Köttbullar
Swedish beef meatballs, small and browned, in a gravy built on the pan they were fried in. Allspice is the flavour people cannot name, and the lingonberry on the side is not a garnish but the thing that makes the plate work.
Standard Swedish home method, beef alone rather than the usual beef and pork mix
Ingredients
Written for a 28 cm pan
Units
Temperature
Servings
Meatballs
- 600 g ground beef, finely ground, about 15 percent fat rounded
- 60 g dry breadcrumbs, soaked in the cream rounded
- 120 ml cream, for soaking the breadcrumbs rounded
- 1 onion, very finely diced and softened in butter first rounded
- 1 egg rounded
- 2 g ground allspice, the whole character of the dish rounded
- 1 g ground nutmeg rounded
- 8 g fine salt rounded
- 3 g white pepper rounded
- 40 g butter, for frying rounded
Gravy
- 30 g butter rounded
- 30 g plain flour rounded
- 500 ml beef stock rounded
- 150 ml cream rounded
- 10 ml soy sauce, for colour and savour, and a common Swedish shortcut rounded
- 5 g Dijon mustard rounded
To serve
- 120 g lingonberry jam, not optional; the sharpness is what balances the cream rounded
- to taste quick-pickled cucumber rounded
Method
- Soften the onion and cool it. Butter, low heat, 8 minutes until sweet and translucent, then spread it on a plate to cool. Warm onion partly cooks the egg when it goes in, and raw onion stays crunchy.
- Soak the breadcrumbs in the cream for 10 minutes. Cream rather than milk is the Swedish version and it is richer for it.
- Mix and rest. Beef, soaked crumbs, cooled onion, egg, allspice, nutmeg, salt and white pepper. Mix until just combined, then rest 30 minutes in the fridge, which firms the mix so the balls hold their shape without being packed tight.
- Roll small. About 25 g each, rolled between wet palms until properly round. Small is the point: these are not Italian meatballs and the ratio of browned surface to inside is what you are after.
- Brown in butter, in batches. Medium-high heat, and shake the pan every so often so they turn and colour all over rather than flattening on one side. About 6 minutes a batch. Do not crowd the pan. Lift them out; they are not cooked through yet.
- Make the gravy in the same pan. Add the butter, stir in the flour and cook 2 minutes over medium heat until it smells biscuity and turns pale gold. Whisk in the stock a little at a time, scraping up everything the meatballs left behind, then simmer 5 minutes.
- Add the cream, soy and mustard and simmer 2 minutes. Taste for salt.
- Return the meatballs and simmer gently 8 to 10 minutes, until cooked through and the gravy has thickened around them. Serve with mash, lingonberry and pickled cucumber.
Notes
- Allspice is the answer to “what is that flavour”. It is the single spice that makes a meatball taste Swedish rather than German or Italian. Two grams in 600 g is right, and white pepper rather than black keeps the gravy pale.
- Lingonberry is structural. Sweet and sharp against a rich cream gravy. Without it the plate is one note. If you cannot get it, cranberry sauce loosened with a little lemon is the closest thing.
- Soy sauce is not a cheat. It is standard in Swedish home kitchens for colour and savour, and it does not make the gravy taste of soy.
- Beef alone. The usual mix is beef with pork, and the pork brings fat and softness. Straight beef at 15 percent fat and the cream-soaked crumb gets you most of the way there.
- Ahead. They keep 3 days and freeze for 3 months in the gravy. Reheat gently; boiling splits the cream.
Ingredient substitutions
- Lingonberry jam is in every IKEA and most German supermarkets as Preiselbeeren. Note that Preiselbeeren and Cranberries are not the same fruit, though cranberry is the usable stand-in.
- Cream in the crumb can be milk if that is what is open. The meatballs will be slightly less rich and no less good.
Sources consulted
Good with
Sources consulted
From Christoph Mayer