Sekaná is an easy meal, even comfort food for some. It’s a meal for beginners and something you can cook in a large batch.
Sekaná is a delicious mixture of minced meat and herbs. Although it can be served hot, many people prefer it cold and rather than nicely plated between two loafs of bread.
It used to be a luxurious meal in the Middle Ages, not just because it’s meat but especially because it was exclusively made from ham or sirloin and hand-chopped. After the meat grinder was invented, the popularity of sekaná spread and in some regions it became the food of the poor, since people started using not just less luxurious meat but also skin, cartilages and fat.
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Table of Contents
Sekaná – Recipe
Ingredients
- 500 g/17.6 oz of minced meat (usually pork but you can use any kind)
- 1/2 cup of bread crumbs (a cup is about 300 ml)
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp of dried marjoram
- 150 ml/5.1 oz of milk
- 4 cloves of garlic, grated
- 1 tsp of salt
How to make Sekaná
Put the meat in a large bowl, add the bread crumbs, egg, marjoram, milk, salt and garlic. Mix it a little with a wooden spoon, then work with your hands, don’t use the kitchen robot for this. You need to work fast, the mixture should stay cold and the longer you touch it, the warmer if will get. You need to use your hands because it needs to be mixed very well and you need to press it with your hands, we don’t really want air in this mixture.
For a loaf or two from the mixture, place it in a baking tray and pour a little water in the tray.
Preheat the oven on 180°C and bake about 75 minutes or until it’s nicely brown. Once in a while add some water to the tray and when the meat releases the fat, scoop some of it with a spoon and pour it on the sekaná, you should do this at least three times during the baking time.
Serve
You can serve sekaná hot or cold, there are many people who prefer it cold and a day old because the aging brings out the flavours. It’s traditionally served with potato purée (bramborová kaše) or mashed potatoes (šťouchané brambory), bread or pickled gherkins or any combination of the aforementioned.
