Minced dumplings classic recipe

Probably, each of us sometimes likes to eat dumplings with sour cream or some kind of sauce. But purchased dumplings are always significantly inferior in taste to homemade ones. Therefore, it is better, of course, to make them at home on your own. In order for dumplings to turn out tasty and juicy, you need to cook excellent minced meat for them, which, by the way, can be both meat and fish. In the article, we will share with you the classic recipes for both minced meat.

Cooking minced meat for dumplings according to the classic recipe

Minced meat for dumplings can be prepared from any meat, based on the preferences of those people who will eat them. It can be pork, beef, lamb, chicken, goose, etc. Some gourmets can even cook minced venison and bear meat. This, of course, is too sophisticated an option.

We will dwell on the classic minced meat in more detail. It can be made from one type of meat, or from a mixture of several types. It is best to make a combined minced pork and beef. After all, if you make pure pork mince, then it can be fatty, and if it is pure beef, then on the contrary, it can be dry.

Before you start making minced meat, you need to buy its main ingredient, that is, meat. This process must be approached with all responsibility, since how tasty the initial dish will turn out depends on the meat itself.

So, when choosing meat, pay attention to the following points:

• Try to buy boneless meat. Entrecote, shoulder blade, back part are perfect - that is, those pieces in which pulp is present. It’s better to refuse the neck - it will be fatty for dumplings, this is more of a barbecue part.
• Be sure to inspect the meat when buying so that it is fresh and not winded. Fresh meat should not be pale, and not too saturated in color. Too red meat indicates that it has a lot of bloody inclusions, that is, it is possible that an inexperienced butcher slaughtered the animal. As a result, excellent minced meat will not be obtained from such meat.
• Check the meat for smell. Fresh meat should not have any pungent smell, and even more so fetid or musty. In principle, if the meat is fresh, it has almost no smell.

These are the main criteria for choosing meat. Now that you have learned how to choose meat, let's move on to the minced meat recipe itself. For cooking, we take the following products:

• pork - 300 g
• veal - 300 g
• onions - 3 pcs.
• salt - to taste
• pepper - to taste

Let's start the cooking process:

• Wash the meat under running water, then soak it with a paper towel to remove excess liquid. Cut it into small pieces and grind with a meat grinder. You can also use a blender for this purpose.
• We clean the onion from the husk, wash it and also chop it in the same way as the meat.
• In the resulting mass, add salt to taste. Approximately this is about 1/2 tbsp. But it is better to undersalt than oversalt. Now we add ground pepper, again focusing on your taste - if you like spicy, then you can pour more, but without fanaticism, if children also eat ready-made dumplings, then it’s better, of course, not to get carried away with pepper.
• Now mix everything well until a homogeneous consistency and interrupt the minced meat directly into the containers. What does it mean? That is, you pick up minced meat, lift it up a little and hit it against the bowl. The better you kill it, the tastier the dumplings will be.
• That's all, now you can start kneading the dough and forming dumplings.

If you wish, you can add chopped greens to the minced meat, but it clogs the smell of meat in the finished dish, therefore, in our opinion, it is better not to use it for dumplings.

Cooking minced fish for dumplings according to the classic recipe

As in the first recipe, first choose the fish for minced meat. It is desirable, of course, that there are fewer bones in it, otherwise, when cutting, you will have to work hard to take them out. Most often, minced fish is used for such fish as: pike, hake, pike perch, catfish. Salmon, trout, mackerel, etc. are used less frequently.

When buying fish, pay attention to the following points:

• Fresh fish should give off a pleasant fishy aroma. There should be no sour smell or rotten, rancid. This indicates that the fish is spoiled and should not be eaten in any dishes.
• Be sure to check out the fish eyes. In fresh fish, they should be transparent and slightly convex, in stale fish, on the contrary, they should be sunken and cloudy.
• After that, look into the gills. They should not be light and contain any mucus. If there is one, this indicates that the fish is spoiled and not fit for consumption. Fresh fish should have bright red or deep pink gills.
• When pressing on the fish, it should be firm, not soft - this is another factor indicating the freshness of the fish.
• And even more so, never buy fish without a head. Most often, it is stale fish. And by cutting off the head, the sellers just want to avoid the fetid smell, because the head is the first thing that goes bad in the fish.

When you finally got a fresh fish, start cooking minced meat. To do this, take the following set of products:

• fish - 1-1.5 kg (meaning the weight of a live fish, after cutting it, respectively, will be less)
• pork fat without rind - 250-300 g
• onions - 2-3 pcs.
• salt - to taste
• ground pepper - to taste

Now we proceed directly to the preparation of minced meat:

1. We clean the fish from the husk, open the belly, clean out all the insides and cut off the head with the tail.
2. My butchered carcass under running water.
3. Now we cut the fish along the ridge into two parts, cut out the central bone, take out the costal bones, cut off all the fins. You get two pieces of fish fillet.
4. Now we take a meat grinder and grind the fish, after cutting it into small pieces. In this case, instead of a meat grinder, you can use a blender or food processor.
5. Next, we take the fat and twist it through a meat grinder, adding it directly to the fish.
6. We take the onion, peel it, wash it and chop it in the same way as the fish.
7. Next, salt and pepper all this beauty to taste. Mix everything well so that all the minced meat is saturated with spices. Moreover, it is better to mix with your hand, so the minced meat turns out to be more airy. If it sticks to your hand, then just dip it in cold water and continue the process.
8. Here is the minced fish for dumplings and is ready. You can, of course, add your favorite spices if you wish. It's all very individual, here everyone acts based on personal preferences.

A little advice! You can also add mayonnaise to minced fish, then it will be even tastier and juicier.

We have provided you with several recipes for making minced dumplings. You just have to try each of them and please your household with delicious and juicy dumplings. You can modernize the recipes a little by adding your own “zest” to them. For the rest, strictly follow the indicated recipe, and excellent homemade dumplings will be a great addition to your dining table.