Photo by Guusbosman, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1804840
This one took a lot of time to do but the raves made it well worth it. Quotes of the night were from "It tastes almost like the real thing" and "All I want for Christmas is frikandel" to "wow, you made this???"
Frikandel is nothing more than fried ground meat with some spices added to it. It is formed like a sausage but does not use a casing. A big thanks to friend Silvia for finding the recipe after I couldn't locate it online anymore. It's not my own recipe but it's too good not to share as frikandel is not something you can waltz down to the QFC or Safeway and purchase when you get a craving.
Without further adieu, the recipe from Stuff Dutch People Like, including a handy video of how to mix it and form it.
Frikandel
makes about 14-16
450g ground chicken*
450g ground pork*
450g ground beef*
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp ground black pepper
4 tsp salt
4 tsp onion powder
1 C whipping cream
Large pot of gently boiling water
Deep fryer or heavy bottomed pot for frying + oil
* Just get a 1lb (453g) package of each meat, it didn't make a difference and much easier to measure!
Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and blend it until it is a smooth paste. If it is not coming together, add a little more cream until it does. The only negative comment I got when I made these was that the meat could have been processed more so really give it a go. Once you have this done, you are ready to form the frikandel (see tips and methods below) using a mold or your hands to roll them out to about 5" long and 1" in diameter. Imagine a jumbo hot dog size. The formed frikandel are then placed in the gently boiling water for 10 minutes to fully cook the meat. Remove and cool until ready to fry. They can also be frozen for later use; just thaw them completely before moving to the next step.
Heat the oil to about 375 degrees and carefully drop in a frikandel. Fry until it is a deep brown color, about 5 minutes. If you plan to add toppings to it (for example, mayo+curry sauce+diced onion=frikandel speciaal) you will want to score the length of the frikandel (how deep? about half way) before frying it. It will open up as it fries and make a boat to hold the good stuff.
Forming the Frikandel
The instructions in the video show them using a tube and a spoon to extrude the sausage. I used a 1" diameter plastic pvc pipe (about 5" long) from the hardware store and while this worked, it took forever. You have to fill the form which took a lot of effort and then devise some sort of plunger to push the meat out of the mold again. Lucky for us, we had a cork and a wooden skewer we could push it out with. My friend formed them by rolling them by hand. After an hour, it came to me how I am going to try it next time. I'm going to use a big, disposable pastry bag and a 1" round piping tip used for cupcakes. I can pipe it directly into the boiling water (I hope) and have less mess to deal with.
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