I am a poor person and I grew up with a mom who was poor. We had a lot of spaghetti and potatoes. It was a treat if we got cream. Mom had to learn how to make cream. We also had a lot of spam and what I called poor man's sandwich. It was spam with lettuce and mayo on white bread. Also, Our neighbors would bring us food on the holidays. We didn't even have TV until I was 13. Food and clothes were more important. We finally got out of poverty when I was 15 and my mom married my stepdad and he helped us. He ran his own business laying tile. He was a great dad. Both mom and stepdad passed away. I miss them every day. I have good memories with them. ❤️ My stepdad use read to me when I got bored and he took me outside and showed me how to make stuff. We would go family camping in the backyard too.
Same, cept instead of spam it was potted meat (which I still like). I love all the friends I have that talk about growin up poor, and im here like "oh sit down child, and let me tell you a story"
@@DismemberTheAlamo Nah, people can be happy with what they have. People become unhappy when they covet what their neighbours have. Of course, it is better to have love in the family than designer clothes and caviar.
@@quernalt - Spoken like someone who has never had designer clothes or caviar. Money cant buy happiness, but it buys a lot of shit that makes people h appy.
I saw a girl make these on tiktok and she got so bullied. I’m glad you’re giving it a try and treating it with respect. People shouldn’t feel ashamed about what they eat, especially if it comes from low income or food scarcity
I've seen some people on tiktok make it just as "ragebait", so idk if I've ever seen anyone do it for the genuine process. But if someone really did do it just to show anyone and they got bullied, i do feel bad.
@@Em_Cee669 People just are so weird about food honestly. Everything has to be a REAL burger or a REAL pizza, if you like this food you're weird, if you eat this you're weird, if you don't eat this you're also weird... People are just so judgemental about every damn thing it's exhausting!
I'm going to have to agree with the comments saying this has Slavic origins and isn't meant to be a hamburger by American definition. I'm Czech and grew up with my dad making something like this, served like pancakes and topped with melted herbed butter. I lost my dad 20 years ago and my families variation of this is a comfort food that reminds me of my dad. I suppose i can see why some people would say this is gross if you're comparing it to an American burger, but when you compare it to a savory palacinky or bramboracky, (or someone else mentioned Kotlety) it's not so far fetched and would probably get a better response.
very interesting, thanks for sharing ^^ expectations are a huge deal in whatever one likes a food of not. If you replace a meat ball with falafel and expect the falafel so be anything like the meatball, your review will be bad. It is to dry, the textur is all wrong, the taste is no way near . . .but if you treat and try them as their own thing, they are one of the most amazing foods out there, given you try the real deal and not a cheap knock off. serving them like pancakes makes a lot of sense too, for their protein content is segnificantly lower so a single one would not do
I was raised by a father who once picked cotton with his brothers and sisters in the south, specifically the cotton fields of rural Louisiana. From him I learned the value of thrift and endurance. So I enjoy what you demonstrated Emmy. I drew lots of ideas and 24 burgers as opposed to 4 is a huge savings. Also, I am looking at recipes that also include less meat and fat. So I was all eyes and ears. You did a wonderful job, and yes I think I will try this. Peace and Love to you and yours in the upcoming Holliday season. MY thrifty Father was a jewell of a family man, I watched him take an entire tractor engine apart and change the rings and adjust the valves. Another time I assisted him in building a large barn without one blue print. Everything he did was in his head and to this day I will never forget him. He died unfortuantely in 1997. I wish you much success and joy in your cooking future!
I live in the South (in America) anyway the way I learned to "stretch" beef is with oats. Add a cup of oats (like plain oatmeal) to anything around beef such as meatloaf or even burgers and you get more and the texture and taste remain beef-like.
Considering that videos known as "content farms" are usually in former soviet union countries, I wouldn't be surprised if heavy cream was a mistranslation of Smetana, a richer sour cream well loved in Slavic and Scandinavian cooking
This was really interesting. My mom always got creative at meal time when we were young. Towards the end of pay periods, we ate very differently from my friends. My mom even helped me come up with a bean soup once when I was in a really bad spot. I literally only had a can of pinto beans, 1 potato, ketchup, and seasonings. It wasn't the best tasting "soup" I had ever eaten, but my family didn't go hungry that night.
I find these "poor" meals to be interesting. This one looks like a bit of a pass to me, but beans and potatoes and stuff... why not? I found a recipe here on youtube for canned mackerel stew. I've adapted it a little (basically just added more vegetables) and the people I've shared it with go on and on about how good it is. I make it fairly regularly. Doesn't matter if it's expensive if people like it, and even if something isn't that good it's fun to give it a try.. never know what you'll discover.
I seriously make the most amazing food when we're down to very little. It's inspiring to be restricted! Then payday comes and it's back to the standards. I don't want to struggle every meal, but I do really enjoy the process of making delicious foods from limited options.
@@dawno5656 My secret incredient is ghost pepper hot sauce, if you try it. I also add potatoes and baby corn. I don't tell people they ate ghost pepper until after they like it since it scares most people. I don't put much in, and it makes it taste great, not overly spicy.
@@anonamatron thanks! I appreciate that. I found the recipe last night, and I had in mind to add potato and some other vegetable. I like your recipe idea
Spoon the hot oil/butter on top of the “patties” to lightly cook and bind the top before you flip them - that ought to help with keeping contents from spilling out when you flip ‘em.
My family is from Yugoslavia, this is definitely a Slavic recipe! We used to eat these all the time! I think it tastes even better if you mix in some shredded potatoes (kind of like a latke).
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I feel like this would be a good meal for someone who can't chew very well, I was especially thinking the elderly. I used to work as a cook in a nursing home and we had a lot of people who needed soft foods. So they could have this meat patty that's even easier to chew than meatloaf, and something on the side like mashed potatoes and soft cooked green beans or something.
At my nursing home, we sometimes would make sort of steamed "meat-loaves" by pureeing the meat and then mixing it with eggs and stuff and throwing it in the steamer. Or we would get frozen pre-pureed shaped foods in little plastic molds. This were gross though, fish was the worst, smelled so bad after it was steamed 🤢
@@brianandrejczak7004 OP meant those who can't chew well, usually due to dentures/bad teeth, but have no problem swallowing. People with Dysphagia usually have their own special diets.
I wouldn't give an elderly person food that is fried. Just because when I worked in a nursing home all the food was prepared as healthy as possible (i.e. baking, steaming, etc.) Most are incontinent and can't digest food like they used to.
I've done this with my grandma but she used the full lb of hamburger or turkey meat. And added a bit less milk and put beef bullion in it or bone broth. Still cheap and still got 16 to 20 burgers.
When you brought up the slug burger, I had to look it up. The term "slug" comes from the old fashioned term for a nickel. The burgers cost a nickel a piece. Just a bit of trivia :)
Actually The knockout on electrical boxes (slug) was almost exactly the size, shape and weight of a nickel.....sometimes they were put in machines that required a nickel but were of course worthless
You know what's amazing about this, Emmy? People who watched this and actually listened to the recipe, didn't scorn it...are going to know what to do, if times ever do get *this* hard. We can still watch your videos and feed ourselves some way. I'd try this, if needed :))) thank you for sharing, as always
I think the difference is the framing. Emmy is presenting it as it is and its origin unlike the spam mill videos that tried to present it as an irresistible burger upgrade.
Emmy dear, these hard times episodes are really timely. Thank you. You are inspiring me on ways to keep my family fed happily. This beats the normal "poor" foods of pasta and soups that are good but get tiresome.
Reminds me how we make ground cutlets in Poland a bit, they're sometimes extended with bread rolls soaked with milk or cream. Edit: Actually you mentioned that a lot of content farms post this recipe, and in the video they called for heavy cream but it looked more like sour cream... it screams "śmietana" to me. A lot of content farms are slavic. Hmmm. Yeah I think this might be some kind of a slavic recipe. Especially with the seasoning and additional egg and flour. This is basically a weird way to make kotlety mielone. Genuinely dumbfounded that apparently some people are calling this gross? This is... all normal food, maybe it's not something you'd think of a burger necessarily but would you *really* cringe if you were served this on a plate? Lol, people's food prejudices are really weird, and I say this as an autistic person who is picky about his food quite often.
I knew I wasn't nuts. Ive seen this several times and people were just bashing it. I'm Czech but several of my family members came through Poland to the US. Growing up my dad used to make us something like this but we didn't eat it like a burger, we ate then more like pancakes and topped them with herbed melted butter. I've never been able to find a Czech recipe that didn't include potatoes, I never thought to look at Polish recipes.
I grew up in the US South, and we make something we just call "salmon patties," although I suppose they're a kind of croquette. They're made from canned salmon, egg, cornmeal baking mix, and a little water to make the texture right. It's the same sort of recipe, with different ingredients. Her burgers have more liquid, but canned fish is wetter than fresh ground beef, so.... But it's a very normal thing. I have made fried "patties" using the same method but with a variety of ingredients, in fact; just whatever was on hand.
My grand mother was born in 1898. She made these forme and my cousin for supper. Only no oregano and not quite so much milk. I loved them! Thank you Emmie for reminding me of these lovely memory treasures! ✌😎❤🇺🇸🤘🎸🎶
If anyone in the US has eaten at Taco Tico they have eaten “extended” or “bulked” meat. Oats, stale bread, crackers, as well as liquids which coagulate like blood, milk and even wine etc are used to make meat go farther. This method has been used at least as far back as hard tack but very likely farther.
