Here's the recipe from the book, let me know if I made any mistakes transcribing it. PORK MEATBALLS WITH MUSHROOM CREAM SAUCE For the Meatballs 1 pound freshly ground pork shoulder Kosher salt ¼ cup buttermilk or heavy cream ¼ ounce (1 packet) unflavored gelatin 2 slices high-quality white sandwich bread, crusts removed 1 teaspoon soy sauce ½ teaspoon Marmite 2 anchovy fillets, mashed to a paste with the back of a fork 3 medium cloves garlic, minced or grated on a Microplane (about 1 tablespoon; reserve about 2 teaspoons for the sauce) 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1 large egg 1 tablespoon sugar ½ teaspoon ground fennel Freshly ground black pepper 2 cups vegetable oil For the Sauce 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 8 ounces buttom mushrooms, cleaned and sliced 1 small onion, finely diced (about 1 cup) Reserved garlic from above 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 1½ cups homemade or low-sodium canned chicken stock 1 teaspoon soy sauce ½ cup heavy cream 2 teaspoons sugar Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves 1. To make the meatballs: In a large bowl, combine the ground pork with the salt. Mix thoroughly with your hands, then set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes. 2. Meanwhile, pour the buttermilk into a large bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Allow to hydrate for 10 minutes. Add the bread and allow to soak for 10 minutes, turning the bread occasionally until completely saturated. 3. After the meat has rested, add the soy sauce, Marmite, anchovy paste, 1 teaspoon of the garlic, the red pepper flakes, egg, sugar, fennel, and pepper to taste to the bowl. Add the bread and buttermilk mixture and mix gently with your hands until well combined; do not overknead. Pull off a teaspoon-sized portion of the mixture, place it on a microwave-safe plate, and microwave it on high power until cooked through, about 15 seconds. Taste for seasoning, and add more salt and pepper to the meat mixture as desired. 4. Using wet hands, form the mixture into meatballs about 1 inch in diameter (a generous tablespoon per meatballs-you should get roughly 30 meatballs), placing them on a large plate as you go. 5. Heat the vegetable oil in a 10-inch nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat until it reaches 350°F (a meatball should sizzle vigorously when you dip the edge of it into the hot oil). Set aside 4 meatballs and carefully transfer half of the remaining meatballs to the pan. The temperature will drop to around 300°F-adjust the flame to maintain this temperature (the oil should continue to sizzle vigorously but not smoke) and cook until the meatballs are well browned on the first side, 1 to 2 minutes. Carefully flip them with a small offset spatula or a fork and cook on the second side until well browned, about 3 to 4 minutes longer. Using tongs, transfer the meatballs to a paper-towel-lined plate. Repeat with the remaining meatballs, allowing the oil to return to 350°F before adding the second batch. Set the meatballs aside (discard the oil or strain and save for another use). 6. To make the sauce : Return the skillet to medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons of the butter, and heat until the foaming subsides. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they give up their liquid and start to brown, about 8 minutes. Push the mushrooms to one side and add the remaining tablespoon of butter to the center of the skillet. Add the reserved 4 raw meatballs and mash with a wooden spoon, then cook, stirring to break up the meat, until it is no longer pink, about 1 minute. 7. Add the onions, stir the meat, mushrooms, and onions together, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are softened, about 3 minutes. Add the remaining garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds. Slowly pour in the chicken stock, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the soy sauce, heavy cream, and sugar, stir to combine, and bring to a simmer. 8. Add the remaining meatballs to the sauce and cook, stirring and turning them occasionally, until they are cooked through and the sauce has thickened to the consistency of heavy cream, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste, stir in the lemon juice and thyme, and serve.
I’m sure this has been said by countless others, but the main reason I love your content is that you’re in your actual home. We see your regular kitchen with its everyday clutter and we hear your adorable daughter in the background! The comfortable setting along with your casual delivery and minimal editing (mainly just switching from one camera to another) makes it much easier for me to follow your instructions and retain the advice you give. It’s just like learning from a friend or an uncle.
You’re a good dad Kenji. I appreciate that you decided not to show your daughter. I’ve seen channels where a persons children are used to promote sponsors and ask for follow and clicks. To each his own but personally I think it’s manipulation of the audience and exploitation of the kids.
I second this. As much as fans want to be privy to the family of a well loved personality, it’s not always what’s best for that family. We got no right to every aspect of a persons life. Keep that kid out of the public spotlight as long as it feels right.
googoes true. Also I think Kenji May feel children should be old enough and mature enough to decide if they want to be a public person, and that adult (grown, not the other kind of “adult”) entertainment personalities should not use their children for profit.
Perle Demenia yeah. I mean, I do believe parents should have the right to make decisions like that for their own family and children, but I personally don’t want my daughter having a public presence before she’s old enough to understand what that means. It’s weird random people know who she because they recognize me when I’m out with her. I don’t want her potentially regretting her image being out there when she’s older. My wife is also very private, so you will never see her in any of my videos, even if she’s in the next room.
I'd say allspice is way more the traditional Swedish meatball spice. Traditionally allspice, nutmeg and cloves - or something called Epice Riche (1 part nutmeg, 2 parts white pepper, 1 part allspice, 1 part cloves). But if only one spice - definitively allspice. Not complaining just Swedish meatball trivia :) Great video and excellent meatballs! Soy sauce is actually very traditional too. We have hundreds of years old Swedish cook books with recipes for making your own soy sauce. A simple cream sauce made by just putting some cream and soy in the pan after frying the meatballs and letting it reduce is how you do it. Adding some lingon berries is excellent.
@@Crokuz Allspice is kryddpeppar. As a Swede I can with confidence say that almost everyone knows what kryddpeppar is :). It's very traditional and kryddpeppar was in fact used more than black or white pepper in Sweden. It still pops up very often in Christmas recipes, since that's when we do most of our traditional dishes.
Swedish soy sauce??? That’s wild, I’ve definitely never heard about that before! I know that Maggi is a Swiss invention. I wonder if there’s a history of similar condiments in any of the countries on trade routes between them?? (Germany, Denmark, I dunno where else!)
We never eat this with potato salad, at least around my parts. Plain boiled potatoes or mash is the standard, though the cucumber and lingonberry jam are exactly right.
Yeah meatballs with mashed potatoes and brown gravy is simple blue collar food, what Kenji is making is not traditional and a fair bit more extravagant but i'm not complaining, ser gött ut :)
I've enjoyed reading all the comments here. While growing up, I would comment to my friends that our family couldn't have a family gathering for: birth, baptism, confirmation, graduation, wedding, &/or funeral without 400 meatballs. As other "Swedish meatball" traditionalists have commented, ours were much smaller. Can't fault Kenji for reducing "fiddly", but ours were always intended to feed many, not a family dinner. We had a group of women (and children) gather for an afternoon to roll meatballs, bake them, and gossip. Happy memories of our times together. My Mom just entered hospice, and our "next door-Swedish" family lost their youngest daughter yesterday to cancer. Grieving on both ends of the spectrum, I pulled out my mothers meatball recipe. It starts with 10 lbs. of meat: 6 beef, 2 pork, 2 veal. (not making that much today) Her spices included measured amounts of salt and pepper; and cinnamon, ginger and allspice "to taste" . I remember her tasting the raw mixture, and grimaced trying imagine how I would get that mix right! Very happy to see Kenji's microwave method. Thank you Kenji!
I really love the fact that you show adaptability in your cooking. You're making your own recipe from your own cookbook, but don't have all the ingredients so you adapt it to what you have on hand.
