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Meat Cakes, Pats or Patties
Mix ground leftover meat with an equal quantity of leftover potatoes, mashed, and 2-3 tablespoons grated onion. Mold in flat cakes, pats or patties, dip in beaten egg and fry in bacon fat.
Meat cakes of cooked and fresh meat such as hamburgers have hit the spot for half a century, but now it's clamburgers, turkeyburgers, lamburgers, every sort of burger made in the same old hearty style of Hamburg where they all stem from.
A thrift recipe with no measurements beyond the onion: the ratio is the whole method, equal parts ground cooked meat and mashed potato. A few points make the difference between a cake that holds and one that falls apart in the pan.
- The hinge: get the mixture dryMashed potato that was made with a lot of milk or cream will slacken the mix and the cakes will slump. Use stiff, cold mash straight from the refrigerator, and chill the shaped cakes 20-30 minutes before they go into the fat.
- Proportions and yieldThe original fixes only the onion and the equal-parts ratio. As a working guide, about 2 cups ground cooked meat with 2 cups mashed potato and 2-3 tablespoons grated onion would give roughly six cakes 3 inches across, enough for three or four people.
- Grated onion, not choppedGrating on the coarse side of a box grater gives juice and pulp that season the whole mixture; the water it releases is why the potato needs to be on the dry side. Raw onion in this quantity is assertive, and a brief sweat in the bacon fat first will soften it if you would rather it were milder.
- Egg dipOne beaten egg is enough for six cakes. A light dusting of flour before the egg helps it cling; a plain egg coating on a damp cake tends to slide off in the pan.
- Bacon fat and heatMedium heat, about 3-4 minutes a side, until the crust is set and deep brown. Too hot and the egg coating scorches before the inside is heated through; too cool and the cakes absorb fat and break when turned.
- Leftover meat needs to be properly hotThese are cooked-meat cakes, so the aim is reheating rather than cooking. Bring the centre to 165F, and use leftovers that have been refrigerated no more than three or four days.
- SeasoningThe original assumes the leftovers were already seasoned. Taste the raw mixture for salt and pepper before shaping, since roast meat trimmings and plain mash are usually underseasoned together.
- Fresh meat is a different dishThe note about hamburgers refers to cakes of raw ground meat, which are not bound with potato and need to be cooked to 160F throughout. Do not treat the two as interchangeable in timing.