@@MrJohneblaze822 Tcao Tico is was a totally different thing, similar but definitely a different taste. It was really popular in the Midwest in the late 80/90s/2000
I think this is how they made the burgers at my elementary school. I remember seeing the ladies pouring a pink mixture on the flat grill in the mornings when we had burgers for lunch. The surface of the patties even looked a lot like yours! So now I know what the "pink stuff" that made our "pour burgers," as we called them, was.
My grandma grew up in the 30’s in the US (Oklahoma Dustbowl) she makes these and said they used the cream that was skimmed from the milk. She called them sluggo burgers. In the Popeye comics these are the burgers he would eat today and pay on Tuesday 😂🤍 Emmy she would put the mix in the fridge for a couple of hours before she cooked these. I remember a thicker batter. These look great and are so good you sub the meat for any protein. I do these with lentils and ground chicken too
another economical option could be bean burgers! i make them all the time as a vegan. a lot of cheaper stores sell tinned/dry beans, cheap oats, and tinned tomato sauce for a binder!
@@wolfetteplays8894 it’s funny considering there’s a lot of iron in beans (even more than in beaf, actually), I don’t think eating bean burgers from time to time would make you anemic, in fact it would be quite the contrary ;) Thank you for being concerned about other people’s heath, it’s very considerate of you ! Just inform yourself before you do :)
Another thickening agent which is really good for this is motza ball mix, My mom used to use this for everything meatballs meatballs whole bunch of stuff and it has a great taste also.... And it's affordable
Some of my family are from Eastern Europe and definitely recognised glimmers of similarity in this BUT I live in Norway and when it is winter and we make medisterkaker (a seasoned meat patty, usually with brown sauce and lingonberry jam, often had for Christmas dinner by those who celebrate,) and the texture of them is very very similar to these starting out! They are emulsified meat and contain much milk, so this tracks.
@@sandsand9403 i especially like reindeer pot roast, most versions of the aforementioned combo of [meat patty, gravy, lingonberry jam] of which there are a couple, the various typical bakes here that have a distinct taste and texture due to using hartshorn rather than baking soda, a mousse like dessert called Queen Maud Fromage, and honestly lots more. Then again, there's also a fair bit to dislike too, Norway wasn't always rich so the food that developed in the "old days" is generally extremely bland.
Medisterkaker are made with pork mince with a high fat content, and the spices are nutmeg, allspice, ginger and a tiny bit of cloves and of course salt and pepper . But we add milk, egg and potato starch , not flour ,to the minced pork☺️
@@camilleosoba3981 yes it’s looser than for meatballs, but easy to form with your hands. Recently I’ve startet to make them with a ice cream scoop . So much easier and the patties get the same size and shape. And I don’t have to wasn my hand 100 times when I go through a 5 pound tub of “dough” before Christmas . I usually only make them before Christmas , but put them in the freezer and enjoy all year😊 were only 2 people so that’s plenty for us.
Instead of minced meat, you can also use canned corned beef. Could also use a cup water instead of milk and cream, adjust water to get the batter thickness youd like, don’t have to use the spices, just add salt and sugar in moderation. Still tastes great. That’s how we do in Papua New Guinea 😊
If I were to try this (which I'm tempted to), I would try cooking them in a silicone egg ring so maybe they're thicker. Also I've learned, from making vegetarian stuff for myself, that humans associate steak seasoning with beef and adding it to tofu or veggie crumbles make it taste more meaty; so I'd probably add some of that too!
@@dj1NM3 the MSG is probably in the steak seasoning and why it's associated with meatiness. My mom swore she was allergic to MSG but loved Accent seasoning. I already knew before I checked the label. I called her over and then asked her to read the ingredients list. Mental gymnastics.
Lol tbh I’ve always thought it was kinda weird that vegans tried to make there food taste like meat, not the nice vegans or vegetarians that don’t judge other people, but the ones that scream it’s murder to the people who eat meat, it’s like us saying cannibals are horrible people but while also trying to make our food taste as much like human as possible even shaping it into human shapes and everything😂 but it’s a great idea to try and convert meat eaters for sure, cause if vegans could make food that tastes just like meat and it gave good protein and it was practical, they’d be no reason for people to kill animals anymore unless there killing the ones that are hurting the eco system or killing to many other animals and making them extinct, or if they need to kill varmints that are eating the vegans vegetables, or if they need to tear down forests taking the homes away from all the animals living in those forests to get more land for farming for vegans... I guess no ones hands are really clean vegan or not if you really think about it, I wonder how many more farms it would take and how many more forests would have to be tore down that hurts animals and the lands made into farms for vegetables and stuff if the entire world turned vegan, probably takes alote of vegetables to feel up 1 person vs a piece of steak that could probably even feel up 2 people if not 3, I wonder if the world turning vegan would actually just end up drastically hurting wild life, sorry kinda went off topic but now I’m curious if everyone going vegan would actually be practical, vegans act like it is but Jesus the amount of farms that would be needed
Thank you for talking about the realities of food insecurity. I look at these foods as a testament to the power of women - who often had dominion of the home and had to stretch dollars to feed babies.
I've always liked wartime cookbooks. I use them for finding simple recipes, saving money and sometimes just to readjust my perspectice and appreciate what I do have. Many of them can be found in pdf format on the internet for free. Also, since energy prices keep rising and Germany is literally short on energy right now, I've started building a haybox. Also a time-honoured method of saving cooking fuel. Instructions on how to build one are easy to find.
In the Philippines, there's a similar food called torta. Basically, it's like a savory pancake with minced meat, carrots, potatoes and seasoning. Pretty much like what you did. However, we eat it with rice instead of bread
Growing up on a farm, we had that, too...my grandma called it top cream...it was the very thick "glob" of cream that rose to the top of the milk when chilled...it is the richest portion of cream. we skimmed it off, stored in a pint jar and it was served as you said. I preferred it to butter on my hot cereals, loved it dolloped onto a bowl of warm fruit cobbler...I miss those days.
I can't afford heavy cream but I made my own (for a different recipe). I don't know that adding cream to meat is better than mixing cooked lentils. We get tons from the food pantry and lentils go with everything and you can eat them for breakfast lunch and dinner. (And a snack)!
I suspect this is a translation of a Czech or Polish dish, not a true "burger" recipe. The traditional extender would probably be stale bread soaked in clabbard milk (I cant remember the Polish name), but I know from experience regular milk and stale bread works if you cant get heavy cream. There are so many variations, I think if you could extend minced beef using lentles and maybe some beef buĺlion to flavor the lentils, an egg for binding, you'd be OK using lower cost mince beef with more fat, the lentils and some bread crumbs (no milk) would absorb the fat making for a very filling patty, way more cost effective than higher cost mince beef. Since fat and proteine keep you satisfied way longer than carbs, that could take you a long way for your money.
@@kimcarrick1448 I would definitely cook them and then make sure they're nice and dry. If they're uncooked I don't think the cook time for the meat would be long enough to soften the lentils. I would make sure they're nice and dry though after cooking them so the fiber isn't so full of water, it can't take on any fat. You want the lentils to absorb the fat in the mince.
As always, my favorite of your series. I grew up eating so many "hard times" recipes; by the time I was born my family was much better off, but my parents started in poverty, as their parents went through the Great Depression, so they were extremely frugal, especially when I was very small. Many of these recipes are comfort foods for me. And I've learned of other recipes to try from this series. Thank you for treating these recipes and every recipe you cover with such respect and without judgement towards people's cultures and individual tastes, whether you enjoy them personally or not.
Vegetarian suggestion here for soups, marmite. I use marmite as a replacer for beef bouillon by adding a bit of it along with veggie bouillon. It makes a delicious soup base, and even has the b12 vegetable based diets are often lacking in.
In germany we mix ground meat with eggs, milk and bread crumps and Frikadellen are either eaten as a snack, on a bread roll or as me meal with gravy, veggies and potatoes.
I'm so happy you Made one of these I'm on a hard times diet right now. Your channel is helping as always you are a bright shinning light in my life. You make an impact.
I live pretty comfortably, but these are the sort of burgers i prefer. One standard i've seen involves adding a packet of chicken noodle soup to the mix. Also starting the patties small and adding a little more after they solidify a little can give them a little more thickness and a base that's less likely to fall apart when you flip. Great vid, thanks!
I honestly really love these kinds of recipes videos. Because really all you need is the base ingredients (the meat, flour, egg, etc) and you can tailor it to however you want to make it. And believe me, if your hungry enough, it will be delicious. Knowing how to stretch the food you have, make ingredient substitutions or how to grow/find your own food is very important. Especially with everything getting worse and worse. These videos went from be entertaining to being educational and will probably help a lot of people out with frugality and surviving another day. I just find these so cool to watch. Very inspiring 👏
Learn to eat the so called weeds that are Gods gift. I realize why they are called "weeds" here in America because they are prolific and free and super foods . No wonder our government doesn't want us to know about what other countries all over the world know. Ask me and I'll tell you.
