Crepe with egg on top

This article is about ground or chopped ingredients formed into a disc. Patties are found in multiple cuisines throughout the world. In British and American English, minced meat that is formed into a crepe with egg on top is called a burger, whether it is in a bread roll or not.

American English but almost unknown in British English. The ingredients are compacted and shaped, usually cooked, and served in various ways. Some foods termed “patties” use ingredients inside a pastry crust that is then baked or fried. Some patties are breaded, then baked or fried. In London, since the late 1980s, the Jamaican patty, similar to the Cornish pastie, is a common food item. The term originated in the 17th century as an English alteration of the French word pâté.

According to the OED, it is related to the word pasty, which is various ingredients encased in pastry. The term “patty” is used in many varieties of English, but less frequently in Britain and Ireland than in the United States. Merriam-Webster defines it as “a small flat cake of chopped food”, Cambridge as “pieces of food, especially meat, formed into a thin, circular shape and then usually cooked”. Similar-shaped cakes not made from ground beef may also be called “burgers”: “fish burgers” may be made from reshaped mechanically separated meat. Patties made from chicken meat may be called chicken patties. Patties can be breaded and deep-fried, producing croquettes such as crab cakes. Aloo tikki is a potato patty that originated in the Indian subcontinent.