Beef Frikadellen (German pan-fried meatballs)
Units
Temperature
Servings
Ingredients
- 600 g pure beef mince, no pork, no mixed mince rounded
- 1 egg rounded
- 6 g medium-hot mustard, about 1 teaspoon rounded
- 1 garlic clove, grated (optional) rounded
- 20 g butter or oil, for frying rounded
- to taste fine salt rounded
- to taste black pepper rounded
Method
Method
- In a bowl mix the mince, egg, mustard, grated garlic, salt, and pepper. Mix with your hands until just combined. Overworking the mince makes them bouncy.
- Wet your hands and form 6 to 8 flat patties, about 2 cm thick.
- Heat butter or oil in a pan on medium heat. Add the patties.
- Fry 4 to 5 minutes per side until deep brown and cooked through. Cut one open to check there is no pink.
- Serve with a side salad or sauteed zucchini.
Notes
- Steffi tip. Medium heat, not high, so the outside does not burn before the inside cooks. Make a few extra for Wednesday’s lunch.
- No onion and no breadcrumbs. This is not an omission, it is the recipe. A German reader will look at that ingredient list and assume something has been left out, because a proper Frikadelle normally carries a soaked Brötchen and a finely diced onion. Both are gone here on purpose: no onions is a house rule, and the bread is what would put this over the carb line. What is left is a stripped-down Frikadelle that tastes of beef, mustard, and garlic and holds together perfectly well on the egg alone.
- Because there is no bread in the mix, the patties are denser and brown harder than the version most people grew up with. Keep them flat and thin, about 2 cm, so the middle is done by the time the crust is right.
- Pure beef mince, not the mixed beef and pork Hackfleisch sold as standard in Germany. Ask for reines Rinderhack.
- Nothing in the mix is dairy. Fry them in oil rather than butter and the whole dish is dairy-free.
- Cold Frikadellen are one of the better leftovers there is. Wednesday’s midday meal is these, straight from the fridge, with salad.