My mother stretched meat all the time, but she did it by adding salt and ice water. It makes the meat suck in the liquids. Using this method, the amount was almost doubled. I still use that method, when I make boiled meat balls, since the texture are really juicy and smooth that way.
My husband doesn't feel a lb. of ground meat is enough when there's four of us, but this video, and the comments, gives me some ideas on how to stretch it even further.
125 gr. raw meat per person for diner = 100gr cooked meat, is enough. And this no more than 4-5 times a week. These aren healthy and normal standards. Besides this you can dairy, eggs and fish to complete your proteïne. People really way too much meat, too often, especially in the States.
That gives you a quarter pound of meat each. Or a bit more for the adults if you’re inc children. Maybe instead of bulking it, he could think about reducing his portions.
Not to make you feel bad but I really agree with the rest of the comments. A quarter pound burger is already plenty..even most fast food decent sized burger are around that much. you should try to supplement your meal with other things than just meat.
@@scarose It’s my husband, not me, that feels 1/4lb isn’t enough. Most burgers we buy here are 5-6oz. He’s a big man (not fat, he’s 6’3”). And yes, we have much more than just 4oz of meat for dinner 😃
this is fascinating.. I love that stuff like it exist.. I mean we're all trying to make our wallets stretch a little more and the place that's easiest to do is in the kitchen so recipes like this is gold. the beauty of it is, you can still adapt it.. if its too reminiscent of a pancake add mushrooms or use more ground beef or whatever else you want to stretch it out with.. if you want to stretch it out more I'm sure you could dilute it down even more, adding more flour etc to balance it out.. thus making it more of a pancake but who cares, if it is something you need or want to do, why not..
I love that you are exploring hard times food prep as many of us are really experiencing hard times trying to stretch an impossible food budget. I have an idea that you may or may not have explored but with your gardening acumen maybe you could address some traditional uses of wild foraged veggies, greens, fruits, berries, fungi and herbs that have been historically used to add to a food budget during times of scarcity or financially hard times.
5:35 the addition of the eggs reminds me of a meatloaf, which uses eggs as a binder to keep it together, but in this case, instead of using oatmeal or cornflakes as the extender, this recipe uses dairy, which adds way more protein!
Better and easier: render one pound of bulk breakfast sausage (we use mild turkey sausage). Drain; set aside. Using just-add-water baking/pancake mix, make enough batter for 12-15 pancakes. Lightly mix in the meat and fry in a pan or on a griddle. These are great, whether or not you have them plain, with jam or syrup. We always called them "sausage pancakes". They can also be made with hamburger, mini pepperoni, thinly sliced franks, etc. They're delicious even when they're cold. ❤
My Mother was of Slavic origin. She always managed to stretch the meals. When she made burgers, hamburger was only $.19/lb, but she liked to wait until it was on sale for $.09. Each time the price went up, it jumped by an extra $.10/lb.She started out using bread soaked in milk, along with an egg. Gradually, her recipe evolved to include grated onion, carrots, and celery. That eventually became her meatloaf recipe, but it was always a treat to have the burgers. Now, I sometimes add quick oats soaked in milk, or instant potatoes. Also…Scrapple is typically made with cornmeal, then packaged. It’s not stretched farther by adding more to it.
I’ve always had known we are supposed to make burger patties with ground meat, tomato (or tomato paste), onion, and most importantly the stale bread (or bread crumbs) 🍞 and spices , then the burger patty then we cook with little oil in the oven or a pan. My family didn’t even do it to extend the meat, the bread inside just makes the patty taste better! I think these kind of recipes sticking around is just because they taste good, money aside.
This reminds me when I was a little girl. In Mexico people try to stretch there ingredients specially for street food. At that time my mom was told to make her Ketchup last she had to mix it with Fanta Soda. I thought it was weird but it worked and yes it was a bit sweet.
I can see how that would work. We generally have a lot of sugar content in our packages sauces anyway so it would add just that citrus zing to it which works well with tomatos.
interesting because my dad grew up poor in Mexico. maybe it's a common trick for Mexicans but my dad always added Fanta in his shrimp cocktail because his dad used it too.
After ready comments and doing research this is history she just doesn't know it. She even mentioned that she knew nothing about the origins. Also emmy tries everything. History has nothing to do with it.
When they said "cream," they probably meant creme fraiche, which is the same thickness as sour cream, just not sour. It's used in French and Mexican cooking. The milk you added is probably why it was so loose. I was wondering if I could Veganise this, using Impossible or Beyond, and some kind of Plant Based sour cream or cream cheese, with JustEgg, but there would be no savings, because all of the ingredients are expensive.
I guess for a vegan alternative a lentil/bean burger would be good and still cheap. I'm not even vegetarian and I love carrot and beetroot burgers with houmous.
I talked with a rather well-known chef in Canada, and we were talking about man-made stuff. I brought up the Impossible Burger, saying “You can’t get anymore manmade than that!” He looked me dead in the eye and said “If you knew what was in an Impossible Burger, you wouldn’t eat it.” Chef hasn’t steered me wrong so far, so I’m inclined to agree with him.
@@mahbuddykeith1124 There is an ingredient list, and I am not ignorant of any ingredient, so I am not bothered. I also know what is in meat. It's cruelty, suffering, death, and the waste of resources, atop environmental devastation. I'll stick to being Vegan. Faux meats aren't a staple, just bonus window dressing; treats for special occasions, holidays, or occasional comfort food cravings.
Hey! I think thats a great idea and if you use gravy over it ....little pockets to hold the gravy.... man now i may really want to try this. Ok i love me some gravy....
My mom tried adding soy protein to ground beef back in the mid 1970's. It was not very good. These ground beef pancakes would probably be better if you used a full pound of beef,With the same amount of other ingredients and leave out the oregano. I agree with some of the other commenters that this might work well with sausage. And I think the addition of grilled onions would be good on the burgers.
as mexican we have two cheap versions as well, we dont usually put it on buns but you can. Version 1, is eggs , cheese and shreaded beef. you form small patties and eat it with tortillas or bread. The second version is you take potato, cream, cheese, and make little patties. You then soak them with a spicy salsa and put on a roll.
I add black beans to my burgers. I reduce them first to almost refried bean texture but I keep them a little more whole, and I cook them on the stove top. then let the beans cool before adding them to beef. I also add in seasonings and something to help it bind together. Like maybe a single egg or bread crumbs depending on what I have. A friend called them the best burgers she's ever had. I was able to double my amount of protein though. And I kept them in the fridge and reheated too... Perfect. Black beans are far more healthy than cream or milk, highly recommend trying it out if you need to extend your food.
Perhaps basting the tops of the "burgcakes" or "Pangers" with hot oil would allow for a more even cook or less of a wait before tossing them over. I know they're meant to be cheaper to make, but would adding stale breadcrumbs to the mix also bind slightly better and not cost too much?
added a littke nutritional yeast to give a meaty flavor anda,shot of worchestershire insread of oregano and some carmelized diced onion to the bottem of the pan and pour the batter over them , came out great !
I wonder if you cooked them in an egg ring if they would be more like burgers? [I tried this, it was horrible. I rarely throw food away. I did this one. Yuk]
My great grandmother (born in 1928, a child of the Great Depression) would make hamburgers with bread soaked in milk or even water and then torn and mixed with the burgers. It was like a little treat getting a rich toasted little piece of bread on the caramelized outsides of the burger when pieces would peek through.
This is SUPER interesting. When we had to stretch out meat, we would make a breadcrumb heavy meatloaf out of our ground beef and pan fry them. Cutting with milk or cream? Wild. Had never thought of it. I absolutely LOVE learning new techniques from things that dont fit the norm, but have utility.
This reminds me of my grandma’s “meat patties”…. Except she used ground oats or bread crumbs (no flour).. no oregano but added season salt. My kids dip them in ketchup or A1 sauce.
My grandmother went through the Depression so she always saw any kind of meat as a luxury. When she did buy ground beef she would mix it with cornbread.
My family used to something similar to these a lot growing up. We had to cut back on spending due to being shrimpers on the Gulf Coast, especially after the BP oil spill. When times are tough, you make do with what you have.
I'd love to try these, my mother who taught me to cook, was taught by her mother and grandma who lived in the great depression. They had all kinds of methods of stretching out meals. The tricks were passed all the way down to me(25 yo) pretty crazy to think. Even crazier to think is it might become essential for everyone to start cooking like this.
Edit: I googled it, and the closest recipe I could find was a "loose meat sandwich". Basically a hamburger but the patty is loose ground beef, or a sloppy joe without the sauce. My school lunch was a slightly creamier and more savory version of that. This is kinda reminding me of something we used to get fed for our school lunches sometimes a long time ago. It was sort of like the consistency of sloppy joes, and was definitely ground meat based (could have been any meat), but it just had a beefy and generally just savory garlic/seasoned type of taste. Just vaguely savory meat flavored. Not awful or off-putting, but definitely unique. The recipe the public school (or company they bought their food from) was probably a recipe akin to this to stretch out the ingredients. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a combination of both dairy AND grains in the ground meat.
