Top Eastern European Hamburgers

These large, garlicky hamburgers are favored among Balkans and are great cookout food. They're traditionally served with chopped raw onions, tomatoes and Serbian potato salad.

This Polish hamburger recipe -- mielone kotlety (literally "chopped cutlet") -- can be made with any combination of beef, pork and veal. In my family, we use pork and beef only and serve them on rye bread with tomatoes and a thick slice of onion.

These casingless sausages came to Eastern Europe via the Ottoman Empire which picked them up from Arabic cultures. Today, they're common among the Balkans and are great as a main course or appetizer.

This recipe for Russian mini hamburgers or kotletki is a popular fast-food dish that is eaten for lunch and dinner, and can be purchased ready-made at many supermarkets in Russia. In Poland, these are called kotleciki (kawt-let-SEE-kee), which are miniature versions of kotlety (above). They can be made with any combination of ground meat, but beef and pork are most popular.

This mixture of lamb, garlic, coriander and cumin is traditionally formed into meatballs, skewered and grilled, but it can also be shaped into patties. Broiling, pan frying and baking are other cooking options, and any combination of beef, pork and lamb works.

These beef and pork patties aren't suited to outdoor grilling because they are breaded. But the coating is what keeps these burgers drip-down-the-chin juicy.

Mititei is Romanian for "the wee ones." These sausages are made with any combination of beef, lamb or pork and can be grilled, broiled, pan fried or baked.

Like cevapcici and mititei, Ukrainian kovbasa are made without casings and flavored with peperivka, also known as pepper vodka. Kovbasa can be grilled, broiled, pan fried or baked.