Fried Patties is a traditional British recipe, based on Mrs Beeton's recipe of 1861, for a classic dish of fried patties made with a cold minced veal, ham and egg mixture moistened with meat gravy and cream that's sealed in pastry and fried until golden to cook. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Fried Patties.
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This is a traditional British recipe redacted from the redoubtable Mrs Beeton's 1861 volume Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, the classic Victorian cookbook.
Original Recipe
FRIED PATTIES (Cold Meat Cookery).
896. INGREDIENTS.—Cold roast veal, a few slices of cold ham, 1 egg boiled hard, pounded mace, pepper and salt to taste, gravy, cream, 1 teaspoonful of minced lemon-peel, good puff-paste.
Mode.—Mince a little cold veal and ham, allowing one-third ham to two-thirds veal; add an egg boiled hard and chopped, and a seasoning of pounded mace, salt, pepper, and lemon-peel; moisten with a little gravy and cream. Make a good puff-paste; roll rather thin, and cut it into round or square pieces; put the mince between two of them, pinch the edges to keep in the gravy, and fry a light brown. They may be also baked in patty-pans: in that case, they should be brushed over with the yolk of an egg before they are put in the oven. To make a variety, oysters may be substituted for the ham.
Time.—15 minutes to fry the patties.
Seasonable from March to October.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
300g cold, roast veal
100g cooked ham
1 hard-boiled egg
ground mace, to taste
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
1 tbsp freshly-grated lemon zest
100ml meat gravy
2 tbsp cream puff pastry
butter for frying
Method:
Mince the veal and ham finely then combine in a bowl. Chop the egg finely and add this to the meat mixture. Season to taste with the mace, salt, black pepper and lemon zest. Stir in the gravy and cream to moisten the mixture.
Roll out the puff pastry as thinly as you can then slice into round or square pieces. Take a pair of pastry pieces, place the mince mixture on one of them then set the second piece on top. Crimp the edges to seal then prick the top with the tines of a fork.
Melt butter in a pan, add the patties and fry until golden brown on the base then flip over and fry until golden brown on the other side. Serve warm.
