How to Reduce Food Cost in Meatballs and Cutlets by 20%

In fact, there are several effective ways to reduce the cost of minced products made from meat, fish, or seafood without compromising product quality.

Traditionally, minced products such as meat patties, fish balls, or meatballs include dried breadcrumbs. Sometimes these breadcrumbs are hydrated with water or mixed with milk. This is a classic and widely used technology. However, there is another approach based on combined products, where additional ingredients are incorporated directly into the structure of a meat patty, fish ball, or meatball.

For example, vegetables can be added, as well as chickpeas, cooked corn grits, millet, or even buckwheat. By using these ingredients, it is possible to significantly reduce the cost of the final product without negatively affecting its taste and without replacing meat with protein emulsions based on soy products, vegetable oils, or similar substitutes.

Easy2Cook promotes working exclusively with natural processing technologies. Therefore, we focus on using cereals and grains rather than artificial fillers or protein replacements. In the video, you can see millet groats being used. The millet is cooked in a ratio of one part groats to 2.5–3 parts water. This ratio allows the grain to reach a fully homogeneous structure after cooking.

Once cooked, the millet can be added in quantities of up to 20% into products such as meatloaf, meat patties, meatballs, and similar minced products. A traditional method of cooking grains involves boiling them in range pots on gas or electric stoves. However, this method is time-consuming and highly labor-intensive. Labor time in professional kitchens directly translates into cost, especially in the regions where we operate — Europe, the United States, and the Middle East — where labor is paid on an hourly basis.

To optimize this process, we use packaging and steam cooking technology. Vacuum bags can be used, but they are relatively expensive. As an alternative, standard HDPE plastic bags can be used. These bags are widely available in almost any country and are produced on blow-molding or blow-film extrusion lines — the same facilities that manufacture T-shirt bags, LDPE and HDPE plastic bags. These manufacturers can also supply polymer sleeves suitable for food processing applications.

The grain does not need to be weighed. Weighing ingredients in food production takes time, and time equals money. Instead, a measuring cup is used to portion the grain, and another measuring cup is used to measure the required amount of water. The filled bags are then cooked using steam — either in a steamer or in a combi oven such as Rational, Convotherm, or MKN. Equipment like Lainox combi steamers is also suitable. The key requirement is that the unit must be a boiler-type combi oven, not an injector-type system.

In the video, you can see a trolley loaded with approximately 30 kg of cooked millet groats. This cooked grain is later added to minced meat. After cooking, the millet is passed through a meat grinder together with the meat. The grinder is equipped with a full Unger system, including two knives and two grinding plates.

As a result, a fully homogeneous mass is obtained. The millet is evenly distributed throughout the minced meat and becomes completely invisible in the final structure of the product. Since millet itself is neutral in flavor, it does not affect the taste of the meat patty or meatball. The final flavor profile of the product is determined entirely by the spices used.

This technology is developed by Easy2Cook in 2001.

For more details on this process, please refer to the video.