How to cook cutlets so they don't fall apart when frying

It turns out that not only young housewives are faced with certain problems in the kitchen, such as the inability to properly fry cutlets so that they do not fall apart. Even experienced cooks cannot always serve perfectly smooth and whole cutlets. But our grandmothers can share more than one trick for preparing such a popular meat dish in order to make the cutlets not only incredibly tasty, but also very beautiful. In this article we will talk about how to easily maintain the shape of cutlets when frying.

Traditionally, it was believed that the shape of the cutlets was preserved during heat treatment by adding eggs to the minced meat. Of course, no one is going to argue with this statement, but still, some wisdom will help make fried cutlets whole and beautiful even without eggs.

About the importance of minced meat consistency

Cutlets are one of the most important and popular dishes on the everyday table.
A holiday feast is rarely complete without them, and almost any housewife considers it her duty to be able to cook tasty, juicy and beautiful cutlets. But in order for them to turn out that way and not fall apart during the frying process, you need to know some important aspects of their preparation. The main reason why cutlets fall apart is the incorrect consistency of the minced meat. You need to try to keep it not liquid and not very greasy. To achieve this consistency, you can add additional ingredients to the minced meat.

Secrets to keep cutlets from falling apart

The correct consistency of the minced meat (its composition). The minced meat should not be liquid. To avoid this you need to add additional components.

For example:

Loaf or white bread. This component of minced meat has already become an almost inseparable part of it. It is always used by both experienced and young housewives. First you need to soak it in milk or water (boiled).
It should be slightly callous. If there are burnt crusts, cut them off. The ratio of bread to meat should be 20% to 80% respectively. This is the best proportion of all.

Semolina . It may happen that there is no bread in the house. Then you can use semolina. If you have a kilogram of minced meat, then a tablespoon of semolina is enough. It needs to be mixed well with the minced meat. And then leave the semolina to swell for a couple of hours.

Potato . You can also replace bread and semolina with potatoes. It needs to be grated on a fine grater and mixed thoroughly with minced meat. Instead of potatoes, you can add other vegetables, such as carrots or cabbage. The addition of vegetables gives the cutlets a special and unique taste.

Adding eggs .
According to the advice of experienced housewives, it is better to add not a whole egg, but only the yolks. But this advice only applies to meat cutlets. If you have vegetable or fish cutlets, you can add the whole egg.

Beating minced meat

Another equally important way to achieve strong and beautiful cutlets is to beat the minced meat. When beating, the meat fibers soften, the minced meat becomes a homogeneous smooth mass, and not pieces stuck together. Plus, after beating, meat juice is formed, and the cutlets are crusty on the outside and very juicy on the inside.

Beating minced meat is not difficult. If there is a lot of meat, it is better to divide it into several not very large parts. From each part you should make a flat, but not thin cutlet, which will later need to be thrown hard on the table.

Of course, it is best to do this on a flat and wide cutting board so as not to stain the countertop with meat. You should throw the meat at least 20 times, and preferably about 40. The purpose of this action is to ensure that the meat does not crack upon impact, but spreads over the surface. This way you can achieve smooth, soft and uniform minced meat.

Cutlets made from such minced meat will definitely not fall apart when frying.

Reasons why cutlets fall apart

There are several reasons why this trouble occurs.

Poorly mixed minced meat. Take the time to mix all the minced meat ingredients well so that the mass becomes homogeneous.
There is too much oil in the pan or not enough.
Wrong recipe. Your mince may be missing some ingredient. To make the cutlets tasty and elastic, and most importantly not to fall apart when frying, add ingredients of your choice to the minced meat: an egg, grated raw potato, white bread soaked in milk and squeezed out (preferably a loaf) or semolina.
The frying pan is not hot enough. Before frying the cutlets, the frying pan must be thoroughly heated.

Very important: boning

Most often, housewives use breadcrumbs, both white and rye, to roll cutlets. However, if the patties continue to fall apart, try replacing them with flour to draw out excess moisture. Although, of course, you won’t get a crispy crust with flour.

Well, if the problem of why cutlets fall apart when fried has long been successfully solved, try pampering yourself with more exotic options. Cutlets rolled in finely crushed nuts are very tasty. And even more interesting would be a dish in which ground sesame was used for breading.

Main reasons

More often than not, when frying, fish cutlets fall apart because:

Molded too large. When turned over, they break under their own weight.
By the time of turning over, a crust that would fix the shape had not formed. This may be due to the frying pan not being hot enough or turning over ahead of time.
Incorrectly prepared minced meat. The cutlets will fall apart either if the consistency is too liquid or too dry.

The last reason why fish cutlets may fall apart is the most common. Inexperienced housewives do not always manage to maintain the balance of minced meat components.

It is important to understand here that the minced meat mass can be modified during the process: if the first batch of cutlets fell apart, the composition of the minced meat is adjusted before frying the second batch.

Proper frying

Cutlets can also fall apart due to mistakes at the final stage of cooking. Following the simplest rules will save you from grief.

The frying pan should be thick-bottomed.
Forget about the lid when frying cutlets - the container must always be open.
Not a lot of oil is poured. If the mince is correct and the cutlets are still falling apart, you most likely overfilled it.
You need to heat the pan until it bubbles, but without letting the oil smoke.
Make the heat high enough to create a crust within a minute.
You need to turn it over carefully, preferably with two tools.

