Secret is the contrasting flavours, caraway, cardamom, sweet lingonberry and thick, beefy, almost custard like, mustard sauce. IKEA made famous but tradition made right.

The origins of this favoured dish are disputed. Controversially, the official Swedish Twitter account suggested back that the dish was likely Turkish and brought to Sweden by King

However, this was widely derided as having no factual evidentiary basis being little more than a fable. Indeed, many similar dishes have long existed in southern European countries which Vikings would have visited hundreds of years before King Gustav’s Turkish tour and it is possible that the source of the dish may exist here. That it is often served with an Italian style pasta would support this notion, albeit there are no written records of the dish prior to 1785.

That being said, this dish is more commonly served with potatoes – either mashed or boiled (especially when mama is cooking). Whatever the starch, these meatballs are nearly always served with a brown gravy-based sauce and absolutely always with a sweet red jam (lingonberry is the standard but red currant is a well-established alternative, especially outside of Scandinavia where lingonberry options are limited).

Grated onion or browned onion (or grated and browned onion). Egg to help bind. milk in bread, salt, pepper, white pepper and allspice.

INGREDIENTS:

Ground pork

Ground beef

White onion

Dill

Mustard

Beef stock

Flour

Butter

Breadcrumbs

Caraway

Cardamom

Nutmeg

Carrots

Celery

Beetroot

Pasta

Egg

Salt

Pepper