For me, this is one of your best, most humorous videos. The battle of which did I use: heavy cream or sour cream? Growing up on the farm in the late fifties and sixties, we actually had a milkman and got bottled milk. I looked forward to spooning off the cream on top of the bottle into my bowl of Corn Pops. Heaven. Now I would not do that with sour cream. That was reserved for baked potatoes and Mom's sour cream raison pie. Regardless, I think one could substitute either one and adjust the milk add for sloppiness, oh, I meant thickness. Thank you for the recipe and video!!! You are on the top of my UA-cam list!!!❤❤❤❤❤
they had Tubby custard at Burger King for a little while when i was young hahaha god i loved the stuff. as far as i remember it was a bit like those gogurt tubes but maybe thicker. jeez haha
Interesting! I wonder if the heavy cream was meant to be whipped to a thicker consistency instead of using sour cream? The end result is definitely more “meat pancake” than “cream burger”…
Hi, Emmy. The cream that they might have used is the canned cream that we use for cooking and desserts. I know Mexican dishes uses the crema in can like we Filipinos do. We have tetra packs or canned cream in the Phillipines that are shelf stable so that must be the cream that you saw in the original recipe.
Looks very much like Filipino Fried Torta. It's seasoned ground meat mixed with eggs and a bit of flour and fried into patties. It's delicious and eaten with either rice or in between 2 slices of bread.
You can use the sour cream 8 oz without thinning it. Add 1 tsp salt per lb of meat. I've added bacon bits (homemade) amount to your preference. They will be tender hamburgers and they taste great! You can cook on the grill or stove but remember they will be tender. We flattened them out on the thinner side, as bigvaround palm to finger tips. Do not taste at all like sour cream. Family has been making them like that since I was little. You can also add French onion soup mix to it, omitting the salt and bacon. The soup mix recipe you can find online.
In Sweden there is a classical dish called Wallenbergare that you make by mixing cream with veal and making a slightly larger patty that you sear then finish in the oven. Its rather fancy, usually served with peas, mashed potatoes, clarified butter and lingon berries. You are supposed to add as much cream as you can to the minced veal where it can just about hold a roundish shape. Legend has it, that it was a favorite of a famous Swedish businessman called Wallenberg, as he at an older age couldn't chew his food as well anymore, so he had the chefs make it wherever he went. I welcome readers of this comment to try it out, its rather easy to make and its one of my favorite Swedish foods. You can skip the lingon berries if you cant get a hold of them where you are.
I might try these with some adjustments like use a little less milk and replace the difference with worcestershire sauce, tweak the seasonings maybe throw some bread and/or mushrooms in the mix to make it more "burger-y" in texture. You could probably even swap the beef for turkey which is usually a little cheaper. Though I know a lot of people aren't too fond of turkey burgers.
Wow- this is a wild one!!! 12 burgers!, incredible. Have you tried pork cake?? (Ok just looked- you did a pork and gumdrop cake/ wow) I just made a Baja blast Mountain Dew cupcake- you definitely inspire me!!!!!!
FYI mountain dew is worse than the other terrible regular sodas on the market. I know you probably don't care though. Just putting that in in case you do or might consider thinking about it.
But 1 wouldn't fill you up, so you'd still have to eat multiple to get the same as 1 full burger. In my mind stretching means like, adding bread crumbs to ground beef to bulk it up so that when stretched it's similarly as filling. But bc the meat is so thinned, it can't hold. What would be the difference in just cutting a full beef patty into 3s? Not asking sarcastically, it's a genuine question.
My mom used to stretch hamburger meat with cooked oatmeal or rice. Never knew until I paid attention and realized it. She'd been doing it my whole childhood. Lol
People who knocked this recipe will secretly try it . I think it looks delicious if you garnish and dress it up right. Green onion and home made gravy over some meat pancakes… I’m in.😂
It's a meat pancake. Cream is as expensive as beef nowadays, or even more expensive. But people used to have their own cows and chickens, so they would have had a lot of cream and eggs. I would use oats instead of flour, and leave it set till the oats absorb most of the liquid. This seems like a version of tuna or salmon cakes.
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I am a poor person and I grew up with a mom who was poor. We had a lot of spaghetti and potatoes. It was a treat if we got cream. Mom had to learn how to make cream. We also had a lot of spam and what I called poor man's sandwich. It was spam with lettuce and mayo on white bread. Also, Our neighbors would bring us food on the holidays. We didn't even have TV until I was 13. Food and clothes were more important. We finally got out of poverty when I was 15 and my mom married my stepdad and he helped us. He ran his own business laying tile. He was a great dad. Both mom and stepdad passed away. I miss them every day. I have good memories with them. ❤️ My stepdad use read to me when I got bored and he took me outside and showed me how to make stuff. We would go family camping in the backyard too.
Same, cept instead of spam it was potted meat (which I still like).
I love all the friends I have that talk about growin up poor, and im here like "oh sit down child, and let me tell you a story"
You were poor with a rich life because you were loved.
@@patriciahawkins7337 - nah we was poor with a poor life, love dont make them powdered beans/milk/eggs real lol
@@DismemberTheAlamo Nah, people can be happy with what they have. People become unhappy when they covet what their neighbours have. Of course, it is better to have love in the family than designer clothes and caviar.
@@quernalt - Spoken like someone who has never had designer clothes or caviar.
Money cant buy happiness, but it buys a lot of shit that makes people h appy.
I saw a girl make these on tiktok and she got so bullied. I’m glad you’re giving it a try and treating it with respect. People shouldn’t feel ashamed about what they eat, especially if it comes from low income or food scarcity
I've seen some people on tiktok make it just as "ragebait", so idk if I've ever seen anyone do it for the genuine process. But if someone really did do it just to show anyone and they got bullied, i do feel bad.
Yeah.
I eat weeds🌼🌱❤️I just found a bounty of Salsify yesterday too my amazement are a superfood.
@@Em_Cee669 People just are so weird about food honestly. Everything has to be a REAL burger or a REAL pizza, if you like this food you're weird, if you eat this you're weird, if you don't eat this you're also weird... People are just so judgemental about every damn thing it's exhausting!
@@Jhud69 Agreed! No one is forcing anyone to eat this. If it brings someone joy, who are we to put them down for it?
I'm going to have to agree with the comments saying this has Slavic origins and isn't meant to be a hamburger by American definition. I'm Czech and grew up with my dad making something like this, served like pancakes and topped with melted herbed butter. I lost my dad 20 years ago and my families variation of this is a comfort food that reminds me of my dad. I suppose i can see why some people would say this is gross if you're comparing it to an American burger, but when you compare it to a savory palacinky or bramboracky, (or someone else mentioned Kotlety) it's not so far fetched and would probably get a better response.
All these comments are so informative!
My husband's family made something called frickadillies. They are a German recipe
very interesting, thanks for sharing ^^
expectations are a huge deal in whatever one likes a food of not. If you replace a meat ball with falafel and expect the falafel so be anything like the meatball, your review will be bad. It is to dry, the textur is all wrong, the taste is no way near . . .but if you treat and try them as their own thing, they are one of the most amazing foods out there, given you try the real deal and not a cheap knock off.
serving them like pancakes makes a lot of sense too, for their protein content is segnificantly lower so a single one would not do
I would love to see Emmy try this again but next tine, eating it in the traditional manner!
*that* sounds tasty… as a burger replacement it just seems pointless…
I was raised by a father who once picked cotton with his brothers and sisters in the south, specifically the cotton fields of rural Louisiana. From him I learned the value of thrift and endurance. So I enjoy what you demonstrated Emmy. I drew lots of ideas and 24 burgers as opposed to 4 is a huge savings. Also, I am looking at recipes that also include less meat and fat. So I was all eyes and ears. You did a wonderful job, and yes I think I will try this. Peace and Love to you and yours in the upcoming Holliday season. MY thrifty Father was a jewell of a family man, I watched him take an entire tractor engine apart and change the rings and adjust the valves. Another time I assisted him in building a large barn without one blue print. Everything he did was in his head and to this day I will never forget him. He died unfortuantely in 1997. I wish you much success and joy in your cooking future!
I live in the South (in America) anyway the way I learned to "stretch" beef is with oats. Add a cup of oats (like plain oatmeal) to anything around beef such as meatloaf or even burgers and you get more and the texture and taste remain beef-like.
My Yaya does that! Also cornflakes
My mom is from North Dakota and she does this too!
I'm Canadian, this is what my family does!
Finely ground saltine crackers is what we used.
I do same with meatloaf (cheaper than buying bread crumbs and really holds the juices). No one can taste the oats!
Considering that videos known as "content farms" are usually in former soviet union countries, I wouldn't be surprised if heavy cream was a mistranslation of Smetana, a richer sour cream well loved in Slavic and Scandinavian cooking
I was wondering if it was double cream or a thickened cream originally but sour cream makes sense
Maybe clotted cream?
Thank you for sharing, that's a very interesting speculation!
just like how 5 minutes craft uses biscuit dough or "vanilla essential oil" despite the fact that both don't exist
Yeah, these are very similar to Polish meat patties, just with a bit too much liquid added.
This was really interesting. My mom always got creative at meal time when we were young. Towards the end of pay periods, we ate very differently from my friends. My mom even helped me come up with a bean soup once when I was in a really bad spot. I literally only had a can of pinto beans, 1 potato, ketchup, and seasonings. It wasn't the best tasting "soup" I had ever eaten, but my family didn't go hungry that night.
I find these "poor" meals to be interesting. This one looks like a bit of a pass to me, but beans and potatoes and stuff... why not?
