Gehaktballen in Jus

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy braadpan or deep frying pan with lid
• •Box grater for onion and nutmeg
• •Wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the crumbs

   Stir the breadcrumbs and milk together in a large bowl and leave them for five minutes. This little paste is what keeps the gehaktbal tender; dry crumbs steal moisture from the meat, soaked crumbs give it back.

2. 2

   Mix the meat

   Add the beef, pork, grated onion, egg, mustard, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and mace if using. Mix with your hands until the mixture is even and just tacky, but stop before it turns pasty. A gehaktbal should hold together in the pan, not bounce like a rubber ball.

   If you have time, cover the bowl and chill the mixture for twenty minutes. Cold fat firms up, and the balls brown more neatly.
3. 3

   Shape the balls

   Divide the mixture into four large balls, each about the size of a small fist. Wet your hands lightly and roll them smooth, pressing out obvious cracks. Big is the Dutch habit here; small meatballs belong to soup and borrel snacks, not this plate.

4. 4

   Brown them hard

   Melt the butter with the oil in a heavy braadpan or deep frying pan over medium-high heat. When the butter foams and begins to smell nutty, add the meatballs and brown them on all sides, turning carefully, about ten minutes total. Let the crust go deep brown. Pale meatballs make pale jus, and pale jus has little to say.

5. 5

   Build the jus

   Lower the heat to medium and pour in the hot stock or water, scraping the browned bits from the bottom with a wooden spoon. Add the Worcestershire sauce or Maggi if using. The liquid will look thin and unpromising at first. Good. Jus begins as an apology and ends as the reason you boiled potatoes.

6. 6

   Braise gently

   Cover the pan with the lid slightly ajar and let the meatballs simmer gently for 20 to 25 minutes, turning them once or twice. The jus should darken, reduce, and gloss the spoon. If it reduces too quickly, add a splash of hot water; if it stays watery, uncover the pan for the last five minutes.

7. 7

   Rest and serve

   Lift the pan off the heat and let the meatballs rest in the jus for five minutes. Serve with boiled potatoes or stamppot and a green vegetable, spooning the dark gravy into the kuiltje, the little hollow you make in the potatoes for obvious reasons.

Chef Tips

• •Ask the butcher for half-om-half gehakt, half pork and half beef. All-beef works, but it needs a gentler hand and a little extra fat or it dries out before the jus has done its work.
• •Freshly grate the nutmeg if you can. The VOC did not sail halfway across the world so we could use dusty beige powder without a smell.
• •Use a wide heavy pan, not a thin saucepan. You need surface area for browning and enough weight to keep the butter from scorching before the meat has made its crust.
• •Serve with boiled floury potatoes, mashed potatoes, or hutspot. The gravy is not decoration; it is the bridge between everything on the plate.

Advance Preparation

• •The meat mixture can be shaped up to one day ahead and refrigerated, covered. Let the balls sit at room temperature for fifteen minutes before browning so the centres cook evenly.
• •Cooked gehaktballen keep three days refrigerated in their jus and reheat well over low heat with a splash of water.
• •They freeze best already cooked in the gravy; thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm gently so the meat stays tender.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 260g)