Kalle Bergman on how to make the ultimate mother-approved Swedish meatballs.
By Kalle Bergman – Photo By Mads Damgaard
Swedish Meatballs. The King Of Swedish Cuisine. The Classic Of Classics. Titan Of Titans, if you will.
This ultra classic has a very special place in the hearts of most Swedes. And why shouldn’t it? It is after all a miniature version of the entire Swedish cuisine. It tastes like Sweden, and it has all the classic ingredients that we see all across Scandinavian food culture. Pickled cucumber. Lingonberries. Mash. Cream sauce. Powerful and smooth at the same time. Sweet and sour. Simple but refined.
There are as many Swedish meatball recipes as there are Swedish mothers. All with their individual secrets and tweaks, and all claiming to the be “the original”. Most use a bread and milk mixture to make the meatballs smoother, others mix pork and beef to make them lighter. Some season with everything from allspice to nutmeg. I use a little cream, dark beer, onions and stock to make the meatballs slightly lighter, chunkier and juicier. And they are Mother approved.
Print
Swedish Meatballs Recipe – The Ultimate Version
- Total Time: 50 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
Kalle Bergman gives us his mother approved recipe for Swedish Meatballs with cream sauce, mashed potatoes, pickled cucumber and lingonberry jam.
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 1/3 Ib (600 g) of ground beef
- 2 Tablespoons of breadcrumbs
- 3 Tablespoons of heavy cream
- 2 Tablespoons of beef stock
- 2 Tablespoons of dark beer
- 1 Onion
- 1/2 Teaspoon of allspice
- Salt
- Pepper
Cream Sauce
- 1/2 Cup of beef stock
- 1 1/2 Cup of heavy cream
- Salt
- White pepper
- 1 Small knob of organic butter
- A pinch of sugar
- 1 Teaspoon of corn starch, mixed with a little cold water
Mashed Potatoes
- 2 Ib of potatoes
- 1/2 Cup of warm milk (you might not need it all)
- 3 Tablespoons of organic butter
- Salt
- Pepper
Pickled Cucumber
- Cucumber
- Cup of Vinegar
- Cup of Water
- Tablespoon of salt
- 1/3 Cup of sugar
- 1 Bay leaf
Lingonberry Jam
- 1 1/2 Cups of lingonberries
- 1 1/2 Cups of sugar
Garnish
- A few sprigs of dill
Instructions
For the cucumber
- Start by preparing the pickled cucumber. Mix water, sugar, salt and vinegar in a large bowl. Whisk until sugar and salt is disolved completely. Finely slice the cucumber, and add to the bowl. Make sure they are completely covered by the fluid. Add bayleaf, and put in the refridgerator for at least one hour.
For the lingonberry jam
- Rinse the lingonberries thoroughly and put them in a bowl. Pour in the sugar, and gently stir until sugar is disolved. Store in the refridgerator until serving.
For the meatballs
- Peel and grate the onion coarsely. Then gently fry it on a medium warm pan together with a little bit of butter until golden brown.
- In a bowl, mix bread crumbs, heavy cream, beer and stock. Set aside for 5 minutes.
- Place the ground beef in a large bowl, add the browned onions and the beer / bread mixture . Season with salt and pepper, and mix together well. Leave for 10 minutes.
- Roll the meat into small balls with a diameter of roughly one inch. Fry them in batches together with a little butter or sunflower oil. They are ready when they are slightly crispy on the outside. Set aside while making the sauce.
For the sauce
- Deglace the frying pan with a littlewater and add the stock. Reduce by half, and then add the cream. Bring to a simmer, and thicken with butter and corn starch. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
- Taste and season it with salt, sugar and white pepper.
- Add the meatballs to the sauce, or serve them separately.
For the potatoes
- Peel the potatoes and boil them in salted water until soft. Pass through a sieve into a large bowl to get the finest and smoothest mash. Add the butter, and then the milk slowly as you whisk the potatoes. Do not add ALL milk at once, you might not need more than just a few drops, depending on what potato you are using. Season with salt and add more butter if you want a creamier taste.
Plating
- Garnish with dill
Notes
If it’s completely impossible to get a hold of lingonberries, or lingonberry jam (usually found in that Swedish furniture store) – you can substitute red currant jelly. It’s not the same, but it works.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
This is the best dish ever – dream of Sweden every time I have it :)
One of my favorites for sure – my mom’s from Sweden so it’s a part of the upbringing to have the meatballs and the “lingonsylt”. Awesome blog and pics – keep up the good work!
I always thought that traditional meatballs were a blend of beef and pork.
Well, that’s not completely untrue. Many recipes use a combo of beef and pork. However, the 100% beef variation is equally correct, and slightly more common. My Mom use only beef, and to avoid getting into trouble – I’m sticking to that.
I also think that blending it with pork actually brings the meatballs closer to the Danish frikadelle.
All the best
Kalle
I am going to try to make this tomorrow
Yeah, Thanks for posting! I really enjoyed the report. I’ve already bookmark this article. :)
Great recipe. I drive to IKEA just to get the meatballs, and I’m sure yours are way better. Hope to try this soon!
oh!!! thank you for beautiful recipes! my bf is swedish (btw im Korean and we live in Hongkong! plus we met in Beijing haha its quite international huh? :-p) and he did miss swedish foods! well we somtimes buy some meatball from IKEA but i always wanted to make real swedish meatball for him! i guess now im ready to make him surprised by serving this beautiful meatball for secreat dinner! tack !!!!! :-p
Those meatballs look so tasty! I recently made sweet and sour meatballs for a hawaiian party- you can find the recipe here: http://www.chewonthatblog.com/2010/08/16/sweet-n-sour-hawaiian-meatballs/
This is the best dish ever – dream of Sweden every time I have it :)
My limited experience with Swedish Meatballs is the food court at IKEA…and it looks nothing like this!
You’ve inspired me to try this at home.
My wife and daughter did a tour of Scandinavia and had this dish, specifically the combination of meatballs, sauce, potatoes, lingonberries and pickled cucumbers. I wanted to duplicate it for her and this one hit the mark exactly. Couldn’t be happier with the recipe. I did baked potatoes (Yukon Golds), sliced and baked with a litle onion (40 min @ 450°) as that was the way it was served in Sweden. There IS such a thing as good Swedish food! THX
I like how it’s plated – where did you get the plates?
Hi Joanne, thanks. I honestly do not remember where the plate was from… Sorry about that!