Children's Nutritional Meat Patties and Steamed Eggs

It also covers core nutrients such as high-quality animal protein, heme iron, and zinc. It is soft, tender, and easy to swallow without residue. It can be eaten by babies over 1 year old with normal chewing ability. The acceptance rate of picky eaters can reach more than 80%. My 4-year-old boy has been eating it since he was 1 and a half years old. He does it at least twice a week. Compared with feeding meat and eggs alone, he saves at least half the energy to coax rice.

When I was chatting about this dish in the Baoma group, the most debated question was what kind of meat should be used for the meatloaf. Some people insist that pure lean pork tenderloin is the best, with less fat and will not make you fat. Others say that 20% fat must be added to make it fragrant. Some mothers say that beef tenderloin is better than pork and has twice the iron content, which is suitable for babies with iron deficiency. I have tried all three types. The pure lean pork tenderloin was a hit the first time I made it. No fat or starch was added. After steaming, I had a hard time chewing it. My baby immediately vomited after taking a bite. Later, after asking Fa Xiao, who is a child nutritionist, I found out that the chewing ability of preschoolers is only about 60% of that of adults. The muscle fibers of pure lean meat are too thick, and the baby will not like to eat it if it cannot be chewed thoroughly. So I adjusted it to 10% fat + 90% pork tenderloin, chopped until no obvious particles were visible to the naked eye, and the steamed meat was tender enough to squeeze out the juice. The baby ate less than half a plate the first time he ate it. If the baby's hemoglobin is found to be low, it is indeed recommended to use beef tenderloin. The iron content is 2.3 times that of pork, and it is easily absorbed heme iron, which is much more palatable than taking iron supplements. My baby had a slight iron deficiency during his last physical examination. I made the beef version for half a month. I replaced 10% of the fat with a little butter and beat it in a food processor for 30 seconds. It was finer than hand-chopped and there was no residue at all. During the re-examination, the hemoglobin rose directly to the normal range.

Another point of debate is whether the eggs should be mixed with the meat or directly beaten on the surface of the patties. Moms who want to mix it feel that the umami flavor of the meat can fully penetrate into the eggs, making the texture more even. Moms who want to separate it think the layered shape is nice, and the baby looks appetizing. I adjusted it according to the age of the baby. When he was just over 1 year old, I would break up the eggs and mix them into the meat paste. When steamed, the meat cake would be soft and fufu. There was no need to worry about the baby choking. When the baby was 2 years old or so, he started to be interested in good-looking food, so I mixed the meat cake with it. Lay it flat, make a small pit in the middle, crack the whole egg into the pit, and sometimes put a sweet corn kernel or small chopped broccoli on top of the egg yolk. The child will eat the corn kernel first every time, and by the way, he will eat up all the eggs and meat below. Last time, my best friend brought her notoriously picky eater to my house. The little kid ate three pieces in a row. After returning home, my best friend continued to cook for a week. She sent me a WeChat message in the middle of the night saying that she no longer had to chase the baby to feed her.

The issue of seasoning has been discussed many times. Old people always say, "How can a baby like to eat food without salt and taste?" However, the nutrition community clearly recommends that children under 1 year old do not need to add additional salt at all, and the daily salt intake for children under 3 years old should not exceed 2 grams. My family's method is to add no seasoning at all before the age of 1 and a half. Add a little bit of peeled and seeded chopped tomatoes to the minced meat, steam it out with a light sweet and sour taste, and it's so fresh that sometimes I can't help but steal a bite. After 3 years old, only half a bottle of light soy sauce is added, and sometimes a little dried shrimp skin powder ground by oneself is added to enhance the freshness. There is no need to add chicken essence and MSG at all. The fresh flavor of the meat and eggs themselves is enough. Oh, by the way, some people say that starch cannot be added, saying that eating it will make you gain weight. I have believed it before. The first time I made it without adding starch, half a plate of water came out after steaming, and the patties shrank to small and hard. Later I learned that adding 1 small spoonful of cornstarch is to lock in water, which can firmly lock the juice of the meat in the fiber, giving it a juicy texture when bitten into it. Moreover, the small spoonful of starch only has a few grams, which just adds a little carbohydrate. It is easier to accept than feeding rice alone, and there is no problem of gaining weight at all.

I once stepped on a particularly stupid pit. When I was laying out the meat patties, I pressed hard to press them into flat patties, but after steaming, they turned out to be as hard as a small steamed bun. Later I learned that you just need to flatten it gently when spreading, and control the thickness to about 1 cm. After steaming for 12 minutes, it is just right. If you steam it for a long time, the eggs will become crumbly and the meat will become stale. I specially put a small cartoon timer in the kitchen. Every time I put it in, it is set for 12 minutes and I turn off the pot when the time is up. It has never failed.

In fact, after having been making it for so long, I feel that there is no standard "perfect recipe" at all. My baby likes to add sweet corn to it, and the baby downstairs who is the same month old likes to add chopped shiitake mushrooms, and my mother also added crushed shrimp to her baby, which was very fresh. As long as it meets the child's chewing ability, contains less salt and seasonings, and has enough nutrition and the child is willing to eat it, it is the best. After all, when we make children's meals, isn't the ultimate goal of letting the child eat well and grow steadily?