#46 Sweden

Sweden has given the world many wonderful things:

ABBA
Half the cast of the Prime hit Vikings
Freddie Ljungberg (that CK ad in the 2000s…you are welcome for being reminded of that)
Zlatan Ibramhimovic – talisman of football and, as it turns out, he shares a birthday with me!
Ulrika Johnson & Sven Goren Eriksen's affair
Alfred Nobel, off of the prizes
Avicci, God rest his soul ☹
The MALM drawers. Who hasn’t flat-packed at least one set of these at some point? I currently have a set in oak veneer (4-drawers) and one in brown stained ash veneer (3-drawers)
Köttbullar – AKA IKEA meatballs

Köttbullar literally means ‘meat buns’ and, thanks to IKEA, these balls/buns of beef and pork are recognised globally as Sweden’s national dish. In the cold north of the country, the meat is traditionally elk and pork, whereas in the south it tends to be veal and pork.

Legend has it that the Swedish köttbullar are descended from Turkish kofte, with the recipe being brought back to Sweden by King Charles XII after spending time in the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century. The meatballs we know and love to be Swedish have evolved to be served with mashed potato, lingonberry jam, pickles, and a creamy gravy, much removed from the original kofte.

IKEA published their own meatball recipe at the start of the pandemic in 2020…but Niklas Ekstedt also published his recipe for köttbullar on Saturday Kitchen…and, well, these sound better!

Elk meatballs with red cabbage salad and blackened apple (as seen on Saturday Kitchen)

I’ve made many Italian and middle eastern meatballs in my time, where meat is mixed with herbs/spices, breadcrumbs and maybe some onion. The result is usually great but these meatballs are something else!

I used a combination of venison and pork for the meat, seasoned with juniper and onion. I had no reason to worry that these would be dry as the meat is mixed with melted butter! The breadcrumbs don’t go in dry either; they’re soaked in milk and double cream before being added to the mix. The buttery, venison aromas when they’re cooking are ridiculously good!

The red cabbage element is like a quick winter-pickle-slaw: fine slices of raw red cabbage soaked in red wine vinegar with sugar and festive spices (cinnamon and star anise). Keeping the cabbage raw brings a nice crunchy texture to the dish and the taste is beautifully sweet, tangy and warming.

The blackened apple might not be what köttbullar are usually served with, but Ekstedt is renowned for cooking over open fire. At home, you can blacken apple slices in a frying pan pretty easily.

IMPORTANT: don’t try to be healthy with this dish. Serve with mashed potato and give the mash the love it deserves: plenty of double cream.

Instead of fresh lingonberries, I served this with the jam that was still festering in the fridge from the Finland blog.

I can safely say that this version of Sweden’s national dish is leagues above what we eat in the big blue and yellow café.

Pork & venison meatballs served with red cabbage salad, blackened apple, creamy mash and lingonberry jam

What I really loved about this recipe was the creaminess of the meatballs themselves; melt-in-the-mouth gamey goodness. Every element perfectly complements the others, and the blackened apple was a particularly pleasant surprise.

Visually, it looks like it needs some sort of sauce/gravy, but I promise there’s enough creaminess injected into the meat and potato, and it is perfection as it is.

This was INCREDIBLE!