Janne Kataja if anyone knows how to make delicious food from minced meat.
Janne Kataja has a cookbook published this spring, which includes, among other things, credit recipes from him and his friends. Henri Kärkkäinen
Minced meat will bend to anything, and you can prepare food from it in countless ways. Actor and host Janne Kataja know this. You can really say that Kataja, if anyone, knows that.
He does not eat any meat other than ground beef. That’s how it’s always been. Kataja thinks he has an eating disorder called arfid, which is a little less known in Finland.
– However, it is surprisingly common. When I hold live cooking sessions on social media, I often get feedback saying that it’s great that I’m talking about this. Many have the same symptoms, but they don’t talk about them.
Kataja participated in the first season of the TV show Four Star Dinner. Understandably, he left some of the others’ dinner uneaten.
– Back then, there were discussion forums where I got a lump in my neck. I was surprised that the food I didn’t eat is not taken away from anyone. Why should others feel bad about it? Nowadays, special diets are commonplace.
Kataja is an enthusiastic home cook. In addition to minced meat, he also cooks with many other ingredients, both vegetables and other meats. He judges the taste of the food from the smell or asks his spouse to taste.
– You can do anything with minced meat that you can with whole meat, but it will be tastier, Kataja assures.
Janne Kataja advises to fry the minced meat until brown, it should never be left gray. Henri Kärkkäinen
Juniper emphasizes the importance of seasoning. It is essential that the minced meat is seasoned raw or in a frying pan at the very beginning of frying. This way the spices are all over the minced meat.
When you season the minced meat right away, even the scum that comes out of it while frying is not unpleasantly smelly.
Juniper uses many spices for seasoning, because in his opinion the food should taste strong without being hot. Kataja usually seasons the minced meat by sprinkling it liberally and sprinkling it with a spice mixture sold under its own name, black pepper and paprika.
– I also use a lot of traditional spices, i.e. allspice and dried lipstick.
Juniper is adamant that the minced meat must never be left gray, but must always be fried until brown. If you want a particularly delicious end result, Kataja gives a good tip:
– Finally, pour a little dark syrup over the fried minced meat and continue frying for a while longer. It brings a delicious crunch and sweetness, advises Kataja.
Another ground meat tip is seasoning the sauce. Chop some pickled cucumber into the sauce, as it gives the sauce a nice nuance.
In Kataja’s kitchen, new variations of minced meat recipes are made all the time, although lasagna, Cabbage box, minced meat steaks, meatballs or cabbage rolls are also made there.
The number of favorite recipes is so large that Kataja had a real problem, which all she would include in her recently published cookbook In Kataja’s kitchen (January, 2026).
The book contains many other than just minced meat recipes. Kataja says that they have a lot of friends in the village and they always cook food for them – not just minced meat.