“Do you want cutlets that won’t fall apart even in hell?” chef Anastasia Zuikova provocatively asked on her TikTok, posting a video of herself shaking a frying pan with cutlets like maracas.
The secret turned out to be ridiculously simple: the minced meat must be cold and your hands must be icy.
“The fat doesn’t have time to melt before it hits the hot surface, so the cutlet holds its shape,” explained Zuikova , referring to the technique of Georgian khinkali makers, who mix the minced meat for khinkali with ice.
A study by the Culinary Institute of America showed that when the temperature of minced meat is below +4°C, the fat layers retain their structure, holding the meat together.
Blogger Maxim "GrillGuru" conducted a test: one batch of cutlets from chilled minced meat, the other from warm. "The difference is like between a brick and a dumpling!" he wrote.
Yandex.Zen user Marina K. added:
“Before, cutlets would fall apart, but now even children make them and they hold up!”
But chef Artem Estafyev from the Volna restaurant warns:
"Don't keep the mince in the freezer for more than 20 minutes - it will become too hard."
Historical life hack: in Soviet canteens, minced meat was taken out onto a cold balcony before frying.
“My grandmother always did this, and I thought it was to keep flies from landing,” laughs Pikabu user under the nickname CutletnayaFey .
Skeptics grumble: "Who wants to wait?" The answer came from a medical student from Voronezh in the comments on YouTube: "While the farzh is cooling, I have time to wash the dishes. Two in one!"
