Kotlety (Котлеты)

(Ukrainian Ground Meat Patties)

November 12: Feast Day of St. Josaphat Kuntsevych

When we used to live in Illinois, we met our friend Olga W.’s parents while they were visiting the United States from Ukraine for the first time. As they did not understand or speak English, Olga joked that her mouth was getting tired and her voice was getting hoarse from translating for everyone in our culturally diverse group. Then her mother cooked us a typical Ukrainian dinner of ground meat patties and served them with potatoes, brown gravy and a dilly tomato-cucumber-onion salad. “Mmmmm” needs no translation! All together at the dinner table, we graciously shared a common human need and love for food.

Ukrainian-born St. Josaphat Kutsevych (Йосафат Кунцевич), a Polish-Lithuanian monk and Orthodox archbishop, believed in bringing people together in the Christian faith. He was martyred on November 12, 1623, because he wanted to unite Christians (Orthodox, Catholics and Protestants).  Read the reflection of what St. Josaphat’s life mission was about at the Franciscan Media website.

Like edible ecumenism, in this Ukrainian style meat patties recipe, ground pork is often mixed with another ground meat (beef, chicken or turkey). There are many variations to this recipe but the result is still the same deliciousness! So in honor of this bold Ukrainian saint and his idea to mix things together, we were inspired to cook kotlety for his feast day. Mmmmm!

Recipe

Adapted from Olga W.’s Mom

Ingredients

  • ½ pound ground pork
  • ½ pound ground beef, chicken or turkey (we used beef)
  • 1 egg
  • ½ small onion, grated
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • ½ cup bread crumbs
  • oil for frying

Directions

In a bowl, combine the ground meats with the egg. Grate the onion and add it to the mixure.

Sprinkle the garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Add the bread crumbs. Mix well. Use a large ice cream scoop to make balls. Flatten lightly into patties.

Heat a little oil on the bottom of a skillet. Fry the patties until browned on both sides and cooked through in the middle. Drain on paper towels. Serve hot.

Notes