Kotlety Mielone

Michal Stypula explains why Polish meatballs are the best and reveals the secret ingredient.

Nov 27, 2023

❄️ I’m back in cold, dark Berlin now, and like every winter, surprised at how dark it is already at 3 pm. I’ve grown to (somewhat) appreciate the art of cozying up, although I still hate wearing socks at home.

Favorite Food interviews real people about their favorite food.

My mom had to go to the Kindergarten kitchen and ask for the recipe so she could make it at home because I didn’t want to eat anything else.

As I watch my friend, Michal Stypula, prepare everything in the kitchen, I’m impressed. He explains that we’ll actually try 3 different types of kotlety mielone (Polish meatballs) — pork, egg, and a vegan version from lentils, not to mention a slew of different side dishes.

Growing up in Warsaw, Poland, Michal moved to Berlin, Germany 11 years ago as a student. He’s stayed in Berlin ever since, but he does miss the food, especially kotlety mielone, which immediately reminds him of home.

Over dinner, he explains why Polish meatballs are the best and reveals the secret ingredient that makes them so tasty.

Michal and the egg mielone that brings him back to Kindergarten days.

What's your favorite food and what is it?

Kotlety Mielone (Polish meatballs).

They’re pan-fried meatballs of minced meat, mostly pork. It’s one of the most popular Polish dishes.

Why is this your favorite food?

I love food and I have so many favorite dishes. This particular dish just really brings me back home. I think I probably wouldn’t like it as much if I was still living back in Poland. Now I cook a lot, but in the beginning, I never cooked. I started after I moved away from my parents, and this was one of the first Polish meals I cooked when I moved to Berlin as a student.

Describe the perfect kotlety mielone.

For me, there are 2 important parts:

First, the secret is that you also add a dry bread bun, soaked for a couple of hours in milk, with the meat or egg mixture. That’s why the Polish ones are better – they are softer than, for example, the German ones.

Second, after frying, put it for a couple of minutes in the oven so that it stays soft inside but crispy on the outside. It really changes it. I started doing it after I found the recipe for mielone from one of the biggest and first Polish blogs Kwestia Smaku.

Michal digging into the freshly cooked kotlety mielone, perfectly soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.

Any interesting facts about kotlety mielone?

In the region of central/eastern Europe, you have meatballs. You have Köttbullar in Sweden, mielone in Poland, Frikadelle in Germany – you go through all the countries in the region and every country has it.

What makes the Polish ones the best?

I also love Köttbullar, but I would put it second after the Polish mielone. And in my opinion, the German ones are too compact because the only ingredient is minced meat.

And what makes Polish mielone better than Swedish Köttbullar?

Hm… I like them bigger. [laughs]

A pic of Swedish Köttbullar for size comparison. [source]

What’s one memory you have of kotlety mielone?

The egg one is completely back to my Kindergarten times and all my memories are there. My mom had to go to the kindergarten kitchen and ask for the recipe so she could make it at home because I didn’t want to eat anything else.

The meat one reminds me of going back home after I left Warsaw to move to Germany. Going back home, my mom asked, “What do you want to have?” And I said, “Let’s do the meatballs with the beetroots or the carrots with green peas”. I arrive home and the first meal that’s served is this, and I’m like okay, I’m home.

The vegan one is just to show our Berlin friends that vegan meatballs are also possible to do and this is the trend from the last years that you can find recipes like that.

A slew of sides accompany our meal - brussels sprouts, beetroot, cucumber salad, mashed potatoes, and carrots with peas.

Also once my parents came to Berlin, I told my mom I would make meatballs out of the vegan meat and not tell my dad because he would probably start complaining. I made it, they ate it, they liked it – my dad to the point that he was sitting at the table contemplating out loud, “What was the meat? It was as soft and light as it could be like a turkey minced meat, but at the same time like pork because yeah you make the meatballs from pork meat. The meat was incredible.” He was so into that.

I waited for an average digestion time, 24 hours for a human being, and I just texted them, “Yeah so now I’m eating the leftovers from yesterday, the vegan meatballs you all liked. He didn’t put it in question anymore; he would eat them again.

We’re both stuffed at this point. I woke up full the next day.

Where can I get the best kotlety mielone?

The best? Here. [laughs and points down at our plates]

In Warsaw, Poland, I would probably go to one of the milk bars, those former social state canteens that are still feeding people, now just corporate white-collar workers. It’s crazy to see, from my childhood experience before all that boom and how the country evolved, it’s the place you would go because it was workers’ food, and now white-collar workers go downstairs from their skyscrapers and just queue for takeaway. It’s also really cheap. It’s home food; they don’t do it for profit.