I just bought your book! I am super impressed by it. I have never seen such a detailed analysis scientific get practical approach to everything that is food. I recommend everyone who reads this please go check it out. I can definitely see it was a labor of love! And it' huge! I will be referencing it often without a doubt!!
@Quantarius Williams Chef John literally taught a generation of people to cook, including me, and Kenji does the same to another generation. I think their skill doesn't matter. They are godfathers of the home cook and a collab would be amazing.
29% of comments: epic video! 30% of comments: balls lol 40% of comments: meat tastes meaty me: hah papa kenji gave his daughter some milk and cheese and made meatballs per her request ;)
Eeactly what I was thinking the the whole video (while super into how Kenji cooks), how he was doing all this at the request of his daughter. 🥰 And I’m also a huge animal lover...so thrilled how he always gives them a taste at the end. 🥰 papa Kenji is a super dad!
You and Chef John are by far my favourite cooking youtubers. I love how you both reject macho cooking culture BS and ultimately see cooking as the fun thing to do and act of love it is.
Yes, cutting, slicing, dicing, and chopping large amounts of vegetables can be so satisfying. A a very sharp knife, and a case of tomatoes methodically turned into dice when there isn’t much going on in the kitchen, is very relaxing.
When I make meatballs or meatloaf, I make a panade with all the ingredients but the meat. I mix it thoroughly. Then I add the meat. When the other ingredients are pre-combined, you don’t need to work the mixture as much, so there’s less risk of over-mixing
Swede AND a Chef John-fan! It was actually Chef John that got me interested in cooking. And yes, you should absolutley do a collab! Also: Hot roux, cold milk = no lumps!
@@tib0980 The idea is that before you start adding your liquid, the starch granules are still intact and they're separated from each other by a coating of oil. The starch doesn't gelatinise until the starch granules burst and the starch dissolves in the water. If you add the liquid cold, you preserve the starch granules for long enough that you can mix them thoroughly throughout the sauce - no lumps. Then as the liquid heats up, the granules will burst but if you've kept everything homogenous there won't be any clumping. Whether or not this is actually true, I have no idea. Why would burst starch granules form clumps with each other and not just dissolve in the liquid?
MEATBALLS: 1/4 cup milk 1/4 oz gelatin 1 lb beef/pork Salt to taste White pepper to taste Red pepper flakes to taste Nutmeg to taste 1 egg Soy sauce Worcestershire sauce 2 slices of bread's worth of crumbs Few cloves garlic Fresh thyme 1. Mix milk and gelatin 2. Mix meat w/spices and add egg, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, milk/gelatin mixture, breadcrumbs, minced garlic and thyme 3. Fill heated pan with 1/4 inch of oil 4. Mix well and make meat balls to desired size 5. Fry meat balls in pan MUSHROOM SAUCE: 8 oz cremini mushrooms 1/4 onion? minced Few cloves garlic Thyme sprigs White pepper to taste Salt to taste 2 tbsp butter 2 tbsp flour 1 cup chicken stock 1 cup milk Lemon 1. Cut off mushroom ends and slice thinly 2. Add sliced mushrooms to pot w oil 3. Season mushrooms w white pepper and salt 4. Add butter, onions, garlic, and thyme to mushrooms 5. Cook down mushrooms and then add flour 6. Add chicken stock 1/4 cup at a time to deglaze 7. Add cup of milk and nutmeg 8. Put cooked meatballs in pot and stir 9. Add squeeze of lemon
Hey Kenji, I just wanna thank you for letting me relive similar moments of cooking with my uncles in the kitchen, the random tidbits of knowledge and subtle jokes thrown in out of nowhere was something I really enjoyed growing up. It's never been the same since I've been somewhat disowned by my family.
Kenji, you’ve touched on this a bit in other videos, but I’d love to hear your philosophy on spices, your organization of them, maintaining freshness, etc. The spice situation is a disaster in nearly every home kitchen I’ve been in (including my own).
Made the mushroom gravy last night and served with meatloaf and jasmine rice. It was outstanding and a nice change from the usual glaze and mashed potatoes. Had to save the milk for breakfast, didn’t have cream so finished gravy with a few tablespoons of sour cream. Worked great and we ate every bit of it. Thanks Kenji
Your cooking videos are the only ones I watch these days. We have your book, but I love how you simplify your own recipes and make it start to finish in 30 min and under!
@J Kenji López Alt, I am watching a livestream from Chef John right now and someone told him about your shoutout. He said he is a huge fan of your work and that he would love to do a collaboration with you.
My man broke an egg in the package and poured it in anyway. He's achieved his final form Grandma cook. It doesn't matter what culture you come from, a grandma can turn a broken egg into a 3 course meal.
Themokk55 probably doesnt have enough books to buy a book shelf, hence keeps in drawers. id bet more people have a drawer and no shelf than people have both a very small minority who have a she,f and no drawers
That's very much possible, the mother road of spices(silk route), was carrying metric tonnes of spices, some markets in istanbul have more then 200 kinds of spices/mixes.
Swedish-ish Meatballs and Mushroom Gravy. A few of the less precise measurements I took from the book. Otherwise I tried to keep it like it was in the video. In the method, it’s a little long winded but I tried to keep the personality and some of notes provided. Enjoy! Meatballs - 1/4 cup milk - 1/4 oz gelatin(1 packet) - 1/2 pound each ground pork and beef - 1 egg - 1 tsp soy sauce - 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce - 2 slices white bread, crust removed. dried and crumbled into crumbs - 3 cloves garlic, minced - Fresh thyme(leaves from 2-3 stems) - Salt - white pepper - Fresh grated nutmeg Mushroom gravy - 8oz crimini mushrooms, stems removed, Sliced - 1 small onion, fine dice. (Approximately 1 cup) - 2 cloves garlic, minced - 3 tbsp butter - 1 tbsp flour - Small bundle fresh thyme - 1 cup chicken stock - 1 cup milk - Soy sauce - Lemon juice - Salt - White pepper - Fresh grated nutmeg Add gelatin to milk to bloom. In a separate bowl, season ground meat with salt, white pepper, red pepper flakes, and nutmeg. Add egg, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, fresh thyme, bread crumbs, and bloomed gelatin to meat mixture. - Mix to become homogenous If you’d like to check the seasoning, take small pinch of mixture and microwave till cooked through and taste for salt. Heat medium sized pan with about 1/4 inch of oil to shallow fry the meatballs. Heat an additional pan with oil for sauce While your pan is heating, set up a small bowl of water and a plate. Form medium sized meatballs while keeping your hands damp to prevent sticking. (In this video Kenji yielded 10) Add meatballs to preheated oil to fry. Try not to move meatballs very much during initial stages of cooking. Add sliced mushrooms to separate pan, cook until lightly browned. Season with salt and white pepper. Add butter, onion, garlic, and small bundle of fresh thyme to mushrooms. Let aromatics briefly sweat then add flour. Stir to disperse flower and coat in fat. During this whole process periodically check meatballs, turning when each side becomes deeply browned. Turn down heat if necessary. The meatballs will finish cooking in the sauce. Once flour is stirred in, add stock 1/4 cup at a time. Mixing well between each addition to prevent clumping. Mixture will be very thick at first. Once all of the stock has been added and well mixed, add milk. slightly less care can be taken when adding. Still mix thoroughly. Add additional nutmeg to taste, Add meatballs and bring to a simmer. Cook until sauce is slightly reduced and thickened to your liking. Add splash of soy sauce and lemon juice, if desired
You know that meatball is going to be packed with flavor when you enhance your flavor enhancers. In this case, he is using inosinic acid (Worchester sauce) to enhance the glutamic acid (soy sauce) which is already used to enhance flavors.
