Kotlety Mielone

Two browned kotlety mielone (Polish meat patties) are served on a white plate with boiled potatoes topped with dill, shredded beets, and a creamy salad in the background.

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5 from 1 vote

Prep Time15

Cook Time10

Course: dinner, lunch

Cuisine: Polish

Servings:

Calories: 228kcal

Author: Agnieszka

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey 85% lean, or ground pork
1 onion chopped small
1 tablespoon butter or oil
2 oz baguette or white bread, stale is fine
milk or water for soaking bread
2 garlic cloves minced or crushed
4 oz white mushrooms chopped small (optional)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
½ teaspoon marjoram
¾ cup breadcrumbs
3 tablespoon plant oil (vegetable, avocado, canola) for frying

Instructions

Place baguette or white bread in a small bowl. Pour milk or water over it until submerged (you may need to push down as it tends to float to the top). Leave to soak while you're preparng the meat mixture.
Melt 1 tablespoon butter or add oil in a small or medium skillet. Add chopped onions, cook for a few minutes until softened, then add mushrooms and cook together on low medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Set aside and let cool slightly.
Add minced garlic, stir and cook for another minute, until fragrant.
Check if the bread is softened (it shouldn't feel hard inside or on the edges). Using clean hands squeeze out most of the milk or water from the bread. Discard the liquid.
In a large bowl combine ground turkey (or pork), squeezed out bread, cooked onions and mushrooms, egg, salt, pepper and marjoram.
Mix well using your hands or a spoon. It should be uniform and you should not be able to see big bread pieces in the mixture. Break them down with your fingers, if needed.
Form 7-8 round or oval patties (about 1-inch thick) and coat each in breadcrumbs on both sides.
Heat 3 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet.
Sauteé the patties on medium heat on one side until browned, then flip and cook on the other side. Each patty should register at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit on a kitchen thermometer (inserted in the middle). You can also take one kotlet off the pan, cut it in half and make sure it's no longer pink in the middle.
Serve immediately.

Notes

I like to use ground turkey for my kotlety mielone but ground pork is more traditional (especially pork shoulder meat).

If you don't like mushrooms, you can skip them or swap them out for grated zucchini.

When squeezing milk out of soaked bread, try to get as much of it out as possible but it doesn't need to be completely dry. You just don't want liquid milk in the meat mixture.

Use good quality white bread or a roll, preferably without any additives. A stale kaiser roll is what most Polish cooks use. It can be completely dried out.

If the meat mixture seems too wet and it's hard to form patties, add 1-2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs and mix them in.

The patties will be soft and delicate. It may be useful to use a spatula to transfer them to the skillet.

If the patties are not cooked through but you don't want them to burn them, you can finish them off in the oven on a baking tray or oven-safe skillet for 5-10 mins at 365 degrees F.

If you have clarified butter (ghee), you can use it for cooking your kotlety mielone instead of oil. Rendered pork fat (smalec) is also used often.

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