Meatballs with cream sauce

Köttbullar med gräddsås

Köttbullar med gräddsås (meatballs with cream sauce) is widely thought of as Sweden's national dish, although it doesn't always get a good press. Actually, when well made, and with good side dishes, it really is rather pleasing!

As far as we know, the earliest written recipe for köttbullar appeared in 1755, in a cookbook by Cajsa Warg called Hjelpreda i Hushållningen för Unga Fruentimber (A Guide to Housekeeping for Young Women). Cajsa Warg was born on 23 March 1703 in Örebro, but left home when she was quite young and went to Stockholm to earn her living, eventually getting a series of jobs as a housekeeper for various distinguished families. Whilst working Cajsa kept careful notes on 800 recipes and it was these notes that were published in her cookbook. The book became one of the great bestsellers of the 18th century and was was the leading cookbook for several generations, until industrially manufactured kitchen stoves made most of its recipes outdated.

Unfortunately Cajsa's good work was undone by the Swedish Chef on The Muppet Show who demonstrated to the world how to cook köttbullar, whilst singing in semi-comprehensible gibberish in a mock-Swedish accent! Many people were left with the firm impression that Swedish meatballs are only fit for tennis!

Of course, that is not true. When made by a skilled chef, like Stefano Catenacci at Operabaren in Stockholm, köttbullar are light, delicate and a real treat. He serves them in a traditional style, with potato purée, sweetened lingonberries and pressed cucumber. Personally, I think Operabaren, with its beautifully maintained Art Nouveau interior, is the best places in the world to enjoy köttbullar.

The recipe

Of course, you might want to know whether the recipe below is authentic? The short answer is that there is not an authentic method. If you asked ten Swedes about making köttbullar you would get ten different answers. They would be similar for sure, but most Swedish cooks will have their own way and so will use a bit more or a bit less of this or that. Nonetheless, I think most Swedes would agree that these meatballs are pretty good.

Opinions about gräddsås (cream sauce) are even more divided. The recipe below is adapted from Vår Kok Bok (Sweden's most popular cookery book) and I think it strikes a good balance, but of course you can tweak it to suit your own preferences and still feel it is genuinely Swedish. Some add more cream, sometimes as much as 200 ml, and some add some white wine vinegar or a tablespoon of redcurrant jelly. Nonetheless, I think you will find the gräddsås recipe below a good starting point.

Accompaniments

Be sure to serve your meatballs with some pressgurka (pressed cucumber), rårörda lingon (sweetend lingonberries) and potatismos (mashed potatoes) as they really are the best dishes to accompany köttbullar med gräddsås. John Duxbury

Summary

Tips

• Swedes generally only season meatballs with salt and white pepper, but occasionally other seasoning is also added such as some allspice or sugar and mustard.
• Take your time rolling the meat into balls between the palms of your hand otherwise they will go out of shape quickly when you fry them.
• Fry the meatballs in two batches because if you fry too many at once they will steam rather than brown.

• If you like a foamy gräddsås, use an immersion blender to incorporate air into the sauce after adding the cream in step 9 below. Have the blade half in and half out of the sauce to incorporate lots of air. If you've not got an electric blender, whisk by hand for 2-3 minutes. 
• For a julbord (Christmas buffet), grated potato and cream are usually added to the meat mixture. Julköttbullar (Christmas meatballs) are often baked. More…
• If you are making very large quantities for a party make the meatballs in advance and then reheat them in an oven for 10-15 minutes at 175°C (350°F, gas 4, fan 160°C). Use aluminium foil trays with lids, as the lids help to prevent the meatballs drying out.
• Use any leftovers to make some delicious köttbullesmörgås med rödbetssallad (open meatball sandwich with beetroot salad). More…

Ingredients

Meatballs

4 Tbsp		fresh white breadcrumbs
4 Tbsp		milk or water
225 g	(8 oz)	pork mince
225 g	(8 oz)	veal or beef mince
2 Tbsp		grated onion*
1		egg, lightly beaten
3		whole allspice, crushed (optional)
		salt and freshly ground white pepper
2 Tbsp		butter, for frying

*The onion is better grated than chopped

Cream sauce

300 ml	(1¼ cups)	hot water
½-1		beef stock cube
2 Tbsp		plain flour (all-purpose flour)
100 ml	(7 Tbsp)	milk or water
½-1 tsp		soy sauce
2-3 Tbsp		cream

Method

Köttbullar

1. Put the breadcrumbs in a large bowl and add 4 tablespoons of milk or water. Leave them to absorb the liquid for about 5 minutes.

