Meatballs (Danish Frikadeller)

This recipe comes straight from a friend's mother in Denmark. It's a little labour-intensive, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be addicted. Serve warm with a brown sauce, small red boiled potatoes, and sweet and sour cabbage. Better still, double the batch and have enough the next day to slice and place on toast with mayonnaise (open-faced, of course, the Scandinavian way).

½ lb ground veal
½ lb ground pork
¼ cup milk, or as needed
¼ cup onion, finely grated
1 egg
¼ cup breadcrumbs, or as needed
¼ cup all-purpose flour, unbleached
¼ cup seltzer water
kosher salt
black pepper, freshly ground
¼ cup butter

Mix the veal and pork together in a bowl, and stir in the milk, onion, and egg. Mix the bread crumbs into the meat. Sprinkle in the flour, and knead well to mix. Stir in the seltzer water, season to taste with salt and pepper, and mix well. The mixture should be very moist, but not dripping.

Chill the meat mixture for 15-30 minutes in the refrigerator, to make the meatballs easier to form.

Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.

To form meatballs, scoop up about 2½ Tbsp. of meat mixture with a large spoon, and form the mixture into a slightly flattened, oval meatball about the size of a small egg. Place the meatballs into the heated skillet, and fry for about 15 minutes per side, until the meatballs are well-browned and no longer pink in the center.

Makes 6 servings.

Nutritional Facts:
246 calories; protein 15.7g; carbohydrates 8.4g; fat 16.3g; cholesterol 83.2mg; sodium 177.5mg.