I found a recipe here on youtube for canned mackerel stew. I've adapted it a little (basically just added more vegetables) and the people I've shared it with go on and on about how good it is. I make it fairly regularly.
Doesn't matter if it's expensive if people like it, and even if something isn't that good it's fun to give it a try.. never know what you'll discover.
I seriously make the most amazing food when we're down to very little. It's inspiring to be restricted! Then payday comes and it's back to the standards. I don't want to struggle every meal, but I do really enjoy the process of making delicious foods from limited options.
@@anonamatron I am going to look up your mackerel stew recipe. It sounds like something my husband would like
@@dawno5656 My secret incredient is ghost pepper hot sauce, if you try it. I also add potatoes and baby corn.
I don't tell people they ate ghost pepper until after they like it since it scares most people. I don't put much in, and it makes it taste great, not overly spicy.
@@anonamatron thanks! I appreciate that. I found the recipe last night, and I had in mind to add potato and some other vegetable. I like your recipe idea
Spoon the hot oil/butter on top of the “patties” to lightly cook and bind the top before you flip them - that ought to help with keeping contents from spilling out when you flip ‘em.
I think a ring mold, or even some thick onion slice borders would do well to keep the Patty from getting too thin
Onion slice borders/rings.
Nice. Will have to try that. Thanks 🙂
A cookie cutter would work in a pinch. I also think a bit of beef bullion instead of salt would make it meatier.
This is a fish cake recipe. Its best topped with classic mushroom ketchup. Meatloaf would be far better use of beef.
@@soxpeewee the beef bouillon substitution is what I was thinking as well.
Onion rings I think would work well, good idea.
My family is from Yugoslavia, this is definitely a Slavic recipe! We used to eat these all the time! I think it tastes even better if you mix in some shredded potatoes (kind of like a latke).
That sounds so good!!
💜💜 prijatno
Hello...
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I'm in Maine in the United States and I've heard that before I didn't know that's where it originated but the grated potato and onion added in
Je l misliš na ćufte? Ja ovo prvi put vidim u životu
I feel like this would be a good meal for someone who can't chew very well, I was especially thinking the elderly. I used to work as a cook in a nursing home and we had a lot of people who needed soft foods. So they could have this meat patty that's even easier to chew than meatloaf, and something on the side like mashed potatoes and soft cooked green beans or something.
You’re right I didn’t even think about that
At my nursing home, we sometimes would make sort of steamed "meat-loaves" by pureeing the meat and then mixing it with eggs and stuff and throwing it in the steamer. Or we would get frozen pre-pureed shaped foods in little plastic molds. This were gross though, fish was the worst, smelled so bad after it was steamed 🤢
This would not be good for elderly with dysphagia
@@brianandrejczak7004
OP meant those who can't chew well, usually due to dentures/bad teeth, but have no problem swallowing. People with Dysphagia usually have their own special diets.
I wouldn't give an elderly person food that is fried. Just because when I worked in a nursing home all the food was prepared as healthy as possible (i.e. baking, steaming, etc.) Most are incontinent and can't digest food like they used to.
I've done this with my grandma but she used the full lb of hamburger or turkey meat. And added a bit less milk and put beef bullion in it or bone broth. Still cheap and still got 16 to 20 burgers.
When you brought up the slug burger, I had to look it up. The term "slug" comes from the old fashioned term for a nickel. The burgers cost a nickel a piece. Just a bit of trivia :)
That’s reassuring 😅
Oh that makes sense. Thanks for sharing.
That makes sense, but without knowing it, does sound scary.😄
Actually The knockout on electrical boxes (slug) was almost exactly the size, shape and weight of a nickel.....sometimes they were put in machines that required a nickel but were of course worthless
Yeah, nothing to do with slug the animal. It’s basically just a burger cut with a lot of onions to save money, sounds tasty
You know what's amazing about this, Emmy? People who watched this and actually listened to the recipe, didn't scorn it...are going to know what to do, if times ever do get *this* hard. We can still watch your videos and feed ourselves some way. I'd try this, if needed :))) thank you for sharing, as always
If times ever do get hard? hahahaha Hold my beer, says inflation and wars. So many folks can't see what's coming
@@stevedevice1866 it's already this hard in Turkey atm everything's price shot up to 3x even 4x it's original price in a week
Trouble is, sour cream and other dairy products are almost as expensive as meat now.
I think the difference is the framing. Emmy is presenting it as it is and its origin unlike the spam mill videos that tried to present it as an irresistible burger upgrade.
Yesss!!
Emmy dear, these hard times episodes are really timely. Thank you. You are inspiring me on ways to keep my family fed happily. This beats the normal "poor" foods of pasta and soups that are good but get tiresome.
Reminds me how we make ground cutlets in Poland a bit, they're sometimes extended with bread rolls soaked with milk or cream.
Edit: Actually you mentioned that a lot of content farms post this recipe, and in the video they called for heavy cream but it looked more like sour cream... it screams "śmietana" to me. A lot of content farms are slavic. Hmmm. Yeah I think this might be some kind of a slavic recipe. Especially with the seasoning and additional egg and flour. This is basically a weird way to make kotlety mielone.
Genuinely dumbfounded that apparently some people are calling this gross? This is... all normal food, maybe it's not something you'd think of a burger necessarily but would you *really* cringe if you were served this on a plate? Lol, people's food prejudices are really weird, and I say this as an autistic person who is picky about his food quite often.
I knew I wasn't nuts. Ive seen this several times and people were just bashing it. I'm Czech but several of my family members came through Poland to the US. Growing up my dad used to make us something like this but we didn't eat it like a burger, we ate then more like pancakes and topped them with herbed melted butter. I've never been able to find a Czech recipe that didn't include potatoes, I never thought to look at Polish recipes.
I grew up in the US South, and we make something we just call "salmon patties," although I suppose they're a kind of croquette. They're made from canned salmon, egg, cornmeal baking mix, and a little water to make the texture right. It's the same sort of recipe, with different ingredients. Her burgers have more liquid, but canned fish is wetter than fresh ground beef, so....
But it's a very normal thing. I have made fried "patties" using the same method but with a variety of ingredients, in fact; just whatever was on hand.
Unless you live on a dairy farm, I'd think heavy cream wouldn't be plentiful enough to use it like this.
I would try it !!
@@MelissaThompson432 salmon with cornmeal sounds really good actually.
My grand mother was born in 1898. She made these forme and my cousin for supper.
Only no oregano and not quite so much milk.
I loved them!
Thank you Emmie for reminding me of these lovely memory treasures!
✌😎❤🇺🇸🤘🎸🎶
If anyone in the US has eaten at Taco Tico they have eaten “extended” or “bulked” meat. Oats, stale bread, crackers, as well as liquids which coagulate like blood, milk and even wine etc are used to make meat go farther. This method has been used at least as far back as hard tack but very likely farther.
Heck yeah! Meatloaf too, I use oats and crackers in my meatloaf and stretch that lb of ground beef as far as I can!
I loved taco tico....still have one in my area about 30 miles away lol
Anyone who enjoys American fast food burgers would like these.
I thought you meant Taco Bell 😂
@@MrJohneblaze822 Tcao Tico is was a totally different thing, similar but definitely a different taste. It was really popular in the Midwest in the late 80/90s/2000
I think this is how they made the burgers at my elementary school. I remember seeing the ladies pouring a pink mixture on the flat grill in the mornings when we had burgers for lunch. The surface of the patties even looked a lot like yours! So now I know what the "pink stuff" that made our "pour burgers," as we called them, was.
a lot of cheap burgers use pink paste but most of it isn't this
My grandma grew up in the 30’s in the US (Oklahoma Dustbowl) she makes these and said they used the cream that was skimmed from the milk. She called them sluggo burgers. In the Popeye comics these are the burgers he would eat today and pay on Tuesday 😂🤍 Emmy she would put the mix in the fridge for a couple of hours before she cooked these. I remember a thicker batter. These look great and are so good you sub the meat for any protein. I do these with lentils and ground chicken too
Why not eat normal?
@@negritotenfold what’s “normal”?
another economical option could be bean burgers! i make them all the time as a vegan. a lot of cheaper stores sell tinned/dry beans, cheap oats, and tinned tomato sauce for a binder!
That’s a damn good way to get anemia
@@wolfetteplays8894 Heat cheap tomato sauce in a steel pan and you'll get plenty of iron.
@@wolfetteplays8894 it’s funny considering there’s a lot of iron in beans (even more than in beaf, actually), I don’t think eating bean burgers from time to time would make you anemic, in fact it would be quite the contrary ;) Thank you for being concerned about other people’s heath, it’s very considerate of you ! Just inform yourself before you do :)
@@wolfetteplays8894 beans have plenty of iron…
@@wolfetteplays8894 if you aren't educated be quiet
Another thickening agent which is really good for this is motza ball mix, My mom used to use this for everything meatballs meatballs whole bunch of stuff and it has a great taste also.... And it's affordable
Some of my family are from Eastern Europe and definitely recognised glimmers of similarity in this BUT I live in Norway and when it is winter and we make medisterkaker (a seasoned meat patty, usually with brown sauce and lingonberry jam, often had for Christmas dinner by those who celebrate,) and the texture of them is very very similar to these starting out! They are emulsified meat and contain much milk, so this tracks.
