Finns love meatballs! Every family has their own recipe, so it’s hard to say what is original. Swedes have adopted meatballs as their own traditional dish. Still, almost every culinary culture has its own version of meatballs – it has evolved over the years and in many different hands. The first recorded mention of the word for meatballs appears in a Danish cookbook in 1703. The history of meatballs in Swedish cuisine goes back to coffee and cabbage rolls when Charles XII became enamored with them in the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century.

In Finland, a popular recipe is over 260 years old. In Finland, meatballs are eaten similarly to those in Sweden, as we are neighboring countries with a long shared history. The first recipe resembling modern meatballs was recorded in Sweden in Kajsa Warg’s cookbook in 1754. It combines meat, rye bread, eggs, salt, pepper, and nutmeg in the same way as today – only rye bread is replaced with breadcrumbs.

This is my grandmother’s recipe. Recipe is from her cookbook “Keittotaito” from year 1946. My grandmother turned just last month 102! She is still cooking for herself. Amazing woman! She has made some modifications according to her own taste to the recipe but I include original copy of the book recipe here. What’s really interesting is this cooking book’s third version of meatballs. It calls for herrings! Herrings are ground together with meat. Then procedure is same as with regular meatballs. I love this cooking book because it suggests what to serve your dish and what to do with leftovers. In this case, the book instructs you to make macaroni and meatball casserole. I might need to try that! Other suggestions are to serve it with the sauce for breakfast or use leftover meatballs in salads with mayonnaise sauce.

When you are cooking meatballs there is two ways of doing these. The traditional way is in the pan, and the easy way is in the oven. Oven method: bake your meatballs in the oven in 225c about 10-15 minutes. I do this when I am making a bigger amount one time. Meatballs freeze well, so why not if you have lots of minced beef? It is faster to take from the freezer ready meatballs for the pasta, sandwich, snack, etc., than make them. When you pan fry you meatballs. Use the same pan to make your sauce to get all those roasting aromas in your sauce. Cast iron pan is the best! Fry your meatballs, take them on side and make your sauce. When the sauce is ready put your meatballs back in the pan with the sauce and let them cook together with the sauce for awhile. Some people add cream to the sauce. This is up to you how you want to it.

Serve meatballs with pickled redbeets, lingonberries or pickles. In my family, Grandma quite often made grated carrot salad with raisins. Dressing in this salad was lemon juice.

Traditional Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes (Serves 4)

For the Meatballs:

• 400 g lean ground beef (10% fat)
• 1 onio
• handful of fresh parsley chopped very fine
• 2,5 dl sour cream
• 1 dl oatmeal
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• ½ tsp ground allspice
• Butter for frying

1. Peel and finely chop the onion, then sauté it in butter until translucent.
2. Mix the breadcrumbs with the sour cream and let the mixture swell for about ten minutes.
3. Add the egg, salt, black pepper, parsley, and sautéed onion to the breadcrumb mixture. Mix the seasoning mixture until smooth, then add the ground beef. Knead the meatball mixture until smooth. Let the meatball dough rest in the refrigerator for about half an hour.
4. Moisten your hands with cold water and shape the dough into round meatballs.
5. Fry the meatballs in butter until cooked through and golden brown.

For the Mashed Potatoes:

• 800 g potatoes (floury variety, e.g., Russet)
• 2 dl cream
• 50 g butter
• 1 tbsp salt for the potato cooking water

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into chunks. Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender.
2. Drain the cooking water from the potatoes. Mash the potatoes until smooth using a potato masher.
3. Stir in the cream and butter until well combined. Taste and add salt if necessary.

Brown Sauce:

• 60 g wheat flour
• 60 g butter
• 1 l mild beef broth (this must be hot when you start to make your sauce)
• 1 tsp salt
• Ground black pepper

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan or skillet. 
2. Add the wheat flour to the pan and brown it while stirring constantly with a spatula until it turns dark brown. Patience is key in this process.
3. Once the flour has turned dark brown, gradually pour in the hot beef broth while stirring vigorously. Bring the sauce to a boil while stirring occasionally. Let it simmer gently for about 15 minutes. Season with freshly ground black pepper and salt if needed.