Swedish meatballs

[snowangel]

Every Christmas Eve, we do the same thing. It's fine with my family (the in-laws). Lutefisk, boiled potatoes, melted butter, a couple of veg sides, a salad, and Swedish meatballs. Meatballs in some gravy. And lingonberry stuff.

I'm on for the meatballs this year. HELP! Or, do I just go to Ikea and buy their frozen meatballs and packet of stuff to make the sauce? How do I do the lingonberry thing?

[oraklet]

i have no idea how this recipe for meatballs will turn out, but here goes:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/g...on/Kottbull.htm

looks quite authentic to me. and very different from danish meat balls

the lingonsylt:

in swedish

"Lingonsylt som kokas så här blir klar och fin i färgen och får en geléaktig konsistens.

2 liter lingon

4 dl kallt vatten

9 ½ dl socker

Gör så här:

Rensa och skölj lingonen. Lägg dem i en gryta och tillsätt vattnet. Koka upp och koka i 10 minuter. Ta grytan av värmen och tillsätt sockret. Rör tills det löst sig och sylten blivit simmig. Häll sedan upp på rena burkar och förslut."

and in some sort of translation:

"made this way it will be a nice, clear colour, and kinda jellyish.

2 liters of lingon

4 dl cold water

9 1/2 dl sugar

clean the lingon. put it in a pan with the water. let boil for 10 min. take it off the stove, add sugar. stir until sugar is dissolved. pour into clean jars. seal."

sounds easy. almost too easy

and: at all costs avoid ikea-meatballs.

edit: a danish version of swedish meatballs adds all spice. i'm not sure if that is authentical, though. rather, it seems like a dane trying to give the swedish meatballs a danish twist.

Edited December 16, 2004 by oraklet (log)

[lovebenton0]

Snowangel, this is from the Scandinavian cooking site. This particular recipe suggests serving the Swedish meatballs with brown sauce and lingonberry "jam", which is actually the sauce.

This link will take you to two recipes for the sauce. The second one is more sour and I would agree with the poster more often used for meatballs. The first is sweeter per ingredient list and more like a pancake/crepe topping.

Both of these are comparable to what my friend makes for Swedish meatballs and the sauce, and her mother is Swedish.

Just more options for you to peruse.

[rcarter]

I always have Swedish Meatballs and Glugg at my holiday party - picked it up when my parents lived in Sweden. I've been tempted to go to buy the frozen IKEA meatballs for larger parties, but it is worth the effort. I use a recipe that my Mom got from Good Housekeeping (before moving to Sweden) which may seem strange, but my Mom actually had a reputation for having some of the best meatballs in the neighborhood.

I do buy the Lingonberry jam at IKEA. Much easier and I have never seen Lingonberries in my area anyway. I have also found the jam at World Market.

I saw an episode of Food 911 where Tyler Florence helped put together a Swedish party with meatballs and other great looking food. You might be able to find the recipes on the Food Network site.

[PCL]

Reports on the efforts will be gratefully received.

I L O V E S W E D I S H M E A T B A L L S..... ..... ....

[Betts]

Lunds and Byerly's have lignonberry preserves, sauce and plain berries in just about every aisle and even the meat counter. They also have recipes for meatballs at www.byerlys.com

Happy Holidays to you and Paul and all the little angels.

[Jason Perlow]

I am very ashamed to say that I find the Ikea Swedish Meatballs to be fine examples of their type. In fact, I known to be coerced to venture thru the Blue and Yellow Labryrinth of the Evil Nordic Balroc of Paramus on a Saturday afternoon just to check out with a few bags of those frozen meaty gems.

[snowangel]

I am very ashamed to say that I find the Ikea Swedish Meatballs to be fine examples of their type. In fact, I known to be coerced to venture thru the Blue and Yellow Labryrinth of the Evil Nordic Balroc of Paramus on a Saturday afternoon just to check out with a few bags of those frozen meaty gems.

←

Not sure I'm actually up to venturing the Blue and Yellow Labryrinth this last week before Christmas. I can only imagine how much more zoo-like it will be. And, I just remembered that it's across the road from the Sprawl (oh, I mean Mall) of America.

I do some recipe comparing and probably fiddle with them.

[kjente2]

You can go to Ingegretsen's market on 11th and East Lake, at least I think I remember it being 11th, it is one block off of Bloomington on Lake. They have lingonberry sauce. They also have a butcher shop where you can buy a meatball mix that is just great and traditional swedish sausage. The lines at this time of year are long but well worth the visit. It's a little hole in the wall treasure.

If you want to make the mix yourself, I use 1/2 beef, 1/4 ground pork, 1/4 ground veal, mixed with minced onion, bread crumbs soaked in some milk, beaten eggs, some ground allspice, salt and pepper, sometimes a little nutmeg. I have never measured so I can't tell you the amounts.

Edited December 17, 2004 by kjente2 (log)

[lorea]

I've been making these for years - I don't know how authentic they are, but they're definitely really good....I get rave reviews on them all the time.

