Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓
Swedish Meatballs in Sour Cream Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the meatballs
Prepare the meatballs at least an hour before cooking.
Soak the breadcrumbs in the cream for 5 minutes, then add them to a mixing bowl with the marrow and ground meats.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a frying pan and cook the chopped onion, shallots, and garlic over moderate heat for 5 minutes.
Add the grated lemon rind, parsley, salt, pepper, and thyme.
Beat the 2 eggs and pour them over the meat mixture.
Beat the mixture until the ingredients are combined and the meat loses its granular texture.
Form the mixture into small balls.
Roll the meatballs over the meat until they are shaped into spheres.
Chill
Place the meatballs on a baking sheet or platter lined with wax paper.
Roll each meatball lightly in flour just before frying.
Cover the meatballs with another sheet of waxed paper and chill for at least an hour.
Fry the meatballs
Melt 3 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil over high heat in a large heavy frying pan.
Drop enough meatballs into the pan to cover the bottom.
At once slide the pan back and forth over the burner so that the meatballs roll around in the hot fat.
Turn the heat down to moderate and cook the meatballs for 6-7 minutes longer.
Transfer the finished meatballs to a casserole.
Make the sauce and serve
If the fat remaining in the pan is brown, pour off all but 3 tablespoons of it.
Stir 2 tablespoons of flour into the pan and mix it into a smooth paste with the fat.
Return the pan to low heat and cook the roux for a minute or so.
Then pour in 1 cup of stock.
Raise the heat and beat the sauce together until it boils.
Then turn the heat down to a barest simmer.
Stir the sour cream into the sauce, about a tablespoon at a time.
Add fresh dill, lemon juice, salt to taste, and cayenne.
Pour the sauce over the meatballs in the casserole.
Serve with buttered rice, noodles, or pasta of any kind.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 14 of 15 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 14 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Beef | 100g cooked | 250 |
| Pork | 100g cooked | 242 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Garlic | 1 clove (3g) | 4 |
| Thyme | 1 tsp dried (1.4g) | 4 |
| Parsley | 1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g) | 1 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Veal | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together29,058 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Beef + porktop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,690 recipes
Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).
-
Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,000 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + shallottop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef chuck
- Provides the main meaty flavour and body of the meatballs.
- Veal
- Adds tenderness and a mild, delicate flavour to the meat mixture.
- Eggs
- Bind the meat mixture so the meatballs hold their shape.
- Breadcrumbs
- Soak up cream and keep the meatballs tender rather than dense.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, helping the meatballs stay juicy.
- Beef marrow
- Adds richness and fat that keeps the meatballs moist and flavourful.
The step that matters
Rolling the meatballs in the hot fat. Sliding the pan so the meatballs roll in hot fat sears their outside quickly, forming a crust that helps them hold their round shape and browns them evenly.
Swap the shallot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pork, veal, cream, butter, onion, garlic):
- Potatofits better
- Chivefits better
- Leekfits better
- Shallotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pork, veal, cream, butter, onion, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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