WineLovers Discussion Group

How can I deny a request for genuine Swedish Meatballs?
This is the recipe I use, it's my grandmothers but I've made a few changes. My grandfather only used pork for his version.

3 tbs Breadcrumbs
1 cup Milk
1 lb Ground meat, equal parts beef and pork
1/2 Onion, finely chopped
1 Egg
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Salt and Pepper

Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk for a few minutes, then add the meat. Stir gently until it's mixed together. Soften the onions in a pan with butter. Let it cool of and add to the meat together with the egg, and mustard. Salt and pepper to taste and if you're feeling a bit adventurous, throw in a small pinch of allspice. Form the meatballs and brown them in butter and oil.

Anything like your recipe Gary?

Great recipe Daniel! Pretty much like the one I use, which I in my turn have inherited from my mother. The important parts in it, to make them taste as I like them, are the softening of the onion, instead of using it raw, as many do, and definitely to be adventurous enough to add allspice. And don't be to shy with the spices.
Then to add even some more taste of the Swedish wilderness, one can use some part of elk meet, if that is available.

From one Källberg to another,
Anders

So in Sweden, the Swedish meatball does not automatically come floating in a white sauce? Here, we're under the impression that such is the case.

Oh no, Jenise, not at all! They are fried, and if any sauce is served, it would definitley not be white but brown. Often they are served with pasta, and, sadly enough, much too often eaten with ample amounts of ketchup!
I hope the other Källberg will chime in too, with his views on the matter.
Cheers, Anders

Anders, I misspoke when I said white sauce. Light brown would probably be more apt, far lighter than what I'd usually mean by a 'brown sauce' because a brown sauce would not contain cream and the usual sauce for a Swedish meat ball here does. It was also the case with a dish of Norwegian Meat Balls a friend who is of Norwegian descent served me not long ago--on pasta, yes, but definitely a creamy sauce. I believe it contained dill, too. She said she got the recipe off a Sons of Norway website. Maybe these are the Scando-American equivalent of the Italian-American pasta dishes Americans consider standard that bear no resemblance to the true Italian version?

Say, $199 each way tickets from Seattle to Oslo on sale today. Should I book? ))))

Bork! Bork! Bork!

This was a favorite of mine as a child. My mother used to cook it all the time using my Swedish great-grandmother's recipe. The original recipe had a light-colored gravy with cream in it, but my mother left out the cream and so the gravy was a medium-brown shade.

-Paul W.

Daniel K wrote:Anything like your recipe Gary?

Wow! I haven't been in the food forum for a while and I find your kind recipe! Thank you!

How could they be anything like mine? I got my recipe off the back of a bottle of Heinz Chili Sauce. (There is a thread somewhere about this.)

Yours seem to bear some resemblance to Königsberger Klopse although you have no capers in yours and I imagine the Swedish meatballs are smaller.

My own Italo-American meatballs have no onion in them, just lots of crushed garlic (salt, pepper, grating cheese, egg, sweet paprika, parsley). I don't, however, use bread crumbs. I prefer dicing up stale Italian bread. This leaves some bready clumps in the balls, but I have grown fond of them.

By the way, I also prefer a blend of beef and pork, 2:1 mixture.

Well, I will have to give your recipe a test run. Thanks again!