Proper Swedish Meatballs

After living in the United States for almost 9 years, I am appalled to have only seen Swedish Meatballs most commonly found in frozen TV Dinner’s. Americans aren’t even close to presenting something, that to a Swede, looks remotely reminiscent of Meatballs from home. The major flaws being:

1. Meatballs are not smothered in some sort of tan, creamy sauce.
2. Traditional Swedish meatballs are served with lingonberry preserves.
3. Traditional Swedish meatballs are served with potatoes. (However, many swedes enjoy meatballs with pasta. Usually smothered in Ketchup. I am one of those swedes.)

To help with the misconception, I am doing my part and sharing my meatball recipe, given to me by my mom. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 lbs Lean Ground Beef
• 1 lbs Ground Pork (not lean, horrible but Oh-So-Good!)
• 1 half Yellow Onion (finely grated)
• 1 large Egg
• 2 tbs Regular Bread Crumbs
• 2 tbs Milk
• ¼ tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1 pinch Salt

Instructions:

Soak bread crumbs in the milk and put to the side.

Combine meats into a bowl.

Finely grate the onion and add to meat mixture. Combine remaining ingredients in large mixing bowl and mix by hand thoroughly. 

Finally roll the mixture into roughly 1" balls. It's important to keep the size consistent to keep the cooking time the same for all. Keeping your hands wet while rolling them will keep the mix from sticking to your hands.

Fry in butter preferably using an iron skillet. This will give the meatballs a nice crisp exterior. For the bacon freak it is highly recommended to use bacon grease for frying.

This is not a serving suggestion. This is a serving MUST in order to call it traditional Swedish Meatballs. The gravy is just your choice of brown gravy. I am lazy so most of the time I just use McCormick's powdered brown gravy that I tweak with some soy sauce and fresh pepper, substituting the water with half milk, half water. The red stuff is Lingonberry preserves that can be acquired at your closest scandinavian food purveyor or at IKEA.

P.S. 

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A great way to enjoy left over meat balls is to make sandwiches with beet salad. The beet salad is super easy to make since it only has 2 basic ingredients, Mayonnaise and Pickled Beets. Chop the beets into 1/8" or smaller cubes. Mix into the mayo and season with a little salt and pepper. It's of course ready to eat right way, but will taste so much better if you let it sit in the fridge overnight. 

D.S.