Quick, easy German-style meat patties

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Daniel Pfyl, hospitality management lecturer at Otago Polytechnic, shares some professional techniques to make your cooking easier.

These German-style meat patties are quick and easy to prepare and can be served in many ways.

They are popular pub food served with salad greens, potato salad, mustard and a glass of beer, or they can be served with noodles and a cream sauce or just topped with a browned slice of onion. They can be made hamburger size or smaller, but they are generally flat.

makes 10 large patties
600g beef mince
600g pork mince
150g white toast bread, crusts removed
200ml milk
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
pepper
2 Tbsp parsley, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh marjoram, chopped or ¼ Tbsp dried
20g butter
20ml oil

1. To make the breadcrumbs, tear the bread and pulse it in a processor. Put the crumbs in a bowl and pour over the milk. Soaked breadcrumbs make the patties soft.

2. Chop the onion finely and soften in a little oil. Allow to cool before mixing with the meat. Squeeze excess liquid from the breadcrumbs.

3. Put the meats, breadcrumbs, cooled onion, eggs, herbs and seasonings in a large bowl.

4. It's best to use your hands to mix this, although you could use a mixer. Mix and squeeze until well combined.

5. Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan and cook a small patty on both sides so you can taste it for seasoning. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

6. With wet hands, shape the mince mixture into balls - golf ball size or tennis ball size or larger, depending on what size patties you want. Squash them a bit and put them on a tray lined with non-stick paper.

7. Brown the patties on both sides in the hot oil and butter.

8. As they are done, place on non-stick paper on a baking tray, then finish them in the oven at 180-200degC for five to 10 minutes. Otherwise cook them longer and slowly in the pan, but make sure they are cooked through. Raw mince can be a health hazard.

Serve with a mild mustard (preferably German), salad greens and potato salad, or a sauce such as mushroom sauce (see next month's recipe for creamy mushroom sauce).

Alternative seasonings are caraway and mustard seed.

If you would like to request a particular technique we haven't already shown, please let us know. Write to Cooking 101, Editorial Features, Otago Daily Times, PO Box 181, Dunedin oremail odt.features@odt.co.nz with cooking 101 in the subject line.

To check earlier Cooking 101 columns, visit: www.odt.co.nz and search for "cooking 101".

More information on cooking from Otago Polytechnic can be found on www.otagocookeryl4.blogspot.com