Kaust Shroff My dad used to be a chef and taught me this. You can make a cheap ribeye taste incredible by giving it a 45 minute marination session in This combo.
Have you heard of the 'technique' of adding mushrooms to a dry pan without oil to let the water evaporate first and adding the oil later? It causes them to absorb less oil in my experience.
I’m sure you may already know this and this is not meant as an objection to this fine recipy, but as a swede i just wanna note that traditional swedish meatballs are usually made with finely chopped sauteed onions and with the breadcrumbs being soaked in milk/cream prior to the final mix. Also without garlic! Love from sweden
Yeah it's my first time seeing a recipe from him wherein he didn't elaborate on the recipe being not traditional. But maybe that is included in the book or in his serious eats article?
Your dogs crack me up at every video. One is all wiggly and excited. The other just waits for you to get close so he doesn’t have to strain. Love them. You made my favorite meatballs. Only thing we use dill not thyme. Love the change
Kenji I just wanna show my appreciation for your continued uploading on TH-cam, you are very entertaining, informative, and the production of the videos are great. Thank you for being awesome 👊
I love white pepper. Used to live with friends who were very picky eaters; they insisted they hated pepper, and could not be swayed. So whenever I made homemade mashed potatoes, I always seasoned the potatoes with white pepper so they couldn't see the specks of pepper. And shock of shocks, they said my potatoes were the best they'd ever tasted. 😄
That microwave is insanely powerful. Also, when you started talking about cucumber salad I was suddenly struck with the craving for it, and then you mentioned potato salad and I resolved to make my way to a German restaurant post-haste.
I made this recipe tonight! I used 1/2 pound of ground lamb and about 1/4 pound beef. I also substituted 1/2 teaspoon of Red Boat fish sauce for the Worcestershire, becauseI had not tried it yet. They turned out delicious!
I love that you feed your dogs! I want to see a collaboration with Chef John -- I'll tell him! I am very thankful to have found your channel. You make me feel like I can cook without actual measures and without sweating the small stuff. Thanks!
thank you for sharing this recipe! i made this today and my whole family loved it. i had to make it gluten and lactose free for my mom so I replaced the sliced bread with rolled oats (blitzed in the food processor to make them less whole) around 25g per slice of bread. i replaced the buttermilk with chicken stock.
I just love your videos. I’ve been a reader and ‘fan’ for years and have learned TONS just reading your book and SE articles. These vids really an extra dimension and clarity. Please keep up the great work!
@@brawlers9901 as a vegan swede i actually make a similar mushroom sauce whenever i make "meatballs" nowadays since i cant make a sauce out of caramellized meat bits left over in the pan. While not super traditional its actually really good and i wouldnt definitely recommend it!
Always a huge fan of your work! Looks really tasty! As a swede you encounter so many different variations of meatballs, and everyone does it differently. Onion is often included in the meatball either presoftened in a pan with butter or raw. Sometimes mixed, precooked and raw. Some mix their meatball dough while others don`t. The meatball is almost always fried in butter and we eat them with the brown sauce and mashed potatoes or just cooked potatoes. Lingonberry jam can be replaced with blackcurrant jelly and not jam to get a similar feeling. Dont know if you can buy that kind of jelly in the US though. It was really fun seeing you make your own kind :) Cheers from Sweden
Thank you for explaining why it doesn't work when I try to add more flour directly to a sauce to thicken it. Twice now I have spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to fix this mistake with an immersion blender and mesh strainer.
First Sohla from Bon Appetit gets hired by Babish, now Kenji brings up an idea to do a collab with Chef John? This needs to happen within the next couple months to make this year feel less bad.
Definitely a Chef John fan here. I laughed out loud with your “navy-gravy” homage to his rhyme-thing. I vote for that collaboration! Hope you’ll do it!!
Gonna make this later!! After taking out the meatballs. I will use the remaining sauce to make pasta then just add. Parmesan or Pecorino and Basil Leaves. Thanks Kenji for another wonderful recipe.
Not gonna lie, when I watch your video, it makes my mouth watering. Edit: Besides that, these are quite satisfying content I ever watch. Love this channel from, Malaysia.
Thanks Kenji! It came out good. My wife said so. That’s important. I think I used a bit too much thyme as I didn’t have fresh stuff available so I used dried. It’ll be different next time! But thank you, it was fun cooking along with you. Scott
Hey Kenji, we in sweden often use an icing bag to ”make the balls”, just push it out onto a lightly oiled plate and drop them all into the frying pan within literally seconds 😃
I really hate to ask this, but how big are the balls made like this? I’m so sorry 😂. I’m genuinely curious as to the size (oh GOD), and is the texture okay by compressing the meat in the pastry bag.
I remember our local "meat surimi balls" dish when you mentioned that we actually want our meatballs to be tender. Those surimi balls (which resembles meatballs, heck we actually translated those to meatballs in english) are snappy dense, and even chewy! So it's like having a sausage in balls shape
"My daughter wanted some milk and cheese". This girl is just an entire blanket wrapped, stuffed animal snuggling, casual Sunday kind of mood and I'm all about it.
These look delicious! Being Australian, it was cool to see you recognise Vegemite as an option for the umami hit. I always put Vegemite in my rissoles and meatloaf. BTW: I would love to see you do a collaboration with Chef John! That would be so good! Best wishes from Down Under 😊
@Kenji Ingredients: Meatballs (Tender Ground Meat Things) -- 1 lb ground meat (pork, beef, or any combination) 1 tsp salt Estimated 1/2 tsp white pepper Estimated 1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flake Estimated 1/8-1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg 3 cloves of garlic, finely minced Fresh thyme 1 egg 1 tsp soy sauce 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 2 slices of sandwich bread, or estimated 1/3 cup breadcrumbs 1/4 cup milk/buttermilk/cream for tenderizing 1/4 oz gelatin Sauce -- 8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced 1/8-1/4" thick 1/2 white or yellow onion, finely minced 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced Salt and white pepper to taste Fresh thyme 2 Tbsp butter 2 Tbsp flour 1 cup chicken broth 1 cup milk/cream Estimated 1 tsp soy sauce Estimated 1/2 tsp lemon juice Optional: wine or brandy to deglaze Optional: freshly grated nutmeg to taste Other -- 1/4" of heat-stable oil, pre-heated in a skillet over medium-high heat 1 Tbsp of heat-stable oil, pre-heated in a separate skillet over medium-high heat Optional -- Pasta, cucumber salad, vinegar-based potato salad, or mashed potatoes Lingonberry jam or cranberry sauce Directions: Hydrate 1/4 oz gelatin in 1/4 cup milk and set aside. Combine meat, dry spices, garlic, egg, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce in a large bowl. (Aggressively shatter the egg inside the carton and gently pour on top of meat mixture. Extract eggshells as necessary. 10/10, Ina Garten approved.) Stir milk and gelatin mixture, and add to large bowl with meat and seasonings. Add in breadcrumbs and combine gently with hands. Microwave a small portion of meat if a taste-test is desired, and add salt if necessary. 1.5% salt-to-meat by weight is the target. Dampen hands and form meat mixture into balls. (Small balls are fiddly. We desire medium-sized, moderately fiddly balls.) Place balls into pre-heated 1/4"-deep oil in a single layer, and don't disturb until a crust forms on the base of each ball. Turn balls as edges brown, reducing heat if necessary to prevent over-browning. Meatballs can finish cooking in sauce if they don't cook all the way through. In the separate skillet, saute mushrooms in pre-heated 1 Tbsp oil. While mushrooms cook, mince your onion (according to Kenji's mathematical onion model) and garlic. Stir mushrooms and add butter, whole thyme spring, onion, and garlic. Allow onion and garlic to sweat lightly, but do not caramelize. Add flour, and stir to combine. Vegetables and flour will form a very thick roux base. Add chicken stock to vegetables and roux about 1/4 cup at a time, stirring consistently and scraping skillet bottom to incorporate without clumping. Once the chicken broth is added, stir in the cup of milk or cream, and the soy sauce. Cook sauce until it reduces to desired thickness. Repeat to yourself: "you are the commander of the navy of your pork gravy." Once sauce has thickened, add meatballs into sauce and cook until finished. Season gravy with a small squeeze of fresh lemon juice, and serve meatballs to dogs, then family.
