Leif Mannerström's Swedish Meatballs

Photo from Winnie Yang

These köttbullar were so crazy delicious.  The recipe is from a book called The Art of Home Cooking by Leif Mannerström.  It was a parting gift given to me by my co-workers in Sweden, with reassurances that it is the best husmanskost cookbook out there.  (The Swedish title of the book, by the way, is Husmanskonst, a play on the word husmanskost, which means Swedish home cooking, and konst, which means art.)

The book says, "The following recipe is your chance of making the best meatballs in Sweden."  And brother was not kidding.

Winnie did all the work prepping them -- all I did was help shape and fry.  You can't go wrong with meat fried in tons of butter, but I think the texture was what really made those meatballs great -- crisp on the outside, soft as a cheek and super moist on the inside. 

But there are a few things you wouldn't really know on your own if you just read the recipe cold.  I have a few suggestions:

1. The anchovy liquor referred to in the recipe comes from Swedish anchovies, which are actually sweet sprats, not the salted Italian anchovies in oil.  Winnie used regular anchovies and just melted them down with the browned onions, but if you want to stick to the recipe, you'll have to hunt down Swedish anchovies. You should be able to get them at IKEA.
2. We found that the meatballs fell apart a bit in the frying pan.  I remembered a little later, though, that ground meat in Sweden is ground quite finely; mince comes out of the grinder in strands like thin spaghetti.  For rounder, more shapely meatballs, it might help to ask your butcher to put your meat through a finer grinder an extra round.  Or, you could pulse the meat in the food processor for a minute.
   
3. A nonstick frying pan helps keep the meatballs together.  It's also helpful to deglaze the pan every once in a while to pick up the fond, which wants to stick to your meatballs.  You could probably deglaze with cream to make a cream sauce instead. 
   
4. I think Winnie made the meatballs with half pork, half beef, and they were phenomenal, so that's the balance I included in the recipe.  Original recipe calls for half ground beef, half ground beef-pork mixture, which is a thing in Sweden.  So you could do three parts beef to one part pork instead; find the balance that works for you.   
   

Anyway, you MUST try these!  They went over like gangbusters with the 20 or so people who came to Winnie's Choice Cuts dinner and movie night.  (Details on the dinner here; more pics here.)  The Swedish factor makes it a bit cosmopolitan, but it's really accessible comfort food.  It's also a VERY kid friendly meal.  Meatballs are to Swedish kids as chicken nuggets are to American kids.

One interesting note -- Mannerström adds freshly grated nutmeg to his mash. I bet that's gooood.

Also, if you've never had the pleasure of attending a Choice Cuts event, sign up for her mailing list. The company is always interesting, the food is always delicious and ambitious, and Matt curates an excellent short before the well-chosen main feature.  It's the perfect thing to do on a Sunday night in Brooklyn.

Meatballs a la Lilian
adapted from Leif Mannerström's The Art of Home Cooking

1 1/2 dl (scant 2/3 cup) milk
1/2 dl (scant 1/4 cup) cream
2 dl (4/5 cup) dried breadcrumbs
2 eggs
1 dl (scant 1/2 cup) water

4 medium-large boiled potatoes (go for floury over waxy)

2 large onions

800 grams (1.75 lbs.) minced beef, ground finely
800 grams (1.75 lbs.) minced pork, ground finely
1 tsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. "anchovy" liquor (or substitute a few anchovy fillets)
4 tbsp. concentrated veal stock
2 tbsp. Kikkoman soy
salt and pepper

butter for frying (at least a stick, maybe two.  Don't be shy)
Water or cream for deglazing

1. Blend the milk, cream, breadcrumbs, egg and water into a loose batter.  Let mixture swell for a while.
2. Mash the potatoes well.  Set aside.
   
3. Peel the onions.  Grate one of them finely, chop the other one finely and fry till golden brown.  (If you substitute anchovy fillets for anchovy liquor, fry the fillets with the onion here.)
4. Blend all the ingredients quickly into a smooth mixture.  Add salt and pepper.  Fry a small dab to test the seasoning.
5. Shape the roundest meatballs you can.  (Helps to have extra hands to shape meatballs here.) 
   
6. Melt a tablespoon of butter in a nonstick or cast iron pan. Fry meatballs in butter till golden brown on the bottom, then roll over and brown on the other side.  Don't crowd the pan or they won't brown correctly.  Try to brown the meatballs all over.  Add another tbsp. of butter for each batch you fry.
   
7. After you've fried a few batches, deglaze the pan with a little water.  You could use the juice to moisten the meatballs, though they don't need the help.
   
8. Serve with mashed potato, pressgurka (quick-pickled cucumber) and lingonberry jam (or cranberry sauce, as Winnie did).  Serves 10.

Pressgurka
adapted from Leif Mannerström's The Art of Home Cooking

1 English seedless cucumber
1 small bunch parsley
salt
pepper

Dressing:
1 dl (scant 1/2 cup) ättiksprit*
3 dl water
2 dl (4/5 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
10-12 slices chili
salt

1. Shave cucumber thinly.  Place on a dish and salt lightly.  Leave for about 15 minutes and then drain well in a colander.  Pat gently with paper towel.
   
2. Chop parsley finely. 
   
3. In a glass bowl, alternate layers of cucumber, parsley and pepper.
4. Mix dressing together, checking for seasoning -- you want sweet and sour.
5. Pour dressing over cucumber.  Sprinkle lots of parsley on top.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.
   

*Ättiksprit is a special Swedish 12% strong vinegar.  Heinz distilled white vinegar, by comparison, is 5%.  If you are not as hardcore as Winnie, who brought a giant bottle back with her from Sweden (I'm certainly not that hardcore), I am guessing that you can do 2.5 dl (1 cup) white vinegar and 1.5 dl (scant 2/3 cup) of water instead of the 1 dl ättiksprit and 3 dl water.  Or, check IKEA to see if they carry it.