Crispy Butcher’s Nuggets – Parts is Parts

While our homemade butcher’s nuggets won’t feature the same diversity of meat parts as the butcher shop, at least they won’t feature the same diversity of meat parts. Seriously, those folks will put anything into a sausage or meatball. All kidding aside, these crispy fried meatballs will have you wondering why non-chicken nuggets aren’t more popular.

I went with a fairly restrained combo of just beef and lamb, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be a little more adventurous. Using pork is an obvious choice, and as I mentioned in the video, I think chicken livers would be amazing in this. Above and beyond the meat choices, you also have lots of artistic freedom when it comes to the shape, and what dipping sauce you pair them with.

At Fern Bar in Sebastopol, where I stole the idea, they’ll switch up the ingredients depending on what’s around, as well as change the sauce underneath, although it’s almost always something a little bit on the sweet side. Of course, our “secret sauce” (shhhhhh) goes with everything, but deciding how to tweak that to match your meats is half the fun. The rest of the fun is eating these butcher’s nuggets, and lots of them, which I hope you do very soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 18 to 20 Butcher’s Nuggets:

Note: the scoop I used to portion holds about 1 1/2 tablespoons of mixture.

For the nuggets:

3 tablespoons panko breadcrumbs

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

cayenne to taste

1 teaspoon finely minced rosemary

1 clove crushed garlic

1/4 cup milk

dash of Worcestershire sauce

1/2 pound ground lamb

1/2 pound ground beef

For the breading (amounts as needed):

all-purpose flour

beaten eggs (I used 2 large eggs)

panko breadcrumbs

For the secret sauce:

1/4 cup mayo

1/4 cup mustard

1/4 cup ketchup

1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle

- Fry nuggets at 375 F. for about 3 minutes, then let rest 3 minutes before serving.

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