A great alternative to breadcrumbs is to use saltine crackers pulsed in a good processor. I’ve also found that baking the meatballs and finishing under the broiler is less messy way to cook them. I also love using a Korean flavor profile by adding lots of gochujaeng, ginger and garlic.
Kenji, you might be the only person alive to have ever uttered the words “my friend and I created a 3D model of an onion using mathematical equations” ever. Alongside your friend of course.
Being Swedish, I got surprised when you said that nutmeg was a classic flavor since I hadn't heard about that before. I checked out a bunch of recipes written in Swedish and none of them included nutmeg. It does however seem to be a rather popular in recipes written in english. Next time I make meatballs I'll try using nutmeg so I can decide if it's an improvement or a bastardization.
I'm also Swedish, we have nutmeg in a lot of our foods but I've never had it in meatballs. But the nutmeg is the least of my concern when it comes to how Swedish these meatballs are. :(
I should have probably clarified that these are what we call Swedish meatballs in the US. I in no way intended to represent them as traditional from-Sweden Swedish meatballs. I said “Swede-ish” at some point I believe but I should have been more clear.
Ya. I was just a tad concerned because egg cartons are rated as secondary packaging = no direct food contact... unlike primary (food contact) packaging materials... and might not be super clean...
I have to say I am not a horizontal onion cutting person. I prefer uneven, rustic pieces of onion in my recipes. But, I do get the math of the structure. I just like a more rustic shape. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, cooking, and home!
I couldn't help but laugh at the cowlick on one side of your head in the opening shot from trying out the GoPro's head strap before filming. 'Yep, I've been there.'
Another essencial thing that we Swedes use in meatballs is either fresh grated unions that we put in the meat mix, or fried chopped/grated onions. A standard traditional meatball recipe is heavy cream, 1-2 eggs, onions, breadcrums, meat (high fat beef or just a mix of pork and beef or veal and beef) white pepper, salt and nutmeg. And then served with mash potatoes and creamsauce with lingonberry jam on the side.
I love the scientific details about the umami flavor boosters and the Batman and Robin analogy. It makes sense why soo many recipes have anchovy paste / worcestershire sauce in them!
I know you maybe dont read this but I'm from Costa Rica,i watch all of your videos and i really love what you teach and show us Greetings From Costa Rica
Here's the recipe from the book, let me know if I made any mistakes transcribing it.
PORK MEATBALLS WITH MUSHROOM CREAM SAUCE
For the Meatballs
1 pound freshly ground pork shoulder
Kosher salt
¼ cup buttermilk or heavy cream
¼ ounce (1 packet) unflavored gelatin
2 slices high-quality white sandwich bread, crusts removed
1 teaspoon soy sauce
½ teaspoon Marmite
2 anchovy fillets, mashed to a paste with the back of a fork
3 medium cloves garlic, minced or grated on a Microplane (about 1 tablespoon; reserve about 2 teaspoons for the sauce)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 large egg
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon ground fennel
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups vegetable oil
For the Sauce
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 ounces buttom mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 small onion, finely diced (about 1 cup)
Reserved garlic from above
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1½ cups homemade or low-sodium canned chicken stock
1 teaspoon soy sauce
½ cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1. To make the meatballs: In a large bowl, combine the ground pork with the salt.
Mix thoroughly with your hands, then set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, pour the buttermilk into a large bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over it.
Allow to hydrate for 10 minutes.
Add the bread and allow to soak for 10 minutes, turning the bread occasionally until completely saturated.
3. After the meat has rested, add the soy sauce, Marmite, anchovy paste, 1 teaspoon of the garlic, the red pepper flakes, egg, sugar, fennel, and pepper to taste to the bowl.
Add the bread and buttermilk mixture and mix gently with your hands until well combined; do not overknead.
Pull off a teaspoon-sized portion of the mixture, place it on a microwave-safe plate, and microwave it on high power until cooked through, about 15 seconds.
Taste for seasoning, and add more salt and pepper to the meat mixture as desired.
4. Using wet hands, form the mixture into meatballs about 1 inch in diameter (a generous tablespoon per meatballs-you should get roughly 30 meatballs), placing them on a large plate as you go.
5. Heat the vegetable oil in a 10-inch nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat until it reaches 350°F (a meatball should sizzle vigorously when you dip the edge of it into the hot oil).
Set aside 4 meatballs and carefully transfer half of the remaining meatballs to the pan.
The temperature will drop to around 300°F-adjust the flame to maintain this temperature (the oil should continue to sizzle vigorously but not smoke) and cook until the meatballs are well browned on the first side, 1 to 2 minutes.
Carefully flip them with a small offset spatula or a fork and cook on the second side until well browned, about 3 to 4 minutes longer. Using tongs, transfer the meatballs to a paper-towel-lined plate. Repeat with the remaining meatballs, allowing the oil to return to 350°F before adding the second batch.
Set the meatballs aside (discard the oil or strain and save for another use).
6. To make the sauce : Return the skillet to medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons of the butter, and heat until the foaming subsides.
Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they give up their liquid and start to brown, about 8 minutes.
Push the mushrooms to one side and add the remaining tablespoon of butter to the center of the skillet.
Add the reserved 4 raw meatballs and mash with a wooden spoon, then cook, stirring to break up the meat, until it is no longer pink, about 1 minute.
7. Add the onions, stir the meat, mushrooms, and onions together, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are softened, about 3 minutes.
Add the remaining garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds.
Slowly pour in the chicken stock, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
Add the soy sauce, heavy cream, and sugar, stir to combine, and bring to a simmer.
8. Add the remaining meatballs to the sauce and cook, stirring and turning them occasionally, until they are cooked through and the sauce has thickened to the consistency of heavy cream, about 5 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper to taste, stir in the lemon juice and thyme, and serve.
Dude did u write them by hand?
@@patrickpizzapg3d416 no dude he typed it *duh*
Why
Thank you
Oi good job just wanted to tell you that
I’m sure this has been said by countless others, but the main reason I love your content is that you’re in your actual home. We see your regular kitchen with its everyday clutter and we hear your adorable daughter in the background! The comfortable setting along with your casual delivery and minimal editing (mainly just switching from one camera to another) makes it much easier for me to follow your instructions and retain the advice you give. It’s just like learning from a friend or an uncle.
You’re a good dad Kenji. I appreciate that you decided not to show your daughter. I’ve seen channels where a persons children are used to promote sponsors and ask for follow and clicks. To each his own but personally I think it’s manipulation of the audience and exploitation of the kids.
