Fleischpflanzerl

Fleischpflanzerl sit on the Bavarian everyday table, in the Wirtshaus, in the beer garden lunch, and at home on a weeknight with potato salad, mustard, and a sour pickle. In Berlin they call them Buletten, in the north Frikadellen, in Swabia Fleischküchle. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders, different in the north, different in the south. The Bavarian one wants marjoram, mustard, and a proper old roll in the mix.

The roll is the method. Not dry crumbs thrown in like sawdust, and not a wet sponge left to flood the pan. You soak a stale Semmel, a white bread roll, until it softens, then squeeze it hard and tear it through the meat. The bread holds fat and juice inside the patty while it fries, so the Fleischpflanzerl stay tender instead of tightening into rubber.

Use mixed mince, beef for flavour and pork for fat. Brown them slowly enough that the onion inside cooks before the outside burns. Runter mit der Temperatur. A black crust and a raw middle is not rustic, it's impatience wearing an apron.

Serve them hot with Kartoffelsalat, potato salad, or cold the next day on rye with mustard. Weggeworfen wird nichts. Leftover patties are lunch, and nobody at the table complains.