patty

A grilled patty of ground meat

A patty is a disc-shaped serving of meat or meat substitutes. The meat is ground and then packed and re-shaped to form round discs, cooked (if applicable) and eaten. They can be eaten a la carte, as a Salisbury steak, or in a hamburger, or, by some people, alone on a plate.

In some countries (including the United Kingdom) the patty itself is referred to as a burger or (for a hamburger patty), a beefburger (see below).

Burger patties

Patties made of ground or minced beef or ground chuck are generally used in hamburgers. When other meats such as venison, bison, pork, chicken, turkey, or fish are used, the name of the burger generally changes accordingly, prefixed by the name of the meat source. For example, a turkey burger uses a patty of ground turkey meat, and buffalo burgers are made with bison patties. A Jersey burger consists of hamburger and fish (filet or burger) in one bun. Veggie burgers (alternately called a tofu burger. vegiburger or garden burger) use a meat substitute (for example, tofu, TVP, seitan (wheat gluten), or an assortment of vegetables, nuts or soy protein, which are ground up and mashed into patties) for the vegetarian and vegan consumer. Burgers with non-beef patties are often marketed as more exotic than hamburgers or as being healthier than beef-patties.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom the word burger is used in lieu of patty, the latter being more common in the USA. A burger may be served on a plate to be eaten without bread, using a knife and fork, often accompanied by chips and baked beans. A burger of this type need not be made of minced beef; frozen turkey and chicken burgers (which are coated in breadcrumbs) are popular foods for eating in this style, particularly amongst children and students. It is worth noting that a 'burger sandwich' is almost never referred to as a sandwich in the UK.

In the UK, the term "patty" refers to a small pie or pasty.^[1] In North East England "patty" refers to fish mixed with mashed potato and deep fried in batter^{[citation needed]}, alternatives such as cheese patty or meat patty are often served in chip shops by substituting the fish with other items.

Shape

In addition to the disc-like shape that is typical of burgers, or patties, there can be other shapes to the ground meat as well. The fast food restaurant Wendy's serves square burgers.

In boxed burgers, it is not uncommon to find burgers with seemingly abnormal shapes, with a bumpy perimeter. These groove-like bumps are caused by the machine that forms the patties. They are used in production to keep the burgers in line, so they won't fall off the assembly line, and can be manipulated by the various machines. In other boxed burgers small punctures can be seen in the top and bottom flat sides of the burger. These punctures are there for similar reasons.

See also

• Hamburger
• Patty melt
• Ground Beef
• Jamaican patty, similarly named turnover

Sources

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