I second this. As much as fans want to be privy to the family of a well loved personality, it’s not always what’s best for that family. We got no right to every aspect of a persons life. Keep that kid out of the public spotlight as long as it feels right.
not to mention the creeps that would say “your daughters cute” or something perverted
googoes true. Also I think Kenji May feel children should be old enough and mature enough to decide if they want to be a public person, and that adult (grown, not the other kind of “adult”) entertainment personalities should not use their children for profit.
Perle Demenia yeah. I mean, I do believe parents should have the right to make decisions like that for their own family and children, but I personally don’t want my daughter having a public presence before she’s old enough to understand what that means. It’s weird random people know who she because they recognize me when I’m out with her. I don’t want her potentially regretting her image being out there when she’s older. My wife is also very private, so you will never see her in any of my videos, even if she’s in the next room.
J. Kenji López-Alt agreed.
FIRST.
Second😂
J. Kenji López-Alt lol
C´mon...! CHEATER!
no fair
gottem
I'd say allspice is way more the traditional Swedish meatball spice. Traditionally allspice, nutmeg and cloves - or something called Epice Riche (1 part nutmeg, 2 parts white pepper, 1 part allspice, 1 part cloves). But if only one spice - definitively allspice. Not complaining just Swedish meatball trivia :) Great video and excellent meatballs!
Soy sauce is actually very traditional too. We have hundreds of years old Swedish cook books with recipes for making your own soy sauce. A simple cream sauce made by just putting some cream and soy in the pan after frying the meatballs and letting it reduce is how you do it. Adding some lingon berries is excellent.
@@Crokuz Allspice is kryddpeppar. As a Swede I can with confidence say that almost everyone knows what kryddpeppar is :). It's very traditional and kryddpeppar was in fact used more than black or white pepper in Sweden. It still pops up very often in Christmas recipes, since that's when we do most of our traditional dishes.
@@sammysamsam8251 Do you have any examples of old recipes on soy sauce? Never heard of anything like it, sounded interesting
Swedish soy sauce??? That’s wild, I’ve definitely never heard about that before!
I know that Maggi is a Swiss invention.
I wonder if there’s a history of similar condiments in any of the countries on trade routes between them?? (Germany, Denmark, I dunno where else!)
Besides all that, the meatballs are huge compared to traditional swedish ones.
@@revilo00 I'm going to have to rewatch Historieätarna. Cajsa Warg maybe?
We never eat this with potato salad, at least around my parts. Plain boiled potatoes or mash is the standard, though the cucumber and lingonberry jam are exactly right.
its hard to find lingonberry jam around these parts unless I go to Ikea lol
ClassyJohn that’s actually a really good place to buy it!
I don't remember soya sauce being in Swedish meatballs either 😂
same (norway) we do use "brun-saus" which is Brown sauce.
Yeah meatballs with mashed potatoes and brown gravy is simple blue collar food, what Kenji is making is not traditional and a fair bit more extravagant but i'm not complaining, ser gött ut :)
17:22 "These aren't sweet meatballs, they're just sweet-ish/swedish"
once again, fantastic dad humor. Kenji's shaping up to be the daddiest of dads
I yelled so loud when I realised it was another dadjoke
I've enjoyed reading all the comments here. While growing up, I would comment to my friends that our family couldn't have a family gathering for: birth, baptism, confirmation, graduation, wedding, &/or funeral without 400 meatballs. As other "Swedish meatball" traditionalists have commented, ours were much smaller. Can't fault Kenji for reducing "fiddly", but ours were always intended to feed many, not a family dinner.
We had a group of women (and children) gather for an afternoon to roll meatballs, bake them, and gossip. Happy memories of our times together. My Mom just entered hospice, and our "next door-Swedish" family lost their youngest daughter yesterday to cancer. Grieving on both ends of the spectrum, I pulled out my mothers meatball recipe. It starts with 10 lbs. of meat: 6 beef, 2 pork, 2 veal. (not making that much today) Her spices included measured amounts of salt and pepper; and cinnamon, ginger and allspice "to taste" . I remember her tasting the raw mixture, and grimaced trying imagine how I would get that mix right! Very happy to see Kenji's microwave method. Thank you Kenji!
Ok but don't play with my heart Kenji, a collab with Chef John is a dream come true
Indeed a dream come true. Foodwishes, I think, was the first food chanel I was subscribed to
Yes please
I want a three way collab with kenji, john, and babish
Chandy 57 hell yeah!
@@chandy518 him and chef John is a dream him chef John and babish is a fantasy in a galaxy far far away
“Damp hands make smooth balls.” -Chef John
"Make 'em wet and then make 'em dry again" - also Chef John.
Also hot roux, cold milk; no lumps.
OH YEAH, fork don't lie.
Around the outside, around the outside, around the outside.
The corollary is damp balls make smooth hands... *Chef John off camera*
Love Chef John
Chef J the 🐐
RIP
@@derpman909 he aint dead, dude just made some fine jelly doughnuts
Please do a colab with him
chef john is a beast
Kenji on his first date with his wife:
So anyway, here's the most mathematically efficient way to cut an onion...
My wife is a mathematician.
"So actually, with a friend of mine i did this mathematical..."
J. Kenji López-Alt Burn dude! Women know the maths.
J. Kenji López-Alt knows what the ladies like.
@@JKenjiLopezAlt her and all the girls who date guys that make your recipes are lucky
I really love the fact that you show adaptability in your cooking. You're making your own recipe from your own cookbook, but don't have all the ingredients so you adapt it to what you have on hand.
I just bought your book! I am super impressed by it. I have never seen such a detailed analysis scientific get practical approach to everything that is food. I recommend everyone who reads this please go check it out. I can definitely see it was a labor of love! And it' huge! I will be referencing it often without a doubt!!
Trav L. Enjoy!
Chef John just said on his stream that he would love to do a collab
@Quantarius Williams Chef John literally taught a generation of people to cook, including me, and Kenji does the same to another generation. I think their skill doesn't matter. They are godfathers of the home cook and a collab would be amazing.
Chef John’s cool but his uptalk is insufferable.
Chefs have a stream?! Where?!
@@ZR-yo6yh It's annoying, but sufferable, because he's very good.
Quantarius Williams you’re out of your mind
29% of comments: epic video!
30% of comments: balls lol
40% of comments: meat tastes meaty
me: hah papa kenji gave his daughter some milk and cheese and made meatballs per her request ;)
Eeactly what I was thinking the the whole video (while super into how Kenji cooks), how he was doing all this at the request of his daughter. 🥰 And I’m also a huge animal lover...so thrilled how he always gives them a taste at the end. 🥰 papa Kenji is a super dad!
The Internet has spoken and we demand a Kenji / Chef John collaboration!!!
You and Chef John are by far my favourite cooking youtubers. I love how you both reject macho cooking culture BS and ultimately see cooking as the fun thing to do and act of love it is.
Nobody:
Kenji every time he cuts an onion: my friend and I built a 3D model of an onion to show how to maximize dicing
10:57 anyone else finds satisfying this part where Kenji chops mushrooms?
very skillful cutting, i gotta say
I’m not n a trans.
Yes !
Yes, cutting, slicing, dicing, and chopping large amounts of vegetables can be so satisfying. A a very sharp knife, and a case of tomatoes methodically turned into dice when there isn’t much going on in the kitchen, is very relaxing.