What are your favourite Norwegian foods?
@@sandsand9403 i especially like reindeer pot roast, most versions of the aforementioned combo of [meat patty, gravy, lingonberry jam] of which there are a couple, the various typical bakes here that have a distinct taste and texture due to using hartshorn rather than baking soda, a mousse like dessert called Queen Maud Fromage, and honestly lots more. Then again, there's also a fair bit to dislike too, Norway wasn't always rich so the food that developed in the "old days" is generally extremely bland.
Medisterkaker are made with pork mince with a high fat content, and the spices are nutmeg, allspice, ginger and a tiny bit of cloves and of course salt and pepper .
But we add milk, egg and potato starch , not flour ,to the minced pork☺️
@@malina1239 yes I know, I have made them many times, I only meant that the meat for them is relatively runny too.
@@camilleosoba3981 yes it’s looser than for meatballs, but easy to form with your hands.
Recently I’ve startet to make them with a ice cream scoop . So much easier and the patties get the same size and shape. And I don’t have to wasn my hand 100 times when I go through a 5 pound tub of “dough” before Christmas .
I usually only make them before Christmas , but put them in the freezer and enjoy all year😊 were only 2 people so that’s plenty for us.
Instead of minced meat, you can also use canned corned beef. Could also use a cup water instead of milk and cream, adjust water to get the batter thickness youd like, don’t have to use the spices, just add salt and sugar in moderation. Still tastes great. That’s how we do in Papua New Guinea 😊
Please do more hard times meals. So many people having hard times. Would help so many to not go hungry.
This is my favorite series, especially the Depression era pies!
In Sweden we have a dish named wallenbergeare wich is a luxary version of this.
Named after the richest family in Sweden.
Yeah they are great, since its starting to feel that way in here.
If I were to try this (which I'm tempted to), I would try cooking them in a silicone egg ring so maybe they're thicker. Also I've learned, from making vegetarian stuff for myself, that humans associate steak seasoning with beef and adding it to tofu or veggie crumbles make it taste more meaty; so I'd probably add some of that too!
Possibly a sprinkle of MSG, as well?
i think they need to be thin so the meat gets properly cooked and they dont come out too floppy
@@dj1NM3 the MSG is probably in the steak seasoning and why it's associated with meatiness. My mom swore she was allergic to MSG but loved Accent seasoning. I already knew before I checked the label. I called her over and then asked her to read the ingredients list. Mental gymnastics.
Cumin, diced mushrooms. I think that would make it better.
Lol tbh I’ve always thought it was kinda weird that vegans tried to make there food taste like meat, not the nice vegans or vegetarians that don’t judge other people, but the ones that scream it’s murder to the people who eat meat, it’s like us saying cannibals are horrible people but while also trying to make our food taste as much like human as possible even shaping it into human shapes and everything😂 but it’s a great idea to try and convert meat eaters for sure, cause if vegans could make food that tastes just like meat and it gave good protein and it was practical, they’d be no reason for people to kill animals anymore unless there killing the ones that are hurting the eco system or killing to many other animals and making them extinct, or if they need to kill varmints that are eating the vegans vegetables, or if they need to tear down forests taking the homes away from all the animals living in those forests to get more land for farming for vegans... I guess no ones hands are really clean vegan or not if you really think about it, I wonder how many more farms it would take and how many more forests would have to be tore down that hurts animals and the lands made into farms for vegetables and stuff if the entire world turned vegan, probably takes alote of vegetables to feel up 1 person vs a piece of steak that could probably even feel up 2 people if not 3, I wonder if the world turning vegan would actually just end up drastically hurting wild life, sorry kinda went off topic but now I’m curious if everyone going vegan would actually be practical, vegans act like it is but Jesus the amount of farms that would be needed
Thank you for talking about the realities of food insecurity. I look at these foods as a testament to the power of women - who often had dominion of the home and had to stretch dollars to feed babies.
Oh absolutely! They got inventive, as we always have.
I've always liked wartime cookbooks. I use them for finding simple recipes, saving money and sometimes just to readjust my perspectice and appreciate what I do have. Many of them can be found in pdf format on the internet for free.
Also, since energy prices keep rising and Germany is literally short on energy right now, I've started building a haybox. Also a time-honoured method of saving cooking fuel. Instructions on how to build one are easy to find.
In the Philippines, there's a similar food called torta. Basically, it's like a savory pancake with minced meat, carrots, potatoes and seasoning. Pretty much like what you did. However, we eat it with rice instead of bread
We had a cow growing up and I remember "heavy cream" at the table every meal. It was thick like sour cream! Plop it in coffee, on your oatmeal... Yum.
Oooo, that must have been amazing.
Growing up on a farm, we had that, too...my grandma called it top cream...it was the very thick "glob" of cream that rose to the top of the milk when chilled...it is the richest portion of cream. we skimmed it off, stored in a pint jar and it was served as you said. I preferred it to butter on my hot cereals, loved it dolloped onto a bowl of warm fruit cobbler...I miss those days.
@@TexasBlueBonnet61 I truly regret not choosing a lifetime that included cows within walking range.
I can't afford heavy cream but I made my own (for a different recipe). I don't know that adding cream to meat is better than mixing cooked lentils. We get tons from the food pantry and lentils go with everything and you can eat them for breakfast lunch and dinner. (And a snack)!
Right? Lentils are great for a really tight budget. Lots of protein and fiber to help keep you full
@@ingridgallagher1029 Exactly!
Yes I feel like lentils are cheaper than cream and definitely a better texture.
I suspect this is a translation of a Czech or Polish dish, not a true "burger" recipe. The traditional extender would probably be stale bread soaked in clabbard milk (I cant remember the Polish name), but I know from experience regular milk and stale bread works if you cant get heavy cream. There are so many variations, I think if you could extend minced beef using lentles and maybe some beef buĺlion to flavor the lentils, an egg for binding, you'd be OK using lower cost mince beef with more fat, the lentils and some bread crumbs (no milk) would absorb the fat making for a very filling patty, way more cost effective than higher cost mince beef. Since fat and proteine keep you satisfied way longer than carbs, that could take you a long way for your money.
@@kimcarrick1448 I would definitely cook them and then make sure they're nice and dry. If they're uncooked I don't think the cook time for the meat would be long enough to soften the lentils. I would make sure they're nice and dry though after cooking them so the fiber isn't so full of water, it can't take on any fat. You want the lentils to absorb the fat in the mince.
As always, my favorite of your series.
I grew up eating so many "hard times" recipes; by the time I was born my family was much better off, but my parents started in poverty, as their parents went through the Great Depression, so they were extremely frugal, especially when I was very small.
Many of these recipes are comfort foods for me. And I've learned of other recipes to try from this series.
Thank you for treating these recipes and every recipe you cover with such respect and without judgement towards people's cultures and individual tastes, whether you enjoy them personally or not.
cabbage noodles are my favorit noodle dish to make and they frugal as hell ^^
one should never underestimate a poor mens meal that proved itself
@@SingingSealRiana Do you have a recipe/method you'd suggest so I can try it? :D
When I was vegan I found that caramelised onion made any burger taste pretty darn amazing and bbq sauce.
Vegetarian suggestion here for soups, marmite. I use marmite as a replacer for beef bouillon by adding a bit of it along with veggie bouillon. It makes a delicious soup base, and even has the b12 vegetable based diets are often lacking in.
ofc
You don't even have to be vegan to feel that way. I am not vegan and never was but I love caramelized onions
@@fungustheclown666 amazing idea!
@fungustheclown666 Marmite and vegemite is also used to make gravy, it's so good!
In germany we mix ground meat with eggs, milk and bread crumps and Frikadellen are either eaten as a snack, on a bread roll or as me meal with gravy, veggies and potatoes.
I'm so happy you Made one of these I'm on a hard times diet right now. Your channel is helping as always you are a bright shinning light in my life. You make an impact.
A what diet? Why? Also this aint a hard times recipie but this is expensive. Extend meat with breadcrumb or grains
@@kittenmimi5326 I'm tight on money so I'm eating cheap and using these recipes to help extend my food supply.
@@cooldealluciel Emmy said herself that this only really saves you money if you have access to cows and chickens like on a farm
@@kiwisoup and who said I don't have access to lots of cheap dairy?
@@kiwisoup stfu he clearly can go to the grocery store and shop cheap
Emmy, please consider making this a series!!! Times are tough :(
It is a series!! She does a lot of hard times videos. They are very helpful!
It already is! Check out the water pie one
@@mikeyg8568 low fat water?
@@murasaki9 I was going to mention Clara too 🥰
@@murasaki9 or Phyllis stokes 🙏
I live pretty comfortably, but these are the sort of burgers i prefer. One standard i've seen involves adding a packet of chicken noodle soup to the mix. Also starting the patties small and adding a little more after they solidify a little can give them a little more thickness and a base that's less likely to fall apart when you flip. Great vid, thanks!
