Frikadellen - German meat patties (Duvel edition)

[Duvel]

This is my recipe for Frikadellen - my mom does them differently, as did my grandma. But they are pretty good and are what my family likes to eat. It is worthwhile to note that this version is meant to be eaten cold. It is also good when eaten warm, but I would aim for a slightly denser mouthfeel (and thus reduce the amount of egg and probably add milk).

 

I aim for 2% salt in the mixture. To add complexity to the salty taste, I vary the salt source. Table salt, bouillon powder, fish sauce can be used interchangeably, so no need for following below mix exactly (I am a bit OCD about this). Frikadellen have a faint, yet complex background taste. You can use a pinch of the mix I suggested in my Köttbullar recipe, or curry powder, a mixture of paprika, pepper and dried herbs … Feel free to experiment.

 

Ingredients:

 

500 g of minced meat, not too lean. I like to use half beef, half pork. Pure pork is great too.

2 eggs

40 g of bread crumbs (Panko is ok, too)

30 g of fried onion (the IKEA type)

13 g of salt (for example compromised of 7 g of table salt, 6 g of bouillon powder (66% salt) and 8 g fish sauce (25% salt))

1 garlic clove, grated or dried garlic to taste

maybe a teaspoon of “background spice mix”, as described above. If you don’t want to experiment, use 1/3 paprika, 1/3 black pepper and 1/3 parsley.

 

 

Method:

 

Mix all the ingredients throughly - it will feel too soft initially, but will firm up after some time. Let stand for about 30 min or refrigerate until ready to cook.

 

Form patties of about 50 g each. Either fry gently in batches (ideally in clarified butter) until done or cook in a convection oven at 225 oC for about 12 min. It should be nicely browned.

 

To be enjoyed with … anything you like. Mustard, ketchup, in a sandwhich - the world is your oyster. And a beer. Better lots of beers. And also after a lot of beers 🤗

Edited March 15, 2022 by Duvel (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

I made mine yesterday and they turned out really good. I went the Nutmeg, Ginger route. Next time I will try the parsley and paprika version. I kind of went non-traditional in serving them. I served them with rice and mushroom gravy and they got a big thumbs up. This will be a permanent item on my menu. Thank you so much.

Edited March 17, 2022 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[gfweb]

@Duvel Can you compare these to regular meatballs and meatloaf?  Seems like little meatloaves.

[heidih]

I grew up thinking they were what the Americans were calling "hamburgers". Not eaten at  home on a bun. Just bread or potatoes. Being the outlier I used catsup. I stole out of fridge cold when there were leftover. Imagine my surprise when I hosted a party as an adult. Menu included hamburgers on the grill. A guest offered to pat out the patties - she used just ground beef and salt. I squealed, she asked wht I expected.  Her response to my description "That sounds like meatloaf!"

Edited March 17, 2022 by heidih (log)

[Duvel]

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

@Duvel Can you compare these to regular meatballs and meatloaf?  Seems like little meatloaves.

 

I think that depends very much on your expectation on those two items.

 

For me, these are softer than any of the meatballs I usually make (Italian, Vietnamese, Greek, Turkish, ...), because I intend to eat them cold, rather than all the varieties mettioned, which are served warm. The addition of the fried onion (IKEA type) makes for a mellow sweetness, which I usually not include in meatballs (Vietnamese maybe the exception).

 

I cannot compare these to a meatloaf, because I have never prepared or eaten one.

[gfweb]

16 minutes ago, Duvel said:

 

I think that depends very much on your expectation on those two items.

 

For me, these are softer than any of the meatballs I usually make (Italian, Vietnamese, Greek, Turkish, ...), because I intend to eat them cold, rather than all the varieties mettioned, which are served warm. The addition of the fried onion (IKEA type) makes for a mellow sweetness, which I usually not include in meatballs (Vietnamese maybe the exception).

 

I cannot compare these to a meatloaf, because I have never prepared or eaten one.

 

 

thoughts/ opinion to follow....

 

Softer than meatball seems in the meatloaf spectrum (by my personal classification).

 

Hamburger and kafte have no panade or egg and are made softer or harder by cooking temp. To me kafte are usually overcooked and dense...need a sauce...or maybe I had bad kafte.

 

Meatballs have less panade than meatloaf and as a result will survive being simmered etc without falling apart.

 

Of course one could overcook a meatloaf and make it hardier ( and inedible).

 

[Tropicalsenior]

2 hours ago, heidih said:

I grew up thinking they were what the Americans were calling "hamburgers". Not eaten at  home on a bun. Just bread or potatoes.

That sounds very much like what I grew up with but then, my mother was trying to make a pound of hamburger stretch to feed seven people. I think the main difference is in the seasoning. Ours just had salt and pepper and probably much more bread crumbs or cracker crumbs. Compared to meatloaf, mine were quite a bit more solid but still soft. The flavor was delicious.

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

Softer than meatball seems in the meatloaf spectrum (by my personal classification).

 

I think this also may be based on the fattiness of either/or the beef and pork used.

Hamburgers don't even enter into the discussion, as no hamburgers I eat have pork in them. (Nor bread, eggs, etc.)