I find it offensive to my knife skills ;(
The microwave trick, just wow. I’ve made meatballs/dumplings a lot of times and never thought of that. Thanks for sharing Kenji!
I am so stressed while I prepare food...watching you prep and be so chilled is really inspiring. it's like watching a jazz solo. You just go.
When I make meatballs or meatloaf, I make a panade with all the ingredients but the meat. I mix it thoroughly. Then I add the meat. When the other ingredients are pre-combined, you don’t need to work the mixture as much, so there’s less risk of over-mixing
Swedish meatballs are very heavily mixed until its almost emulsified. If anything Kenji undermixed it.
You also wouldn't have to wash your hands seven times! :D
Swede AND a Chef John-fan! It was actually Chef John that got me interested in cooking. And yes, you should absolutley do a collab! Also:
Hot roux, cold milk = no lumps!
Robin Ljung why does that work? Does the cold milk un-gelatinize the starch?
Same here! Swede and Chef John-fan. He is the real OG of food youtubers. Would love to see a collab.
@@tib0980 The idea is that before you start adding your liquid, the starch granules are still intact and they're separated from each other by a coating of oil. The starch doesn't gelatinise until the starch granules burst and the starch dissolves in the water. If you add the liquid cold, you preserve the starch granules for long enough that you can mix them thoroughly throughout the sauce - no lumps. Then as the liquid heats up, the granules will burst but if you've kept everything homogenous there won't be any clumping.
Whether or not this is actually true, I have no idea. Why would burst starch granules form clumps with each other and not just dissolve in the liquid?
That being said, the technique definitely does work and is a lot easier than adding liquid bit by bit.
Rupert Faraway that
makes sens
MEATBALLS:
1/4 cup milk
1/4 oz gelatin
1 lb beef/pork
Salt to taste
White pepper to taste
Red pepper flakes to taste
Nutmeg to taste
1 egg
Soy sauce
Worcestershire sauce
2 slices of bread's worth of crumbs
Few cloves garlic
Fresh thyme
1. Mix milk and gelatin
2. Mix meat w/spices and add egg, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, milk/gelatin mixture, breadcrumbs, minced garlic and thyme
3. Fill heated pan with 1/4 inch of oil
4. Mix well and make meat balls to desired size
5. Fry meat balls in pan
MUSHROOM SAUCE:
8 oz cremini mushrooms
1/4 onion? minced
Few cloves garlic
Thyme sprigs
White pepper to taste
Salt to taste
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup milk
Lemon
1. Cut off mushroom ends and slice thinly
2. Add sliced mushrooms to pot w oil
3. Season mushrooms w white pepper and salt
4. Add butter, onions, garlic, and thyme to mushrooms
5. Cook down mushrooms and then add flour
6. Add chicken stock 1/4 cup at a time to deglaze
7. Add cup of milk and nutmeg
8. Put cooked meatballs in pot and stir
9. Add squeeze of lemon
Hey Kenji, I just wanna thank you for letting me relive similar moments of cooking with my uncles in the kitchen, the random tidbits of knowledge and subtle jokes thrown in out of nowhere was something I really enjoyed growing up. It's never been the same since I've been somewhat disowned by my family.
Kenji, you’ve touched on this a bit in other videos, but I’d love to hear your philosophy on spices, your organization of them, maintaining freshness, etc. The spice situation is a disaster in nearly every home kitchen I’ve been in (including my own).
Made the mushroom gravy last night and served with meatloaf and jasmine rice. It was outstanding and a nice change from the usual glaze and mashed potatoes. Had to save the milk for breakfast, didn’t have cream so finished gravy with a few tablespoons of sour cream. Worked great and we ate every bit of it. Thanks Kenji
I love how you have normal plates and an average American kitchen. A lot of cooking channels have all the fancy stuff that most of us don't have.
Your cooking videos are the only ones I watch these days. We have your book, but I love how you simplify your own recipes and make it start to finish in 30 min and under!
@J Kenji López Alt, I am watching a livestream from Chef John right now and someone told him about your shoutout. He said he is a huge fan of your work and that he would love to do a collaboration with you.
You better be telling the truth
@@db-cn4cq 100%.
audibly chuckled "of course you did", when you mentioned creating a model of an onion about using a horizontal cut. love it!
My man broke an egg in the package and poured it in anyway. He's achieved his final form Grandma cook. It doesn't matter what culture you come from, a grandma can turn a broken egg into a 3 course meal.
dude has more spices and seasonings in the rows of his pullout-cupboard-esque contraption than i have books in my drawer
I’m with ya there. I think I need to step my game up
Themokk55 probably doesnt have enough books to buy a book shelf, hence keeps in drawers. id bet more people have a drawer and no shelf than people have both a very small minority who have a she,f and no drawers
That's very much possible, the mother road of spices(silk route), was carrying metric tonnes of spices, some markets in istanbul have more then 200 kinds of spices/mixes.
As a swede, i'm really consufed about the "swedish meatball" ingredient list and size of the balls
Probably just calling thats as to not confuse them with Italian meatballs
yeah this aint what my mormor makes on christmas.
Swedish-ish Meatballs and Mushroom Gravy.
A few of the less precise measurements I took from the book. Otherwise I tried to keep it like it was in the video. In the method, it’s a little long winded but I tried to keep the personality and some of notes provided. Enjoy!
Meatballs
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 oz gelatin(1 packet)
- 1/2 pound each ground pork and beef
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 slices white bread, crust removed. dried and crumbled into crumbs
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- Fresh thyme(leaves from 2-3 stems)
- Salt
- white pepper
- Fresh grated nutmeg
Mushroom gravy
- 8oz crimini mushrooms, stems removed, Sliced
- 1 small onion, fine dice. (Approximately 1 cup)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp flour
- Small bundle fresh thyme
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 cup milk
- Soy sauce
- Lemon juice
- Salt
- White pepper
- Fresh grated nutmeg
Add gelatin to milk to bloom.
In a separate bowl, season ground meat with salt, white pepper, red pepper flakes, and nutmeg.
Add egg, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, fresh thyme, bread crumbs, and bloomed gelatin to meat mixture.
- Mix to become homogenous
If you’d like to check the seasoning, take small pinch of mixture and microwave till cooked through and taste for salt.
Heat medium sized pan with about 1/4 inch of oil to shallow fry the meatballs.
Heat an additional pan with oil for sauce
While your pan is heating, set up a small bowl of water and a plate. Form medium sized meatballs while keeping your hands damp to prevent sticking. (In this video Kenji yielded 10)
Add meatballs to preheated oil to fry. Try not to move meatballs very much during initial stages of cooking.
Add sliced mushrooms to separate pan, cook until lightly browned. Season with salt and white pepper.
Add butter, onion, garlic, and small bundle of fresh thyme to mushrooms. Let aromatics briefly sweat then add flour. Stir to disperse flower and coat in fat.
During this whole process periodically check meatballs, turning when each side becomes deeply browned. Turn down heat if necessary. The meatballs will finish cooking in the sauce.
Once flour is stirred in, add stock 1/4 cup at a time. Mixing well between each addition to prevent clumping. Mixture will be very thick at first.
Once all of the stock has been added and well mixed, add milk. slightly less care can be taken when adding. Still mix thoroughly.
Add additional nutmeg to taste, Add meatballs and bring to a simmer.
Cook until sauce is slightly reduced and thickened to your liking.
Add splash of soy sauce and lemon juice, if desired
Eggtoplasmic Residue... That was a good one, Kenji.
Ttt to
MIT dad joke.