This channel is always just so cozy thank you
I honestly really love these kinds of recipes videos. Because really all you need is the base ingredients (the meat, flour, egg, etc) and you can tailor it to however you want to make it. And believe me, if your hungry enough, it will be delicious. Knowing how to stretch the food you have, make ingredient substitutions or how to grow/find your own food is very important. Especially with everything getting worse and worse. These videos went from be entertaining to being educational and will probably help a lot of people out with frugality and surviving another day. I just find these so cool to watch. Very inspiring 👏
Thank you Emmy, I love that you keep posting cheap recipes to help prepare me for the apocalypse
Learn to eat the so called weeds that are Gods gift. I realize why they are called "weeds" here in America because they are prolific and free and super foods . No wonder our government doesn't want us to know about what other countries all over the world know. Ask me and I'll tell you.
My mother stretched meat all the time, but she did it by adding salt and ice water. It makes the meat suck in the liquids. Using this method, the amount was almost doubled. I still use that method, when I make boiled meat balls, since the texture are really juicy and smooth that way.
My husband doesn't feel a lb. of ground meat is enough when there's four of us, but this video, and the comments, gives me some ideas on how to stretch it even further.
I'd add some good beef bullion. Not the cube kind, the kind in the jar. It really intensifies the meaty flavor
125 gr. raw meat per person for diner = 100gr cooked meat, is enough. And this no more than 4-5 times a week. These aren healthy and normal standards. Besides this you can dairy, eggs and fish to complete your proteïne. People really way too much meat, too often, especially in the States.
That gives you a quarter pound of meat each. Or a bit more for the adults if you’re inc children. Maybe instead of bulking it, he could think about reducing his portions.
Not to make you feel bad but I really agree with the rest of the comments. A quarter pound burger is already plenty..even most fast food decent sized burger are around that much. you should try to supplement your meal with other things than just meat.
@@scarose It’s my husband, not me, that feels 1/4lb isn’t enough. Most burgers we buy here are 5-6oz. He’s a big man (not fat, he’s 6’3”). And yes, we have much more than just 4oz of meat for dinner 😃
this is fascinating.. I love that stuff like it exist.. I mean we're all trying to make our wallets stretch a little more and the place that's easiest to do is in the kitchen so recipes like this is gold. the beauty of it is, you can still adapt it.. if its too reminiscent of a pancake add mushrooms or use more ground beef or whatever else you want to stretch it out with.. if you want to stretch it out more I'm sure you could dilute it down even more, adding more flour etc to balance it out.. thus making it more of a pancake but who cares, if it is something you need or want to do, why not..
I love that you are exploring hard times food prep as many of us are really experiencing hard times trying to stretch an impossible food budget. I have an idea that you may or may not have explored but with your gardening acumen maybe you could address some traditional uses of wild foraged veggies, greens, fruits, berries, fungi and herbs that have been historically used to add to a food budget during times of scarcity or financially hard times.
5:35 the addition of the eggs reminds me of a meatloaf, which uses eggs as a binder to keep it together, but in this case, instead of using oatmeal or cornflakes as the extender, this recipe uses dairy, which adds way more protein!
Better and easier: render one pound of bulk breakfast sausage (we use mild turkey sausage). Drain; set aside.
Using just-add-water baking/pancake mix, make enough batter for 12-15 pancakes. Lightly mix in the meat and fry in a pan or on a griddle. These are great, whether or not you have them plain, with jam or syrup.
We always called them "sausage pancakes". They can also be made with hamburger, mini pepperoni, thinly sliced franks, etc. They're delicious even when they're cold. ❤
I screenshot this because I’m trying this tonight thank you 🙏🏾☺️
My husband and I make burgers patties with ground beef and pork sausage and steak seasoning it's really good.
Your comment just gave my family a meal.....MANY THANKS AND BLESSINGS YO YOU!
Odd question but what is in a breakfast sausage? Is it still made of pork?
@@vickymc9695 Yes it is
It's called a Chum Burger, created by Plankton from Bikini Bottom.
this should be the top comment
Chum with no h
I really appreciate you trying these videos that can really help stretch a budget. Right now with edicts for scarcity anything is helpful.
My Mother was of Slavic origin. She always managed to stretch the meals. When she made burgers, hamburger was only $.19/lb, but she liked to wait until it was on sale for $.09. Each time the price went up, it jumped by an extra $.10/lb.She started out using bread soaked in milk, along with an egg. Gradually, her recipe evolved to include grated onion, carrots, and celery. That eventually became her meatloaf recipe, but it was always a treat to have the burgers. Now, I sometimes add quick oats soaked in milk, or instant potatoes.
Also…Scrapple is typically made with cornmeal, then packaged. It’s not stretched farther by adding more to it.
I’ve always had known we are supposed to make burger patties with ground meat, tomato (or tomato paste), onion, and most importantly the stale bread (or bread crumbs) 🍞 and spices , then the burger patty then we cook with little oil in the oven or a pan. My family didn’t even do it to extend the meat, the bread inside just makes the patty taste better!
I think these kind of recipes sticking around is just because they taste good, money aside.
This reminds me when I was a little girl.
In Mexico people try to stretch there ingredients specially for street food. At that time my mom was told to make her Ketchup last she had to mix it with Fanta Soda. I thought it was weird but it worked and yes it was a bit sweet.
Oooh that's interesting, I wanna try that lol
I can see how that would work. We generally have a lot of sugar content in our packages sauces anyway so it would add just that citrus zing to it which works well with tomatos.
interesting because my dad grew up poor in Mexico. maybe it's a common trick for Mexicans but my dad always added Fanta in his shrimp cocktail because his dad used it too.
Was it a specific flavor of Fanta?
@@kasvaldez2955 that's what I heard! They add orange fanta. I don't think I ever tasted the orange fanta when i'd eat the cocktails though.
Does anyone else feel this series has for us gone from a fascinating look into history to a necessity for cooking now?
Yeah but I tell ya, these hard times ones as well as prison food.. totally cool
yeah
After ready comments and doing research this is history she just doesn't know it. She even mentioned that she knew nothing about the origins. Also emmy tries everything. History has nothing to do with it.
Tasting History with Max Miller is a really good channel that goes over basically food and history, you should check it out!
When they said "cream," they probably meant creme fraiche, which is the same thickness as sour cream, just not sour. It's used in French and Mexican cooking. The milk you added is probably why it was so loose. I was wondering if I could Veganise this, using Impossible or Beyond, and some kind of Plant Based sour cream or cream cheese, with JustEgg, but there would be no savings, because all of the ingredients are expensive.
Maybe you can use it with a type of bean.
I guess for a vegan alternative a lentil/bean burger would be good and still cheap. I'm not even vegetarian and I love carrot and beetroot burgers with houmous.
I talked with a rather well-known chef in Canada, and we were talking about man-made stuff. I brought up the Impossible Burger, saying “You can’t get anymore manmade than that!” He looked me dead in the eye and said “If you knew what was in an Impossible Burger, you wouldn’t eat it.” Chef hasn’t steered me wrong so far, so I’m inclined to agree with him.
@@mahbuddykeith1124 There is an ingredient list, and I am not ignorant of any ingredient, so I am not bothered. I also know what is in meat. It's cruelty, suffering, death, and the waste of resources, atop environmental devastation. I'll stick to being Vegan. Faux meats aren't a staple, just bonus window dressing; treats for special occasions, holidays, or occasional comfort food cravings.
Your descriptions of the flavors and textures are great!
I love when you do hard times recipes. So many great recipes
Why not try cooking them in the waffle maker? That would brown them on both sides without using so much oil.
Hey! I think thats a great idea and if you use gravy over it ....little pockets to hold the gravy.... man now i may really want to try this. Ok i love me some gravy....
During hard times you need the extra fat
That will just burn it and make it stick to the surface.
Waffle makers aren't any different than a regular nonstick pan.
@@farmerchick3040 I tot youd wanna save
@@itsgonnabeanaurfromme they are inherently different than a regular pan just for the simple fact that the heat comes from both the top and bottom.
My mom tried adding soy protein to ground beef back in the mid 1970's. It was not very good. These ground beef pancakes would probably be better if you used a full pound of beef,With the same amount of other ingredients and leave out the oregano. I agree with some of the other commenters that this might work well with sausage. And I think the addition of grilled onions would be good on the burgers.
as mexican we have two cheap versions as well, we dont usually put it on buns but you can. Version 1, is eggs , cheese and shreaded beef. you form small patties and eat it with tortillas or bread. The second version is you take potato, cream, cheese, and make little patties. You then soak them with a spicy salsa and put on a roll.
I add black beans to my burgers. I reduce them first to almost refried bean texture but I keep them a little more whole, and I cook them on the stove top. then let the beans cool before adding them to beef. I also add in seasonings and something to help it bind together. Like maybe a single egg or bread crumbs depending on what I have.
A friend called them the best burgers she's ever had.
I was able to double my amount of protein though. And I kept them in the fridge and reheated too... Perfect. Black beans are far more healthy than cream or milk, highly recommend trying it out if you need to extend your food.
Perhaps basting the tops of the "burgcakes" or "Pangers" with hot oil would allow for a more even cook or less of a wait before tossing them over. I know they're meant to be cheaper to make, but would adding stale breadcrumbs to the mix also bind slightly better and not cost too much?
I am so stinkin' glad I found your channel, Emmy!! You have truly enriched my life, with all these crazy, but awesome recipes ❤️
I bet these would taste better topped with caramelized or grilled onions.
