Nutrition In Korean Meat Patties

Korean cuisine features a variety of "jun" or "jeon" dishes, in which meat, vegetables or seafood are fried in an egg-based batter. Gogi-jun is a fried meat patty, which is usually made with ground beef. Korean meat patties are commonly served at parties and feast events, and are also commonly referred to as "wanja jeon" or "don jeon." These fried delights are commonly eaten with rice or a soy sauce and vinegar dip.

Ingredients

Korean meat patties are usually made of ground beef; however, it is possible to partially or fully substitute other ground meats such as pork in the recipe. An authentic recipe published at San Francisco Food.net shows the following ingredients make approximately 20 small Korean meat patties: 3/4 lb. of ground meat; 1.5 tablespoons vegetable oil; salt to season; two eggs; a small quantity of all-purpose flour. You may add 2 tablespoons of cream to the egg batter mix, and make a soy-sauce dip for the fried patties.

Nutritional Information

Assuming the recipe above is followed, using 70 percent lean ground beef, the 20 patties prepared contain a total of 1,423 calories, 64 g of protein, 120 g of fat, 19.1 g of carbohydrates, and negligible quantities of fiber or sugars. Each individual patty would contain about 71 calories, 3 g of protein, 6 g of fat and 1 g of carbohydrates. If the patties were eaten as an entree, a typical serving size would be three to four patties per person.

Nutritional Benefits

As the patties are made mostly of meat and eggs, they are a rich source of dietary protein. Protein is essential for maintaining, growing and healing tissues in your body, and an average adult requires at least 50 g of protein daily. If ground beef is used, the patties are also a good source of iron, which is necessary to prevent anemia. If you follow a low-carbohydrate diet, such as the Atkins Diet, the patties qualify as a very low-carb food. If you wish to make the patties high in protein but lower in fat, you can use a mixture of ground beef and tofu in place of beef or pork.

Nutritional Disadvantages

The main disadvantage of these patties is their high fat content, and particularly the high proportion of saturated fat present in the ground beef and the egg yolks. To avoid the patties turning out dry, the recipe states that lean meat should not be used to make the patties. Seventy percent ground beef contains significant amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol, both of which can raise the risk of cardiovascular disease or stroke. Sodium in the salt, optional soy sauce and the patties themselves can contribute to high blood pressure if consumed excessively. The lack of dietary fiber in the patties is also a nutritional disadvantage -- you may add fiber to the meal by eating the patties together with whole-grain buns or fibrous vegetables such as peas, broccoli or turnip greens.