Looking for something different to do with ground beef, I found a recipe for Kotlety Wolowe Siekane (Polish Ground Beef Cutlets) in Polish Cookery by Marja Ochorowicz-Montowa. My one complaint with this cookbook is that the instructions often refer to another recipe, leaving the reader flipping back and forth, trying to meld the two recipes.
Other than being inconvenient, I didn’t realize it had led to a problem until I began this write-up. Kotlety Wolowe Siekane (Polish Ground Beef Cutlets) are recipe #41.
It starts off, “Prepare meat as in #40, omitting the fish.” The recipes are on different pages, and apparently, as I flipped back and forth, I glommed onto #36, which also has similar ingredients. We loved the way they turned out, so it wasn’t really a problem!
I’m writing this up the way I actually did it, so given the above, it may be different from the way other people make these ground beef cutlets. What I actually did, differs a bit from the given, more typically Polish, instructions.
I didn’t have fresh rolls, so I used dried bread crumbs. I always have dried breads crumbs since my time in PL. Stale bread? Dry it out and blitz it in the food processor, or use that favorite Polish kitchen tool, the box grater.
The recipe calls for running the meat, milk soaked rolls, and bacon through a meat grinder twice. I do have a meat grinder attachment for my mixer, something not common in American kitchens, but it just seemed like to much trouble, and I was getting a late start in preparing this.
So here, my friends, it the round about version of Kotlety Wolowe Siekane (Polish Ground Beef Cutlets). They were delicious, reminiscent of Salisbury Steak.
As we were finishing our late dinner, Ed suggested that he take one for his lunch the next day. Very delicious, with a steak-like texture; I hope you’ll enjoy them and share this with all of your beef loving friends!
Smacznego!
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Kotlety Wolowe Siekane (Polish Ground Beef Cutlets)
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 80 min
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Category: Main dish
- Method: Stove top
- Cuisine: Polish
Description
A delicous Polish steak-like cutlet made with ground beef
Ingredients
- 1/2 large onion, finely diced
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 2 pounds ground beef (or mix of beef and pork)
- 4 slices bacon, finely diced (easier if they’re lightly frozen)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- dash of ground marjoram
- flour for dredging
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup beef stock
Instructions
- Cook onion in 1 tablespoon butter until just beginning to brown, cool
- Add bread crumbs and milk to a bowl, stir, add egg, ground meat, bacon, salt, pepper, marjoram, and cooked onions
- Mix until well combined, form into 6 oblong patties about an inch thick, lightly dredge in flour
- Brown meat patties (on both sides) in 2 tablespoons melted butter, add beef broth, cover and simmer for 1 hour
Notes
Add extra delicousness by serving topped with sauted mushrooms and a bit of the cooking broth, and a sprinkle of fresh herbs. In this case, garlic chives.
An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in Poznań, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com, she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.
Elizabeth Beaudoin
Hi Lois. I am wondering if I could cut the beef portion in half and substitute ground chicken as my husband has had major heart surgery and beef is a restricted menu option for him. I realize the texture will be different.
polishhousewife
Absolutely! It won’t be wołowe (beef), but it should still be tasty.
Elizabeth Beaudoin
Thanks Lois.
Karen Dale Trask
It’s nice to know that I’m not the only person who still has a copy of Polish Cookery! Copyright 1958, but purchased in the early 1980’s if memory serves. Thank you for the wonderful “mix-up” of recipe pages! I thoroughly enjoy receiving your posts!
polishhousewife
It’s a classic! I think’s its a translation/adaptation of an even older Polish cookbook. I appreciate your kind words, Karen!
Chris
Instead of a meat grinder, what would you say to mixing it in the mixer? Would it make it tough? I know you do that for Swedish meatballs…
polishhousewife
I think in the original recipe the meat grinder was cutting up the rolls as well as the bacon to mix them with the meat. It was a step I skipped since I used bread crumbs rather than rolls and I finely diced the bacon. If you used my substitutions, I think you could use a mixer. As for toughness, I think having a bit of “bite” to it made them seem more like a Cutlet and less like ground beef.
Ann
Made this with ground pork, ground beef and ground venison and then sautéed onions and mushrooms to put on top. Was very tasty, goes well with mashed potatoes.
Joseph
I made this yesterday for dinner. Absolutely delicious! I used half ground beef and half ground pork sausage. Added some chopped garlic and mushrooms and cooked with the onions. Also added more beef broth to the simmering patties along with sliced mushrooms, which made a nice sauce. Served with mashed potatoes. Smaczne! The leftovers I had today were even better! I will make this again.
polishhousewife
This sounds fantastic, Joseph. Thanks for sharing!
Cathy
THANK YOU, Lois! My mother is also a Lois:) I made these–with adaptations, of course, like a good Polish Housewife (my mother, the other Lois) trained me: Use what you have! No onions, so subbed some garlic powder. Used old/stale baguettes and just chunked them by hand. As a kid, our “Polish Hamburgers” always had some bready delicious bites in them. And you MUST serve with mashed potatoes–my mother insists that you have to make a little “lake” of gravy in them. And leftover gravy-broth over some bread is a nice dessert:)
Erin
I made this recipe twice already within a week it was absolutely delicious. I didn’t have mushrooms so I substitute them with sautéed onions in the gravy.
Marcia K
How are these when frozen, thawed and reheated? I like to give my grown daughter “freezer meals” to simplify her life on busy days.
polishhousewife
I haven’t tried it, Marcia, but i think it would work well.
Rose
I made this recipe using ground venison and it is delicious. My husband LOVES it. Thank you for sharing.