Swedish meatballs, a holiday imperative, are just a complicated hell to make and even more of a misery to clean up.
The filthy process commences with caramelizing onions in butter, followed by the creation of an unsightly sludge-paste of soda cracker crumbs, milk, egg and various spices after which comes the revolting hand mixing of all this with ground beef. Then there is the ensuing slightly-less-repugnant rolling of the meat/slop into balls and finally sautéing them in a great deal of butter. Once browned, they are removed from the pan and flour is browned in the fat and butter to which stock is then added to make gravy and at that point the meatballs are returned to the pan to finish cooking. Once fully cooked, a cup of sour cream is swirled in and it’s finally topped off with chopped dill.
You cannot begin to imagine what my kitchen looks like at this juncture. It would be easier to simply move out of the house than clean it.
But OH MY GOD are they so delicious. And fattening.
I didn’t get a pic of the finished glory of my efforts, I was too busy slopping them into my face.
