Swedish Meatballs (Svenska Kottbullar)
I love Swedish Meatballs, and have had the honor and pleasure to have them made by a Swedish lady about 7-8 years ago, had not had them since, I need to change that. I have contacted several Swedish friends and I am always pointed to this recipe to use. So here it is and I look forward to making this and reporting my findings. The spices stated are important. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking Pan
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 2 slices day old bread, crumbled
- ½ cup heavy cream, Shortcut
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 1 small onion, minced
- 300 grams ground beef, (10 oz)
- 150 grams minced pork, (5 oz)
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ¼ cup chicken stock, fresh or from powder
For the Gravy
- pan drippings
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour, or as needed
- 2 cups beef stock, or as needed
- 100-220 grams sour cream, to taste, (3½-7 oz)
- salt and cracked black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180° C (350° F). Get out a large baking dish.
- Place the bread crumbs into a small bowl, and mix in the cream. Allow to stand until crumbs absorb the cream, about 10 minutes. While the bread is soaking, melt 1 teaspoon of butter in a skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir the onion until it turns light brown, about 10 minutes. Place onion into a mixing bowl; mix with the ground beef, ground pork, egg, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger. Lightly mix in the bread crumbs and cream.
- Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Pinch off about 1½ tablespoon of the meat mixture per meatball, and form into balls. Place the meatballs into the skillet, and cook just until the outsides are brown, about 5 minutes, turning the meatballs often. Insides of the meatballs will still be pink. Place browned meatballs into a baking dish, pour in chicken broth, and cover with foil. Bake until the meatballs are tender, about 40 minutes. Remove meatballs to a serving dish.
- To make the gravy, pour pan drippings into a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk the flour into the pan drippings until smooth, and gradually whisk in enough beef broth to total about 2½ cups of liquid. Bring the gravy to a simmer, whisking constantly until thick, about 5 minutes. Just before serving, whisk in the sour cream, taste so you do not over do the sour cream. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
- Serve the gravy with the meatballs and mashed potatoes or boiled macaroni.
Notes
Figure about 150 Baht for the beef and pork. For 6 servings this is about 75 cents per serving. You can keep the meatballs and gravy warm in a slow cooker.
Shortcut: Heavy Cream.
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