Swedish meatballs? While I do agree they are good, they simply do not compare to Frikadeller – Danish meatballs! Quite frankly, I do not know why they are not more popular. While most Danes have this fairly often throughout the year, they are also popular during a Julefrokost – Christmas lunch. In Denmark these lunches go on for hours, (it is essentially a full day event) with many courses, a fair few mentions of”Skål” (cheers) and of course lots and lots of hygge. And while my love affair with Danish food took some time initially – I’m talking about you pickled herrings – the one thing I would gladly dig into as a kid and looked forward to was Frikadellar.

Traditionally it is made with minced veal and pork, onions, eggs, flour, milk, salt and pepper. This would be the classic and is served with a yummy brown gravy. However because my dad does not eat beef, my mum would just make it with pork, though she has also made them with mince turkey/chicken and of course with a lot more spices! Regardless of what they were made of, they have always been a hit and is something everyone looks forward to whenever she makes them.

And if that isn’t reason enough to give these a try, I have to say frikadeller is great for meal prep. I always make more than I need and pop them in the freezer or fridge, as not only are they great with potatoes and gravy, but you can make frikadeller burgers or just have it on some yummy rye bread as a sandwich for lunch/dinner. I promise you they will not disappoint!

Here is the traditional recipe that my mum uses together with our quick and easy gravy recipe. Do let me know if you give it a try and your thoughts.

Frikadeller (25 frikadeller)
Ingredients
500gm minced pork
250gm minced beef (you can just use pork as well)
5 tablespoons flour
2 eggs
1 large onion finely diced/blended
150ml milk
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder (I added this but you can omit it)
0.5 tbsp salt
Salted butter for frying

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
2. Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl with a fork, you can use a stand mixer if you like.
3. You will get a mushy sticky type of consistency to the meat – this is correct, do not panic!
4. Heat a frying pan up on medium heat and drop a heaped tablespoon of butter in it. Once the butter is melted and starts turning a light golden-brown you are ready to start frying those meatballs.
5. Using a tablespoon to measure, scoop out the mix and form into an egg like shape with your hand and pop it in the frying pan. Repeat this process till your pan is full.
6. Fry each side for about 5-6 minutes each side and then pop into the preheated oven and cook for an additional 15 – 20 minutes.
7. Alternatively you can continue to cook them on the pan, flipping every few minutes for approx 20 minutes – 25 minutes. You want them brown on the outside but cooked through the middle as well.
8. Serve with brown gravy and vegetables.

Additional tips
1. I sometime add 2 tbsp of oats to my frikedeller as well.
2. Frying – I prefer to start with a medium heat and let the frikadellers cook slowly as opposed to high heat as they get burnt and don’t cook all the way through.
3. While frying the frikadeller, each batch will require more butter and I gradually add butter as I go when the pan looks a bit dry.
4. You can make the frikadellers whatever size you want, just changes the cooking time.
5. I don’t know if it is just my weird family that does this but we have always cooked our frikadeller on the stove before finishing them off in the oven, my mum feels they are less dry when she makes them this way. I just do it like that because that’s how we did it at home. However I have also tried to just fry them on the pan, I think they taste more or less the same, it just is more time consuming.

Brown gravy (Brun sovs)
1. Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a pan and add 2 tbsp of plain flour and remove from heat temporarily.
2. Gradually add in milk (approx 100ml) and whisk in (you can adjust to desired thickness) over medium heat.
3. Add pepper to taste and 2-3 tbsp of fat from frying frikadeller.
4. Add brown colouring and mix in well, start with about a tablespoon and adjust according to how dark or light you want your gravy.

Because I did not have brown gravy colouring, we adapted and have to say it turned out really well. This is our IKEA gravy hack
1. Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a pan and add 2 tbsp of plain flour and remove from heat temporarily.
2. Gradually add in milk (approx 100ml) and whisk in (you can adjust to desired thickness) over medium heat.
3. Add pepper to taste and 2-3 tbsp of fat from frying frikadeller.
4. Then I added a packet of meatball sauce powder from IKEA and added 200ml of boiling water (used to boil potatoes and carrots) into it. Stir well and serve.