Yesterday it was about cutlets, and today it will be about cutlets, or rather, about minced meat.
I was puzzled here with the question: why is it necessary to salt minced meat? They wrote that good and proper chefs salt the prepared cutlet on top!
I confess that I am not a chef, and even more so, not good and not correct. And more according to recipes, according to technological maps, according to the experience accumulated by myself and those around me, I specialize. And if it is said to salt the cutlets even at the stage when the cutlets are not cutlets, but minced meat, then we salt!
Why is that?
Well, like that... In general, according to observations, if the minced meat is not salted during cooking, then the products from it will... fall apart.
It is best to salt the meat for the shape of the products even before it becomes minced. But it's better for the form. In fact, it turns out that the minced meat turns out to be quite dense - and this affects the juiciness and tenderness of the finished dish. We definitely don't need this for cutlets. And you don't need meatballs. Here in a meatloaf, which you have to twirl this and that - you can.
And for cutlets, meatballs, homemade meatballs, salt the minced meat. And after salting, we let him stand for ten minutes. So that the salt has time to take effect.
Why is that? To understand the reason, I delved into all kinds of reference books and descriptions of technologies.
Therefore, I would venture to describe the process (and its consequences) as follows: under the influence of salt in meat, processes are started maturation and fermentation, so it increases plasticity, stickiness and more - moisture-binding ability. The fibers of the meat seem to swell, increasing in volume.
And the longer the salt acts on the piece, the more noticeable the results of this process. Therefore, if we first salt the meat, and it lays down a little before we twist, the minced meat will turn out to be more... sticky. If we salt the minced meat and let it stand a little, it will be less sticky and dense than if we twisted it from a salted piece, but still more dense than unsalted at all.
So salt the patties before you stick them.
And Bon Appetit!