground beef.
- Salt.
- Ground black pepper to taste.
Peel onions, chop into large pieces and chop in a kitchen chopper or blender. The chopper has less chopping capacity and its use is more convenient.
In a deep bowl, put pork and ground beef, onion mass. Add salt, ground black pepper. Stir until smooth.
Place the minced meat to cool, but for now choose what can be prepared from minced pork and beef. Let's consider several options.
Recipes
Minced pork and beef is suitable for cooking all your favorite cutlets, pasties, stuffed pancakes, rolls, pizza, meatballs, stuffed cabbage, kebab and even pumpkin porridge.
But the dumplings in Russian are rightfully considered to be the king. Below we consider one of the options for their preparation according to the recipe from minced pork and beef.
For the test, take 1 kg of wheat flour, 1-2 eggs, a glass of water or milk, salt. Knead the dough so that it does not stick to your hands. Roll out thin flat cakes from the dough, put a small amount of minced meat in the middle and blind the dumplings.
Dip the finished ones in boiling salt water with bay leaf and cook until they float to the surface. Remove from the pan immediately so that they do not lose shape. Serve the broth separately. If desired, you can use mushroom.