You know that meatball is going to be packed with flavor when you enhance your flavor enhancers. In this case, he is using inosinic acid (Worchester sauce) to enhance the glutamic acid (soy sauce) which is already used to enhance flavors.
Kaust Shroff My dad used to be a chef and taught me this. You can make a cheap ribeye taste incredible by giving it a 45 minute marination session in This combo.
@@Jorge-wg9tq I'm not an auditory learner so I actually appreciated it.
@@Jorge-wg9tq I'm 99.999% sure you're a troll, who can't appreciate things.
Swedish meatballs was the first recipe I made on my own as a child. I remember how happy I was, and the love for cooking it created in me.
I love how he uses the cracked egg that broke in the container. No reason to waste it, still perfectly fine, love it!
that egg might be cracked before, thats why it stuck to the container. worst case: salmonella.
Have you heard of the 'technique' of adding mushrooms to a dry pan without oil to let the water evaporate first and adding the oil later? It causes them to absorb less oil in my experience.
They also get nicely browned
I'm sure you're right but that's got to take an eon. The point of the oil here is to greatly speed up the cooking process.
I’m sure you may already know this and this is not meant as an objection to this fine recipy, but as a swede i just wanna note that traditional swedish meatballs are usually made with finely chopped sauteed onions and with the breadcrumbs being soaked in milk/cream prior to the final mix. Also without garlic!
Love from sweden
Yeah it's my first time seeing a recipe from him wherein he didn't elaborate on the recipe being not traditional. But maybe that is included in the book or in his serious eats article?
Your dogs crack me up at every video. One is all wiggly and excited. The other just waits for you to get close so he doesn’t have to strain. Love them. You made my favorite meatballs. Only thing we use dill not thyme. Love the change
The sound of the chopping, with sizzles in the background and mumbling… Who needs ASMR when you can watch a Kenji video!
Kenji I just wanna show my appreciation for your continued uploading on TH-cam, you are very entertaining, informative, and the production of the videos are great. Thank you for being awesome 👊
I love white pepper. Used to live with friends who were very picky eaters; they insisted they hated pepper, and could not be swayed. So whenever I made homemade mashed potatoes, I always seasoned the potatoes with white pepper so they couldn't see the specks of pepper. And shock of shocks, they said my potatoes were the best they'd ever tasted. 😄
That microwave is insanely powerful.
Also, when you started talking about cucumber salad I was suddenly struck with the craving for it, and then you mentioned potato salad and I resolved to make my way to a German restaurant post-haste.
I made this recipe tonight! I used 1/2 pound of ground lamb and about 1/4 pound beef. I also substituted 1/2 teaspoon of Red Boat fish sauce for the Worcestershire, becauseI had not tried it yet. They turned out delicious!
This is hands down my favorite TH-cam channel.
I love that you feed your dogs! I want to see a collaboration with Chef John -- I'll tell him! I am very thankful to have found your channel. You make me feel like I can cook without actual measures and without sweating the small stuff. Thanks!
The sound of your knife cutting the mushrooms in rapid succession (or well, hitting the cutting board) is only relaxing/ASMR ish
thank you for sharing this recipe! i made this today and my whole family loved it. i had to make it gluten and lactose free for my mom so I replaced the sliced bread with rolled oats (blitzed in the food processor to make them less whole) around 25g per slice of bread. i replaced the buttermilk with chicken stock.
3:19 the most perfect pronunciation of Worcestershire sauce I've ever heard from an american, thats how you know you're a real chef. made a brit proud
I just love your videos. I’ve been a reader and ‘fan’ for years and have learned TONS just reading your book and SE articles. These vids really an extra dimension and clarity. Please keep up the great work!
Köttbullar as we say in Sweden, this is an interesting...variant :)
Yeah no potato and no lingonberries (and mushrooms!!) is definitely not usual, but hey it doesn't look bad
@@brawlers9901 as a vegan swede i actually make a similar mushroom sauce whenever i make "meatballs" nowadays since i cant make a sauce out of caramellized meat bits left over in the pan. While not super traditional its actually really good and i wouldnt definitely recommend it!
I love how he always shares with his dogs at the end.
"there aren't sweet meatballs, these are swedish(sweet-ish) meatballs"
Genius.
An appropriate dad joke for a meal for his daughter. :-)
Always a huge fan of your work! Looks really tasty!
As a swede you encounter so many different variations of meatballs, and everyone does it differently.
Onion is often included in the meatball either presoftened in a pan with butter or raw. Sometimes mixed, precooked and raw. Some mix their meatball dough while others don`t.
The meatball is almost always fried in butter and we eat them with the brown sauce and mashed potatoes or just cooked potatoes.
Lingonberry jam can be replaced with blackcurrant jelly and not jam to get a similar feeling. Dont know if you can buy that kind of jelly in the US though.
It was really fun seeing you make your own kind :)
Cheers from Sweden
A delight and a pleasure to watch it and in eal time but also that you live in the real world with a family. more power to you.
I’ve been watching you and chef John for over 4 years now and a collaboration would absolutely make my heart so full.
2:49 “meat tastes meaty” - he’s speaking the language of the gods
hmmmm yes, the meat here is made out of meat
“Meat tastes like meat when it is eaten”
Shinji would be proud
Thank you for explaining why it doesn't work when I try to add more flour directly to a sauce to thicken it. Twice now I have spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to fix this mistake with an immersion blender and mesh strainer.
First Sohla from Bon Appetit gets hired by Babish, now Kenji brings up an idea to do a collab with Chef John? This needs to happen within the next couple months to make this year feel less bad.
Kenji, you and Chef John are my Gods of cooking...And you Kenji, after all, are the master of the ball!!
Definitely a Chef John fan here. I laughed out loud with your “navy-gravy” homage to his rhyme-thing. I vote for that collaboration! Hope you’ll do it!!
Gonna make this later!! After taking out the meatballs. I will use the remaining sauce to make pasta then just add. Parmesan or Pecorino and Basil Leaves. Thanks Kenji for another wonderful recipe.
Not gonna lie, when I watch your video, it makes my mouth watering.
Edit: Besides that, these are quite satisfying content I ever watch.
Love this channel from, Malaysia.
Thanks Kenji! It came out good. My wife said so. That’s important. I think I used a bit too much thyme as I didn’t have fresh stuff available so I used dried. It’ll be different next time! But thank you, it was fun cooking along with you. Scott
I haven’t finished the video yet (obviously, just came out), but looking forward to comparing notes with Alex’s research!
agreed we gotta see what kenji is putting out and compare and contrast
Who's alex? i am a new subscriber
@@superc alex french guy cooking, another excellent foodtubet
@@superc Alex the french cooking guy he is a food youtube wh did a whole in depth series on meatballs. Highly recommend!!
Josh Rosen I haven’t seen his video. Can you summarize/compare?
Made this today, it was soooooo worth it. Doubled the sauce and served it with pasta. It was incredibly delicious and the meatballs were so tender!
Hey Kenji, we in sweden often use an icing bag to ”make the balls”, just push it out onto a lightly oiled plate and drop them all into the frying pan within literally seconds 😃
What. WHAT.
Big brain sweden
Hahahaha
I really hate to ask this, but how big are the balls made like this? I’m so sorry 😂. I’m genuinely curious as to the size (oh GOD), and is the texture okay by compressing the meat in the pastry bag.
SlackMartin i do they for small meatballs especially when making them for soup!
Love your show! So real for me. I just tried the roasted potato recipe and it was amazing! Thank you Chef Kenji!