Swedish Meatballs - "Köttbullar"

- ½ cup fine dry bread crumbs

- ½ cup light cream + ¼ cup water

- 10 oz. ground beef

- 10 oz. ground lean pork

- 1½ tsp. salt

- ½ tsp. ground allspice

- ¼ large yellow Spanish onion, or 1 small onion, chopped finely

- 2 crushed garlic cloves

- 1 egg, beaten

- butter & oil for frying

1) Soak the bread crumbs in the liquids, set aside.

2) In a food processor, chop the onion and garlic with the large blade.

3) Add the beef, pork, salt, and allspice and process until well-mixed. Gradually add the bread crumb mixture. Add the egg, making sure to scrape down the sides of the food processor. The mixture should be smooth and moist. For best results, refrigerate mixture overnight.

4) Over moderate heat, heat about a tablespoon of butter with an equal amount of flavorless oil in a heavy stainless steel sauté pan (or non-stick for no gravy). Once the butter stops foaming, add a small ball of meatball mixture with a small ice cream scoop, while shaking the pan energetically. Shake for a few minutes to set the meatball, and then add the next meatball. Do not crowd the pan.

5) When the meatballs are cooked through, remove from the pan and deglaze the pan with water or beef broth. Remove the gravy water to a bowl and continue frying the meatballs until finished.

6) For the gravy, strain the liquid into the sauté pan. Add in 1-2 tablespoons of blond roux and whisk until thickened - a splash of cream may also be added in. Salt/pepper to taste.

Serve the meatballs with gravy, lingonberry jam, and mashed potatoes (traditional), with tomato sauce, or with a veloute sauce.

[carswell]

There are probably as many recipes for Swedish meatballs as there are cooks in Sweden. Traditional versions do not include garlic, spices or herbs other than chopped parsley, and even that is strictly optional. Modern day versions tend to spice things up a bit; for example, lorea's recipe calls for garlic and allspice while another recipe recently posted on the Radio Sweden website skips the allspice but adds paprika and soy sauce.

Another, er, bone of contention is the meat mixture; some cooks insist on beef only while others add pork and/or veal. Bread crumbs and finely chopped onion are universal, though more than one cook insists that the best texture will be obtained only by replacing part of the crumbs and the egg with mashed potatoes. Half butter, half oil is the traditional cooking fat.

Two secrets to success. First, as you form the meatballs, place them on a cookie sheet. When the sheet is full, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or two. This helps the balls keep their shape when cooking and also lets the flavours meld. Second, don't overcrowd the pan and shake it often to ensure even cooking and avoid Swedish meat cubes. As each batch is done, transfer it to a dish in a warm oven.

When served for dinner, the balls should be about 1 inch in diameter. The sauce is made by dumping most of the fat from the frying pan, browning a bit of flour in what remains and making a gravy with cream (half and half works best, and be sure to scrape up any tasty bits adhering to the bottom of the pan). Most Swedes I know eat them with potatoes (boiled or mashed) or noodles.

Meatballs served as hors d'oeuvres are smaller (about 1/2 inch in diameter), sauceless and usually stuck with a toothpick.

IKEA's lingonberry preserves are quite good. In many stores, the food boutique comes after the cash registers, so if you sneak in through the exit, you can avoid most of the craziness and make a quick trip of it.

[snowangel]

So, I used the recipe provided above by lorea. This recipe coincided almost exactly with that in the Lutheran Church cookbook my mother got in 1957, except that one called for a meat grinder, not a food processor.

Then, my MIL called and "reminded me" that she uses a gravy, and favors Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup. Well, I just don't have any, and my trip to the liquor store, passing by the grocery store indicated I didn't want to get anywhere near that store. So, time to improvise. I have onions. I have shallots (which I used). I have butter. I have flour. I have been stock (highly reduced. I have cream. I have dried porcinis.

So, there it was. The roux. The stock. The re-hydrated porcinis. Some cream. Some salt, some pepper. It lacked punch. So, time to improvise even more. Added a couple of dollops of Tabasco Chipotle. Bingo!

The meatballs are in the gravy, sitting in the garage (this time of year, our second garage serves as a fridge when the one in the house is full of other stuff).

Paul said, after a tasting -- "these are going to put my mother to shame." A different kind of trouble.

When this was done, I made some larb to take as an appetizer for tomorrow evening's festivities. And about 12 dozen cookies.

Edited December 24, 2004 by snowangel (log)

[snowangel]

The verdict is in. These were, accoring to those who have been eating these for many decades, "the best ever. What is your secret?." I didn't want to let tell that a couple of big dollops of Tabasco Chipotle were the trick, but I finally fessed up.

THe lutefisk, over enough potatoes, and with enough melted butter and cracked black pepper, were "heartwarming."

Now, if I could only learn to like one of my sister's in law...but I don't think that's something that a condiment will fix.

Edited December 25, 2004 by snowangel (log)