I thought the same thing when she mentioned it being like smash burger.
that sounds great ^^
And onions are pretty cheap so it still fits the point.
added a littke nutritional yeast to give a meaty flavor anda,shot of worchestershire insread of oregano and some carmelized diced onion to the bottem of the pan and pour the batter over them , came out great !
I was taught to whip the heavy cream so it would bind the ingredients better. We also ate hamburger mixed with bread scraps or oatmeal.
I wonder if you cooked them in an egg ring if they would be more like burgers? [I tried this, it was horrible. I rarely throw food away. I did this one. Yuk]
I was thinking that - if you froze it first too, it’d probably hold its shape better while being cooked!
I was thinking a muffin pan in the oven!
@@megapedia97 Good idea, or a scone/ biscuit pan.
@@megapedia97 So like a cream based meat loaf!
@@katuni08 Yes!
Personally I would skip the oregano and sub with some meat tenderizer and onion powder which would help the "burger" taste.
I thought the same thing! Omit the oregano and maybe add some beef bullion in place of salt.
Americans 🤣
@@celestica8474 oh, shut up. we’re allowed to have our taste pedrenses too.
Maybe mix in some chopped onion to add flavor and texture.
@@susanreedy29 good idea! What about a dash of worchestershire sauce? That's what I add to homemade sloppy joes for that beefy flavor 😋 best wishes!
Ya know if you did these and put them in brown gravy and mashed potatoes these would be great at feeding a crew.
My great grandmother (born in 1928, a child of the Great Depression) would make hamburgers with bread soaked in milk or even water and then torn and mixed with the burgers. It was like a little treat getting a rich toasted little piece of bread on the caramelized outsides of the burger when pieces would peek through.
I'll bet that same recipe with a bit of beef broth or bullion and maybe a tab of melted butter would sing.
Sounds good!! And sounds easier than making breadcrumbs
This is SUPER interesting. When we had to stretch out meat, we would make a breadcrumb heavy meatloaf out of our ground beef and pan fry them.
Cutting with milk or cream? Wild. Had never thought of it.
I absolutely LOVE learning new techniques from things that dont fit the norm, but have utility.
This reminds me of my grandma’s “meat patties”…. Except she used ground oats or bread crumbs (no flour).. no oregano but added season salt. My kids dip them in ketchup or A1 sauce.
Yes my grandma made something similar! We dip it in ketchup too
My grandmother went through the Depression so she always saw any kind of meat as a luxury. When she did buy ground beef she would mix it with cornbread.
That sounds yummy
@@somethinggood9267 I don't remember the taste but I do remember it being very dense. 😆
@@tsezwik hehe
My family used to something similar to these a lot growing up. We had to cut back on spending due to being shrimpers on the Gulf Coast, especially after the BP oil spill. When times are tough, you make do with what you have.
I'd love to try these, my mother who taught me to cook, was taught by her mother and grandma who lived in the great depression. They had all kinds of methods of stretching out meals. The tricks were passed all the way down to me(25 yo) pretty crazy to think. Even crazier to think is it might become essential for everyone to start cooking like this.
Love how relaxed but affirmative your video was, thanks.
I grew up with a similar recipe except the seasoning was Lipton onion soup mix and it was spread over burger bottoms and broiled.
Lipton Onion Soup mix is SO good in burgers. My dad has always mixed it into beef when he’s making patties to grill!
Interesting, thanks for sharing!
The cream that we get from our goats is a sour cream consistency too. It makes amazing butter!
Edit: I googled it, and the closest recipe I could find was a "loose meat sandwich". Basically a hamburger but the patty is loose ground beef, or a sloppy joe without the sauce. My school lunch was a slightly creamier and more savory version of that.
This is kinda reminding me of something we used to get fed for our school lunches sometimes a long time ago. It was sort of like the consistency of sloppy joes, and was definitely ground meat based (could have been any meat), but it just had a beefy and generally just savory garlic/seasoned type of taste. Just vaguely savory meat flavored. Not awful or off-putting, but definitely unique. The recipe the public school (or company they bought their food from) was probably a recipe akin to this to stretch out the ingredients. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a combination of both dairy AND grains in the ground meat.
You are so respectful and kind and I love you so much
You can make heavy cream into whipped cream.. use a whisk.. that’s why it was thick..
For me, this is one of your best, most humorous videos. The battle of which did I use: heavy cream or sour cream? Growing up on the farm in the late fifties and sixties, we actually had a milkman and got bottled milk. I looked forward to spooning off the cream on top of the bottle into my bowl of Corn Pops. Heaven. Now I would not do that with sour cream. That was reserved for baked potatoes and Mom's sour cream raison pie. Regardless, I think one could substitute either one and adjust the milk add for sloppiness, oh, I meant thickness. Thank you for the recipe and video!!! You are on the top of my UA-cam list!!!❤❤❤❤❤
When you poured it in the pan it looked like the tubby custard from Telletubbies.
Maybe tubby custard really was mechanically separated chicken
they had Tubby custard at Burger King for a little while when i was young hahaha god i loved the stuff. as far as i remember it was a bit like those gogurt tubes but maybe thicker. jeez haha
I’ve always used breadcrumbs and eggs as an extender for my hamburgers. This is interesting. 💜👍🏼
I put bread crumbs in mine!
This is so amazing I haven't tried it but it's inspiring that you made this video and normalizing something we all go through and that's hard times
Brilliant as always, Emmy! I was a bit skeptical on this one but you won me over!
Interesting! I wonder if the heavy cream was meant to be whipped to a thicker consistency instead of using sour cream? The end result is definitely more “meat pancake” than “cream burger”…
I thought that too, it would end up with a completely different result
Hi, Emmy. The cream that they might have used is the canned cream that we use for cooking and desserts. I know Mexican dishes uses the crema in can like we Filipinos do. We have tetra packs or canned cream in the Phillipines that are shelf stable so that must be the cream that you saw in the original recipe.
Looks very much like Filipino Fried Torta. It's seasoned ground meat mixed with eggs and a bit of flour and fried into patties. It's delicious and eaten with either rice or in between 2 slices of bread.
I love the hard time playlist!
You can use the sour cream 8 oz without thinning it. Add 1 tsp salt per lb of meat. I've added bacon bits (homemade) amount to your preference. They will be tender hamburgers and they taste great! You can cook on the grill or stove but remember they will be tender. We flattened them out on the thinner side, as bigvaround palm to finger tips. Do not taste at all like sour cream. Family has been making them like that since I was little. You can also add French onion soup mix to it, omitting the salt and bacon. The soup mix recipe you can find online.
My mom used to put corn meal in the meat and fry until crispy. Those were good burgers
any idea about the amounts used?
that sounds like an idea I would like to try, thanks.
My mom didn't put much mostly just form the patties and then coated them with cornmeal and a little salt and pepper
You are such a good sport. You never say it tastes like crap.😄
I've only seen one that she was not fond of. Even then she was very graceful.
We used to put potatoes in our ground beef for tacos
In Sweden there is a classical dish called Wallenbergare that you make by mixing cream with veal and making a slightly larger patty that you sear then finish in the oven. Its rather fancy, usually served with peas, mashed potatoes, clarified butter and lingon berries.
You are supposed to add as much cream as you can to the minced veal where it can just about hold a roundish shape.
Legend has it, that it was a favorite of a famous Swedish businessman called Wallenberg, as he at an older age couldn't chew his food as well anymore, so he had the chefs make it wherever he went.
I welcome readers of this comment to try it out, its rather easy to make and its one of my favorite Swedish foods. You can skip the lingon berries if you cant get a hold of them where you are.
I might try these with some adjustments like use a little less milk and replace the difference with worcestershire sauce, tweak the seasonings maybe throw some bread and/or mushrooms in the mix to make it more "burger-y" in texture. You could probably even swap the beef for turkey which is usually a little cheaper. Though I know a lot of people aren't too fond of turkey burgers.
Wow- this is a wild one!!! 12 burgers!, incredible. Have you tried pork cake??
(Ok just looked- you did a pork and gumdrop cake/ wow)
I just made a Baja blast Mountain Dew cupcake- you definitely inspire me!!!!!!
FYI mountain dew is worse than the other terrible regular sodas on the market. I know you probably don't care though. Just putting that in in case you do or might consider thinking about it.
those 12 burgers are way lower in protein though and traditionaly eaten like pan cakes and with herbed butter
But 1 wouldn't fill you up, so you'd still have to eat multiple to get the same as 1 full burger. In my mind stretching means like, adding bread crumbs to ground beef to bulk it up so that when stretched it's similarly as filling. But bc the meat is so thinned, it can't hold. What would be the difference in just cutting a full beef patty into 3s? Not asking sarcastically, it's a genuine question.
I would have thought about adding beans or even bread but not a liquid. Interesting!
My mom used to stretch hamburger meat with cooked oatmeal or rice. Never knew until I paid attention and realized it. She'd been doing it my whole childhood. Lol
@@rachelg9873 I love meatballs with rice added to the meat :)
People who knocked this recipe will secretly try it . I think it looks delicious if you garnish and dress it up right. Green onion and home made gravy over some meat pancakes… I’m in.😂
It's a meat pancake. Cream is as expensive as beef nowadays, or even more expensive. But people used to have their own cows and chickens, so they would have had a lot of cream and eggs. I would use oats instead of flour, and leave it set till the oats absorb most of the liquid. This seems like a version of tuna or salmon cakes.