According to the rules, a high fire is maintained under the frying pan until a “shell” is obtained from below. Then it is slightly muffled and the cutlet is left on the first side until the top turns gray - this means that the lower half is completely ready. With the second side, manipulations are carried out according to the same rules.

Fillers for minced meat

What to add to the minced meat is up to the owner. Most cooks stick to the classic recipe. But if your cutlets stubbornly fall apart, try adding semolina to the base (a heaping spoonful per kilogram of minced meat), knead and leave for a quarter of an hour so that the cereal swells. A proven method: the cutlets will remain whole.

Grated fresh potatoes can be a very good astringent for minced meat. When it is added, there is no need for both eggs and bread, and the dish turns out fluffy, but dense.

When the question of why cutlets fall apart during frying loses its relevance for you, you can experiment with other fillers. Other introduced vegetables can add their own flavor: cabbage, carrots, zucchini. And to add airiness and piquancy, you can put a piece of butter or processed cheese inside the cutlet. Only breadcrumbs in this case should be used twice, with intermediate dipping of the cutlet into egg leison. Otherwise, the filling may leak out, frying its “shell” to the pan and robbing you of pleasure.

Cooking delicious cutlets

Sometimes the cutlets simply fall apart in a frying pan when frying, or, on the contrary, they come out tough and slightly dry, with a grayish color. Of course, you want to avoid both and prepare a truly appetizing dish so that it not only tastes amazing but also looks beautiful.

How can this be achieved?

If your cutlets fall apart in a frying pan or, on the contrary, they turn out hard and dry, perhaps it’s all about the proportions of the minced meat. So, for one kilogram of any boneless meat you should add 250 grams of stale white bread. The bread must first be soaked in 300 ml of water, or milk can be used instead of water. You should also add onions, 20 g of salt, and ground black pepper to taste and your desire.
Quite often, many housewives add eggs to the minced meat. This doesn't always come in handy. Both meat and eggs contain a lot of protein, and when frying, protein absorbs moisture and coagulates. The minced meat itself shrinks quite significantly, releasing juice, and therefore the cutlets turn out hard and dry.
Eggs should be added when the minced meat is runny. If the minced meat is completely normal in consistency, you should not add eggs. It is on this basis that it is best to soak bread not in milk (after all, there is also enough protein there), but simply in water.
While you pass the meat through the meat grinder, its temperature rises slightly (by three to five degrees). An increase in temperature greatly contributes to the more successful development of various microorganisms. And in order for the minced meat to not have such a high temperature after leaving the meat grinder, the piece of meat must be pre-cooled before processing.
Bread should be added to the minced meat when it is stale and without burnt crusts. After you have soaked the bread in milk or water for 10-15 minutes, it will retain moisture well. You should not squeeze a piece of bread too much after soaking it, otherwise it will no longer be distributed evenly in the minced meat and this will accordingly deprive the minced meat of the necessary juiciness. But if the bread is soft or still fresh, this leads to the cutlet mass becoming sticky.
The sharpness of the knives of your meat grinder largely affects the juiciness of the cutlets. So, dull knives in a meat grinder will not cut meat, but will only mash it, as a result of which the meat will lose its juiciness.
Minced cutlets cooked with raw onions and garlic should be fried immediately, i.e. immediately after its preparation. And in order for your cutlets to be much tastier and more tender, just before breading them in breadcrumbs, you should moisten them with broth.

Conflicting opinions about eggs

The classic cutlet recipe includes eggs. Approximately one egg per half kilo of base. However, this point is controversial. Firstly, they can liquefy the minced meat even more if the meat is “wet”. And then you will have to thicken it with something. Secondly, there is no unity of opinion on whether to fully use them. Some chefs recommend using only yolks - they say they make the minced meat more elastic, while maintaining fluffiness and airiness. Others insist on using proteins alone - they are the ones that have astringent properties. Still others even consider minced eggs unnecessary. To decide who to join, try cooking cutlets according to all recipes and choose according to your taste.

A simple recipe for perfect fish cutlets

Ingredients:

1 kg pollock fillet;
1 large onion;
2 raw egg yolks;
2-3 pieces of white soft bread without crust;
corn flour - for breading;
vegetable oil - for frying;
¼ glass of water;
salt, pepper - to taste.

See also: How to properly reheat pilaf
Preparation:

Chop the onion, fry until caramel color, cool.
Squeeze the fillet, pass a third through a meat grinder with a third of the onion. Look at the consistency of the minced meat. If the minced meat is normal, continue to scroll, adding bread. If it’s a little dry, soak the bread in water, squeeze it out, and continue the process.
Add the yolks to the minced meat, add salt and pepper, mix well and beat.
Form small cutlets. If there is any doubt that they will keep their shape, place the tray of cutlets in the refrigerator for half an hour.
Heat a frying pan with a little oil. Bread the cutlets in flour and place in a hot frying pan. Fry for 3-4 minutes, carefully turn over, fry for another 4 minutes until the crust sets. Then reduce the heat to medium, pour in a quarter glass of water, close the lid, and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
You can serve fish cutlets with vegetables, rice or boiled potatoes.

French chefs use a “creamy” trick to add extra juiciness to fish cutlets.

They pre-freeze a piece of butter and immediately before frying, when the frying pan is already heated, grate the butter into the minced meat on a coarse grater, quickly mix, form cutlets, bread and fry.