If I cook it they will run
Ok, after sitting in the cooling oven for 2 hours waiting for the wife (must be Xmas shopping), things are better. Not great, but better. I guess they soak up the sauce a bit. They still need more salt and more spice though. And I’d say you need to make about double the amount of gravy if you’re going to pour these over noodles. I put the whole batch in a 9x9 dish and the gravy barely stretched.
From Lucia.com
On Christmas Eve in Swedish homes throughout the Midwest, Swedish meatballs take a prominent place on the traditional smörgåsbord table. “Swedish meatballs were there for the children and anyone else who did not like lutefisk,” says Mrs. Wendell Johnson of Ames, Iowa.
There are many different meatball recipes in the Northern Heartland as there are Swedes. Some recipes call for bread, others for mashed potatoes; some favor an all-beef mixture, while others combine ground pork with beef. Seasonings of allspice, nutmeg, cardamom, and ginger give the Swedish meatball its unique flavor.
The meatballs are traditionally served with a thick gravy made from the pan drippings, boiled new potatoes, lefse, and drawn butter.
1 pound pork sausage
½ pound ground beef
½ pound ground veal
2 slices white bread
¼ cup milk
2 eggs
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Butter or vegetable oil for frying meatballsGRAVY:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 cups homemade Dark Stock (page 142) or low-salt canned broth
In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients except butter. (It’s best to use your hands to do the mixing.) Shape into small meatballs. Then heat the butter in a large skillet set over medium-high heat and gently brown the meatballs on all sides. Place them on a heated platter in the oven to keep warm.To make the gravy, blot the grease from the skillet. Add the butter and melt over low heat. Stir in the flour and cook about 1 to 2 minutes, or until brown and bubbly. Stir in the mustard. Slwly stir in the stock and cook until the gravy is thickened and does not taste “floury.” Put the meatballs back into the skillet, cover, and cook over very low heat for about 10 minutes.
Alternate Methods:
Substitute ground pork for the sausage, increase the amount of ground beef to 1 pound, and omit the ground veal.
Substitute ¼ cup mashed potatoes or ¼ cup cooked white rice for the bread.
To make a Swedish Meat Loaf, follow the original recipe and pack the mixture into a 9-inch loaf pan. Bake in a 350ºF oven about 50 minutes.
Not sure if this recipe is any good.
With cooking a lot of the skill comes from trial and error.
Try something then adjust to suit your taste.Almost any meatball has to be better than Lutefisk.
Lutefisk is cod that has been treated with Lye until it turns into a Gelatinous
mass then rinsed and Dried. It is later reconstituted with water when ready to eat it.
My Dad used to tease us all at Christmas time and make us at least try the Lutefisk.
He said that in the Old country they stacked it outside like cordwood and all the best pieces came from the lower corners where the sled dogs would urinate.
Not a very good way to get your kids to appreciate an ethnic delicacy.Bon Appetit
I had a friend from Sweden, and he used Lingonberry jam when he made meatballs. Although over here it may be had to come by.
meat mix:
3/4 lb ground beef
3/4 lb ground pork(Hot Jimmy Dean Sausage)
2/3 cup bread crumbs
1 cup water(White wine)
butter
2 egg yolks(Whole eggs)
1 tablespoon minced onion (1 1/2 cup! Minimum. And Garlic! Lots of Garlic!)
1/4 tsp nutmeg(1 Tbsp)
1/4 tsp black pepper(1 Tbsp)
1/4 tsp allspice(1 Tbsp)
1 tsp salt(1-2 oz)sauce:
flour
2 cups beef stock(Enh, large can Cream of Mushroom condensed soup. And Zinfandel to thin)Fixed!
Ok. First off, the wife says my batch came out fine, with just the right amount of onion and the right amount of salt. Since she’s a halophobe (salt hater) that means they probably need more salt. I should admit that I didn’t quite follow the recipe regarding the onion; I cut an minced a 1/4” thick slice from a large yellow onion and added half of it instead of 1/4 of it. The other half went into the gravy. It probably totaled 1/4-1/3 cup.
Swedeboy your recipe looks like a bigger and better version of mine, but what is “lefse”? I’ll give yours a try using ground beef and pork, because pork sausage comes in so many different flavors and varieties. Thanks!
CM your recipe looks to be a much stronger taste. Kind of Spicy Italian-Swedish. Does “Enh” mean “and” or “substitute”?
I use the white wine instead of the water? Any particular white wine?Just a couple of “inauthentic” suggestions…
First, use your favorite meatloaf recipe… The spices and goodies are just right for meatballs…
Second. Bake the darned things. On a rack if you’ve got one (like a cake cooling rack). It’s quicker, easier, and the fat just drips away.
OR (Italian trick here)
Use LEAN ground sirloin to make the balls and poach them in broth. This makes the most moist, tender, delicious meatballs, and reducing the broth will give you the liquid for your cream gravy. (Make the roux-the flour and butter-in a separate pan. No lumps, promise!)
Posted by heldmyw
12/12/2008 at 01:10 PM
You all need to quit messing around with this wimpy stuff and go for some the recipes in Steve Graham’s EAT WHAT YOU WANT AND DIE LIKE A MAN.
My arteries tense up when I just look at a recipe.
