1
1
1/2
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1
1
4
1
2
1/2
2
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ar
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c
c
c
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#
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oz
t
t
t
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Bread Crumbs, fine
Cream
Water
-- Meat Mix
Beef, lean ground
Pork, lean ground
Onion
Allspice
Salt
Pepper
Eggs
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Butter
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There are dozens of recipes for Swedish meatballs because they're
generally made from what's on hand. The traditional meat mix is beef and
pork, but veal is also used and you can even use chicken thighs if you
object to pork and/or veal.
- Put BREAD CRUMBS in a large mixing bowl and stir in
Cream and Water. Let stand for at least 5 minutes.
This is a critical point because if this mixture isn't pretty
stiff you'll end up with Swedish micro-burgers instead of meatballs.
Adjust as needed.
- Grind MEATS well if not already ground.
- Chop ONION very fine and fry stirring in a little
Butter until just starting to color. Let cool.
- Stir all Meat Mix items into the Bread Crumbs and mix very
well and evenly.
- Dust a holding surface lightly with flour. Oil your hands liberally
with olive oil and form the Mix into balls. Toss them back and
forth between your hands, gently squeezing into shape between tosses.
If they start to stick rinse your hands, dry them on a paper towel,
take a swig of your beer, re-oil and continue. Balls should be 1-1/2
inches (no larger) for dinner size, 1 inch (no smaller than 3/4 inch)
for appetizer balls. Keep the balls as close to the same size as
possible for even cooking. See
Production Photos.
- In your 12 inch skillet melt Butter. Temperature is
critical - you need it high enough to brown the meatballs well
but never so hot as to see a wisp of smoke. The foam on the surface
should stay a very light brown.. Butter should be about 1/8 inch
deep for well formed balls. If your meatballs sag and are more like
micro-burgers, do not despair, but do increase the depth of the
butter / oil mix to about 1/4 inch to make sure the sides brown.
- Oil your hands again. Giving each meatball a final shaping, set it
gently into the pan. Do not crowd the pan, you need room to
manipulate the balls, but they shouldn't be too sparse either.
- Once you've gotten them all in, start with the first ones and give
them 1/4 turn or so. When you've gotten them all, go back and give
them another 1/4 turn. I find a good set of tongs the best tool for
this part.
- Now that they've firmed up, start rolling them around with a wooden
spatula until they're done through and lightly browned all over. For
1-1/2 inch dinner balls this should be about 10 minutes, for 1 inch
appetizer balls about 8 minutes.
- Drain the browned meatballs on paper towels. At this point they
may be cooled for future use or kept warm for immediate use. For
future use spread on a baking sheet and reheat in a
350°F/177°C oven for 15 minutes.
- Stir the meatballs into your chosen sauce until coated and serve
warm.
Note-1: Some recipes call for roasting the meatballs
on a baking sheet in the oven at 450°F/230°C for 10 to 15
minutes. This is a lot easier if you're in a hurry, but frying is
reputed to produce superior meatballs.
Note-2: Another common seasoning is 1/4 t dry mustard
and 1/8 t ground nutmeg in place of the allspice.
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