Lmao the sound Jamón made when he grabbed that bite
HLLOP
I remember our local "meat surimi balls" dish when you mentioned that we actually want our meatballs to be tender. Those surimi balls (which resembles meatballs, heck we actually translated those to meatballs in english) are snappy dense, and even chewy! So it's like having a sausage in balls shape
"My daughter wanted some milk and cheese". This girl is just an entire blanket wrapped, stuffed animal snuggling, casual Sunday kind of mood and I'm all about it.
2:24 is part of why I love Kenji so much. Waste not, want not. Also love the little laugh.
These look delicious! Being Australian, it was cool to see you recognise Vegemite as an option for the umami hit. I always put Vegemite in my rissoles and meatloaf. BTW: I would love to see you do a collaboration with Chef John! That would be so good! Best wishes from Down Under 😊
Hey Kenji! Thanks for the tip with gelatin - tried it today and those meatballs came out nice, moist and tender!
Shabu & Jamon know it's good times when the gopro comes out for a recording session!
@Kenji
Ingredients:
Meatballs (Tender Ground Meat Things) --
1 lb ground meat (pork, beef, or any combination)
1 tsp salt
Estimated 1/2 tsp white pepper
Estimated 1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flake
Estimated 1/8-1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
Fresh thyme
1 egg
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 slices of sandwich bread, or estimated 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup milk/buttermilk/cream for tenderizing
1/4 oz gelatin
Sauce --
8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced 1/8-1/4" thick
1/2 white or yellow onion, finely minced
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
Salt and white pepper to taste
Fresh thyme
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup milk/cream
Estimated 1 tsp soy sauce
Estimated 1/2 tsp lemon juice
Optional: wine or brandy to deglaze
Optional: freshly grated nutmeg to taste
Other --
1/4" of heat-stable oil, pre-heated in a skillet over medium-high heat
1 Tbsp of heat-stable oil, pre-heated in a separate skillet over medium-high heat
Optional --
Pasta, cucumber salad, vinegar-based potato salad, or mashed potatoes
Lingonberry jam or cranberry sauce
Directions:
Hydrate 1/4 oz gelatin in 1/4 cup milk and set aside. Combine meat, dry spices, garlic, egg, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce in a large bowl. (Aggressively shatter the egg inside the carton and gently pour on top of meat mixture. Extract eggshells as necessary. 10/10, Ina Garten approved.) Stir milk and gelatin mixture, and add to large bowl with meat and seasonings. Add in breadcrumbs and combine gently with hands.
Microwave a small portion of meat if a taste-test is desired, and add salt if necessary. 1.5% salt-to-meat by weight is the target.
Dampen hands and form meat mixture into balls. (Small balls are fiddly. We desire medium-sized, moderately fiddly balls.) Place balls into pre-heated 1/4"-deep oil in a single layer, and don't disturb until a crust forms on the base of each ball. Turn balls as edges brown, reducing heat if necessary to prevent over-browning. Meatballs can finish cooking in sauce if they don't cook all the way through.
In the separate skillet, saute mushrooms in pre-heated 1 Tbsp oil. While mushrooms cook, mince your onion (according to Kenji's mathematical onion model) and garlic. Stir mushrooms and add butter, whole thyme spring, onion, and garlic. Allow onion and garlic to sweat lightly, but do not caramelize. Add flour, and stir to combine. Vegetables and flour will form a very thick roux base. Add chicken stock to vegetables and roux about 1/4 cup at a time, stirring consistently and scraping skillet bottom to incorporate without clumping. Once the chicken broth is added, stir in the cup of milk or cream, and the soy sauce.
Cook sauce until it reduces to desired thickness. Repeat to yourself: "you are the commander of the navy of your pork gravy." Once sauce has thickened, add meatballs into sauce and cook until finished. Season gravy with a small squeeze of fresh lemon juice, and serve meatballs to dogs, then family.
Thank you so much for this!!
First time Kenji has ever had a recipe book open
It’s my book ;)
One of the biggest flex.
Erick Vides it really was 😂
A great alternative to breadcrumbs is to use saltine crackers pulsed in a good processor. I’ve also found that baking the meatballs and finishing under the broiler is less messy way to cook them. I also love using a Korean flavor profile by adding lots of gochujaeng, ginger and garlic.
Kenji, you might be the only person alive to have ever uttered the words “my friend and I created a 3D model of an onion using mathematical equations” ever.
Alongside your friend of course.
Chef John is amazing. He's one of the best things to come out of my home of Western NY.
Oh what a great idea with gelatine!
I Love the way you get your mise en , clean While you cook and MOST importantly you frequently wash your hands. Microbiology changed my life :) !
Being Swedish, I got surprised when you said that nutmeg was a classic flavor since I hadn't heard about that before. I checked out a bunch of recipes written in Swedish and none of them included nutmeg. It does however seem to be a rather popular in recipes written in english. Next time I make meatballs I'll try using nutmeg so I can decide if it's an improvement or a bastardization.
I'm also Swedish, we have nutmeg in a lot of our foods but I've never had it in meatballs. But the nutmeg is the least of my concern when it comes to how Swedish these meatballs are. :(
I should have probably clarified that these are what we call Swedish meatballs in the US. I in no way intended to represent them as traditional from-Sweden Swedish meatballs. I said “Swede-ish” at some point I believe but I should have been more clear.
@@JKenjiLopezAlt Interesting how they evolved in the states. :) They felt like a mix of Swedish and Italian meatballs! Might try them at some point.
Delicious. I use anchovies or anchovy paste regularly instead of more salt in a variety of dishes.
that egg technique 💯
I was gonna say 😂
Ya. I was just a tad concerned because egg cartons are rated as secondary packaging = no direct food contact... unlike primary (food contact) packaging materials... and might not be super clean...
@@KnickKnackPatty It was gonna get cooked anyway and any pathogens are gonna get killed in that heat.
I have to say I am not a horizontal onion cutting person. I prefer uneven, rustic pieces of onion in my recipes. But, I do get the math of the structure. I just like a more rustic shape. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, cooking, and home!
I couldn't help but laugh at the cowlick on one side of your head in the opening shot from trying out the GoPro's head strap before filming. 'Yep, I've been there.'
Casual Mondays ;)
Chef Kenji's videos are like a cook subreddit.
I live them.
damp hands make smooth balls - Chef John
i was too slow
He also says, “Hot roux, cold liquid, no lumps.” You don’t have to be as careful as you imagine adding the liquid to the roux slowly.
Another essencial thing that we Swedes use in meatballs is either fresh grated unions that we put in the meat mix, or fried chopped/grated onions.
A standard traditional meatball recipe is heavy cream, 1-2 eggs, onions, breadcrums, meat (high fat beef or just a mix of pork and beef or veal and beef) white pepper, salt and nutmeg.
And then served with mash potatoes and creamsauce with lingonberry jam on the side.
In the beginning you soke the breadcrums in either milk or cream
what we need is a supercut of kenji washing his hands
Thanks to you, Kenji, I tried using balls of meat with gelatin and it was absolutely the superior version
"Meat is meaty" -j Kenji Lopez
I love the scientific details about the umami flavor boosters and the Batman and Robin analogy. It makes sense why soo many recipes have anchovy paste / worcestershire sauce in them!
Okay but if a Chef John / Kenji collab isn't happening in the foreseeable future i'm going on a hunger strike
I know you maybe dont read this but I'm from Costa Rica,i watch all of your videos and i really love what you teach and show us Greetings From Costa Rica