Sma Frikadeller paa Tandstikker

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy frying pan, 28cm
• •Box grater
• •Wide mixing bowl
• •Wooden spoon
• •Cocktail toothpicks

Instructions

1. 1

   Start the mixture

   Put the ground pork in a wide bowl. Grate the onion directly over the meat on the fine side of a box grater, so the juice falls in too. The juice is half the point of the onion. It carries the sweetness into every corner of the mixture and you would lose it if you chopped instead. Add the egg, the salt, the pepper, and the pinch of allspice. Mix it together with a wooden spoon until everything is evenly distributed.

   Allspice is the quiet Danish detail. A pinch, not a teaspoon. You should not taste it directly. You should only notice that the meatballs taste deeper than they should.
2. 2

   Build the body

   Sprinkle the flour over the meat and stir it in. Then pour in the milk a little at a time, working it into the mixture until it is smooth and slightly loose. The flour and milk are not filler. They are the structure that holds the meatball together and gives it its tender, almost custardy interior. Without them you would be eating dense little burgers, not frikadeller.

3. 3

   Add the sparkling water

   Now pour in the cold sparkling water and stir it through. This is the trick most Danish cooks learn from watching rather than reading. The bubbles create tiny air pockets that survive the frying, and the result is lighter than still water gives you. The mixture will look loose and almost worryingly soft. That is exactly what you want. Trust it.

   The water has to be cold and freshly opened. Flat sparkling water is just water, and the magic is gone.
4. 4

   Rest the mixture

   Cover the bowl and put it in the fridge for at least thirty minutes, longer if you have the time. The flour absorbs the liquid, the proteins relax, and the mixture firms up enough to shape. If you skip this step the meatballs will spread in the pan and never hold their round shape. The joy of waiting, even for half an hour, gives you a better result every time.

5. 5

   Shape into small rounds

   These are not the oval, slightly flattened frikadeller of a weeknight dinner. For the cocktail version you want small, neat rounds, about the size of a walnut, each one a single mouthful so a toothpick can carry it cleanly to a plate. Wet your hands with cold water before shaping so the mixture does not stick. Roll each ball lightly between your palms and set them on a tray as you go. You should get around thirty-six.

6. 6

   Fry in butter and oil

   Heat the butter and oil together in a heavy frying pan over medium heat. Butter alone burns before the centers cook through. Oil alone tastes like nothing. Together they give you the golden crust and the nutty richness that makes these taste right. When the butter has stopped foaming and starts to smell of hazelnuts, lay the meatballs in the pan, leaving space between each one. Crowding turns frying into steaming and the crust will never form.

   Work in two or three batches if you have to. A pale frikadelle is a sad frikadelle, and the only way to get a deep golden crust is to give each one room to breathe.
7. 7

   Brown them all the way around

   Cook the meatballs for about three minutes on the first side without moving them. When they release easily from the pan and the underside is deep golden, turn them and brown the other side. Then keep rolling them around for another four or five minutes until they are golden on every surface and cooked through. Cut one open to check if you are unsure. The center should be just set, with no pink, but still juicy. You'll know when it's right.

8. 8

   Rest and skewer

   Lift the meatballs onto a plate lined with kitchen paper and let them rest for two or three minutes. They need a moment for the juices to settle, and they need to cool just enough that the toothpicks do not slide back out. Push a cocktail toothpick into each one, going in at a slight angle so it holds firmly.

9. 9

   Serve with mustard

   Arrange the skewered frikadeller on a serving plate with a small bowl of strong mustard in the centre for dipping. Scatter snipped chives over the top and lay a few slices of pickled cucumber on the side if you like the contrast. Serve them warm, with cold pilsner in the summer months or a glass of hot glogg in December. This is party food in the most Danish sense: simple, generous, and meant to be eaten standing up with a drink in the other hand.

Chef Tips

• •Buy your pork from a butcher if you can. The supermarket grind is often too lean and the meatballs go dry. You want around 15 to 20 percent fat. Without the fat there is nothing to baste the meat from inside as it cooks.
• •Strong Danish mustard, the kind sold as groft sennep, is the right partner. If you cannot find it, use a coarse Dijon and add a small spoon of honey to round it out. The mustard should be sharp enough to cut through the richness of the fried pork.
• •These hold beautifully. Make them in the morning, let them cool, and reheat in a 150C oven for ten minutes before serving. They will be just warm, which is exactly how the Danes eat them at a julefrokost anyway.
• •Cold pilsner is the everyday partner. Hot glogg is the December partner. A small glass of cold aquavit alongside is the partner that turns a snack into a celebration.

Advance Preparation

• •The mixture can be made the night before and kept covered in the fridge. The resting time only improves the texture.
• •The meatballs can be fried in the morning and reheated gently in a low oven (150C) for ten minutes before serving. They are traditionally served just warm at a julefrokost, never straight from the pan.
• •Cooked frikadeller freeze well for up to a month. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat in a low oven.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 90g)