2. Add the mince, grated onion, egg, allspice (optional) and seasoning. Mix with your hands or a wooden spoon until evenly mixed. Don’t over mix or the meatballs will be heavy.

3. Take a tablespoon of mixture and roll it until it is nice and round. (Rinse your hands in cold water if the mixture is too sticky.) Repeat until you have used up all the mixture, by which time you should have between 30 and 40 meatballs.

4. Heat a tablespoon of butter in a frying pan over a medium high heat until the butter stops sizzling. Fry half the meatballs, shaking the pan frequently when you first add them. When they are nicely browned, turn down the heat and cook for a further 10 minutes. Remove the meatballs from the pan and keep warm.

5. Add another tablespoon of butter and fry the remaining meatballs in the same way as in step 4.

Gräddsås

6. When the meatballs are cooked, remove the pan from the heat and add the warm water and use it to scrap up all the meaty bits in the pan. Bring it up to the boil and let it simmer for a minute or two.

7. Sieve the mixture into a saucepan, add the stock cube and stir until dissolved.

8. Mix the flour with the milk or water and stir until dissolved. Pour into the saucepan, whisking continuously as you do so. Simmer the sauce for 5 minutes.

9. Add the soy sauce and cream. Heat for another couple of minutes, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon. (Use a whisk if you like a little foam, as shown above. If you like lots of bubbles, use an immersion blender with the blade half in and half out of the sauce.) Taste and adjust the seasoning.

10. Serve the meatballs with rårörda lingon, mashed potatoes, pressed cucumber and a light coating of the sauce. Pour the rest of the cream sauce into a jug for people to help themselves to if they want more.

Downloads

  printer version.pdf 

  phone & tablet version.pdf

Julköttbullar

For julköttbullar (Christmas meatballs) the breadcrumbs and milk/water are replaced with grated potato and cream and the onion is finely chopped and lightly fried first.

1		small onion
3 tbsp		butter
2		medium sized cooked potatoes
225 g	(8 oz)	minced beef or venison
225 g	(8 oz)	minced pork
1		egg, lightly beaten
1½ tsp		salt
3-4		whole allspice, finely crushed
150 ml	5 fl oz	cream

1. Peel and finely chop a small onion and fry in a tablespoon of butter until softened.

2. Grate the two cooked potatoes into a bowl.

3. Add the minced beef, pork, egg, salt, allspice and cream. Mix with your hands or a wooden spoon until evenly mixed. Don’t over mix or the meatballs will be heavy.

4. Take a tablespoon of mixture and roll it until it is nice and round. (Rinse your hands in cold water if the mixture is too sticky.) Repeat until you have used up all the mixture, by which time you should have about 30-40 meatballs.

5. Heat a tablespoon of butter in a frying pan over a medium high heat until the butter stops sizzling. Fry half the meatballs, shaking the pan frequently when you first add them. When they are nicely browned, turn down the heat and cook for a further 10 minutes. Remove the meatballs from the pan and keep warm. Repeat with the remaining meatballs.

For a large party

For a large party, julköttbullar are normally cooked in an oven. Add the butter to a large pan and put it in a hot oven at 250°C (475°F, gas 9, fan 220°C) until the butter is melted and a light brown colour. Add the julköttbullar and cook in the middle of the oven for 8-12 minutes until nicely browned, shaking the pan a few times to ensure that the balls are evenly browned.

Köttbullesmörgås med rödbetssallad

If you have any meatballs leftover use them to make an open sandwich with a beetroot salad. Butter some bread and arrange on a serving dish. Top with rödbetssallad, slice the meatballs and then place them on top of the salad. Garnish with parsley or chervil, slices of smörgåsgurka (pickled gherkin/cucumber) and some very thin slices of peeled raw beetroot (optional).

Sometimes, as shown above, I make smaller meatballs, using just half a tablespoon of mixture per ball, especially for open sandwiches.