Subj : FidoNews 33:51 [03/08]: Fidonet'S International Kitchen
To   : All
From : FidoNews Robot
Date : Mon Dec 19 2016 00:47:50

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                 FIDONET'S INTERNATIONAL KITCHEN
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                  Swedish meatballs
         Originally posted in Fidonews 15 Dec 2003

    This is a traditional Swedish recipe. It is served at the
sm-rgåsbord and also at Christmas in Swedish homes (as one of many
dishes). It is however usually served with brown sauce, potatoes and
lingonberry jam at lunch or dinner. Kids just love the meatballs with
pasta and ketchup, but generally have meatballs of all variations on
top of their list of favourite meals.

        Ingredients (4 Servings):

        200g ground beef
        200g ground pork
        1dl bread crumbs
        2dl milk
        1 small onion
        1 egg
        salt and pepper

        Brown sauce:

        4dl beef stock
        3cl wheat-flour
        3cl soy sauce

   Mince the onion and fry until soft. Whip egg and milk with salt and
pepper. Mix with ground meat and onion. Don't mix too long, or the fat
will separate. Let it soak for 10 minutes. Mix with breadcrumbs and
let swell for another half to one hour.

   Mix the stock and the soy sauce and put to a boil.

   Form meat mixture into small balls with your hands. This is easiest
to do with wet hands. The size of the balls can vary a little, but a
small walnut is about the right size. It can be a little bit tricky to
get the balls round, but after a while you get the hang of it. Oh, by
the way, kids also love to help "making" meatballs (not just eating
them)!

   A pro usually uses a tablespoon in one hand and forms the balls
scraping the mixture a couple of times in the palm of their, slightly
cupped, other hand. You could try and see if you're more comfortable
with that method -- one often ends up with eggshaped balls that way.

   Heat one third of the butter in a heavy frying-pan (medium hot).
Fry the balls, one third at a time, for about 5 minutes. Turn them
around, quite often, to get them evenly fried. The balls should get
dark brown. After each round, sprinkle the pan with one third of the
flour and let it get some colour. Then whisk out the pan with one
third of of the stock and strain it into a container for later use.
Don't forget to put in more butter after each round.
   When all the meatballs have been fried, put in the sauce from the
container and let it simmer for a couple of minutes. Put in the
meatballs and let them get hot for another couple of minutes.

   The meatballs are perfect to keep in the freezer, then you
obviously don't make the sauce.

   Note 1:
   The breadcrumbs were originally used to make the meat go further.
To avoid getting it all too dry, they first were soaked in milk, and
this is actually what most recipes still say. But today the reason for
the breadcrumbs are no longer economical, it's a matter of texture.

   So to get the most out of it, the eggmilk mixture should first be
mixed with the meat, so that all the juices from the meat can be
dissolved by the milk, and *then* the breadcrumbs are added. That way
they take up all the flavours and don't just taste like breadcrumbs
soaked in milk.

   Note 2:
   If you have an electric, thermostat controlled fryer, it is much
more easy to get perfectly shaped balls, since the surface of the
balls contracts evenly, thereby shaping them. Put the fryer on 190øC
and fry one third at a time for abt. five minutes. Put them on a piece
of paper to dry out the excess oil. This is the preferred method if
you don't want to make the brown sauce to go with the meatballs.


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