Swedish Meatballs
The recipe for Swedish Meatballs first appeared in a late 18th Century European Cookbook.
I've had versions of this dish over the years generally as an hors d'oeuvres at a cheap happy hour buffet somewhere, along with miniature egg rolls and those little cocktail sausages in barbecue sauce. They were prefabricated and plastic, and pretty mediocre if not good for soaking up alcohol. This recipe is nothing like that. This is true, classic Swedish comfort food.
This dish was around Europe since the late 1700s and brought to this country by Swedish immigrants in the 19th and 20th Centuries. It caught on and was considered a trendy dish in the ‘50s and '60s. Traditionally, the meatballs are made from ground pork or beef in a brown cream sauce, served with boiled potatoes and accompanied by lingonberry preserves. I served neither of those. The last time I made this dish, I served it with a traditional German/Bavarian egg noodle called Spaetzle and thought that worked beautifully.
I don't know who "Chef John" is, but he posted a recipe for Swedish Meatballs in allrecipes which serves as the basis for my recipe here. According to some of the comments after his post, this apparently is an authentic recipe to what you would get if dining from a traditional Swedish Smorgasbord in, say, Stockholm, with the exception of the Worcestershire Sauce, Kitchen Bouquet and cayenne pepper. I was more interested in flavor than I was tradition, so I left them in. I also used beef stock, not beef broth, which is what Chef John used, and I substituted Splenda for sugar.
I did not use beef in my version here, but instead used 50/50 ground veal and ground pork. You can certainly use either or only one of these, or all three for that matter.
Swedish Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground veal
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/3 cup plain breadcrumbs (like, Progresso)
- 3/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
- non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 5 tbsp butter
- 5 tbsp all-purpose flour, plus more for a slurry if needed
- 3- 1/4 cup beef stock (like Kitchen Basics)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 packet Splenda (or substitute 1 tsp sugar)
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 3 heaping tbsp beef base (like, Better Than Bouillon Roasted Beef Base)
- 2 tbsp Kitchen Bouquet
- 1/8 tsp seasoned salt (like, Morton Season-All)
- 1/8 Worcestershire black pepper (like, McCormick)
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat with the olive oil and then sauté the onion until translucent and just starting to brown, 4-6 minutes.
- Transfer the onions to a mixing bowl and allow to cool a bit.
- Add the milk, eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, allspice and cayenne pepper, and stir to combine.
- Add the breadcrumbs and combine all ingredients well.
- Mix the pork and veal into the breadcrumb mixture and blend all ingredients thoroughly so everything is evenly distributed. Your hands are the best tools for this.
- Cover and put the mixture in the refrigerator for 1 hour to firm up.
- Preheat your oven to 425°F.
- Prepare a sheet pan or cookie sheet with aluminum foil for east clean-up, and spray with the non-stick cooking spray.
- With wet hands, roll 2-3 tablespoons of the meat mixture into golf ball sized meatballs and lay out in a single layer.
- Bake the meatballs until browned, about 45 minutes, turning them over midway through.
- Melt the butter over medium high heat in a large sauce pan, then add the flour.
- Using a whisk, stir to combine making a roux. Keep stirring until the roux takes on a slight brown color, about five minutes.
- Slowly whisk in the beef stock and bring to a simmer.
- Add the cream, Splenda or sugar, beef base, Kitchen Bouquet and the Worcestershire sauce, and simmer until the sauce thickens and easily coats the back of the spoon, about 7 minutes.
- Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed. If your gravy is not becoming thick enough, just combine a little more flour in a little water until thoroughly dissolved, called a slurry, and then whisk it into the gravy. If you do this, however, be sure to bring the sauce back to a simmer and cook for another minute or two.
- Once you have the consistency you want, cover and allow the sauce to gently simmer for thirty minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Take the meatballs out of the oven and add them to the gravy.
- Allow everything to simmer together for another fifteen minutes.
- Serve along side potatoes or over noodles and when plated, finish the dish with the chopped fresh parsley.
Notes
- If you are making Swedish Meatballs as an hors d'ouvres for a cocktail buffet (to be kept warm in a chafing dish), make your meatballs slightly smaller for a single bite.
