Veal, ground, cooked, pan-fried

Ground veal has a mild, delicate flavor and a finer texture than ground beef, which makes it a common choice for meatballs, meatloaf, and Italian dishes like polpette. Pan-frying is the classic way to cook it, browned in a bit of oil or butter until it develops color, since the meat itself is lean and can dry out if overcooked. It pairs naturally with cream-based sauces, mushrooms, sage, lemon, and white wine, the kind of Northern Italian and French flavors traditionally built around veal, and it can stand in for ground beef or turkey in burgers and stuffed vegetables for a lighter result.

Buy ground veal from a butcher counter close to when you plan to cook it, or freeze it right away, since ground meat has more surface area exposed to air than a whole cut. Per 100g, cooked ground veal has 215 calories and 25.8g of protein, putting protein at 52% of the Daily Value, with zero sugar and zero fiber as expected of a meat. Sodium comes in at 146mg per 100g, a fairly modest amount for a cooked meat, which leaves room to season a batch of meatballs or a meatloaf with herbs and aromatics rather than relying on salt.