"Denmark's flat-bottomed meatball, pork and veal lightened with sparkling water, is equally good hot from the pan and cold on rye bread the next morning."
About Frikadeller
Denmark's beloved meatball: a flat-bottomed oval patty of minced pork and veal, onion, egg and milk, pan-fried in butter until golden outside and pillowy within; served with boiled potatoes, cream gravy and pickled beets for dinner or cold on smørrebrød the next day; every Danish household considers its recipe definitive.
Frikadeller, a staple of Denmark's cuisine
The Meatball
Denmark's everyday meatball is a flat-bottomed oval rather than a sphere, made from minced pork and veal with onion, egg, a little flour and sparkling water, then fried in butter until golden outside and just yielding within. The carbonated water is the Danish trick, lightening the texture gently, the way beaten egg whites lift a souffle. It is home cooking, not restaurant food.
The Mix
Half pork and half veal gives the best balance of richness and tenderness, with all-pork versions coming out coarser. The meat is worked until smooth, seasoned simply and rested before frying. Shaping the frikadeller with a spoon dipped in water gives them their characteristic flat-sided form.
Two Lives
Frikadeller leads a double life. Hot from the pan it is dinner, with boiled potatoes, a cream gravy and pickled beets. Cold the next morning it becomes a smorrebrod topping on buttered rye with remoulade and raw onion, a version many Danes rate higher. A dish that improves overnight earns the highest Danish praise.
Home Cooking
More than almost any other dish, frikadeller is Danish family cooking, reliable, unpretentious and genuinely good in both its hot and cold forms. Every household keeps a recipe and quietly considers all others slightly inferior. Simple as it looks, the balance of meat, the lightening water and the butter fry are what separate a fine frikadelle from an ordinary one.
What to Expect
Frikadeller arrives at a Danish dinner table in a pan, still faintly sizzling. The first frikadelle is eaten while it is hot: the crust gives, the inside is slightly soft, the butter flavour is present throughout. The second frikadelle, eaten cold the next day on rugbrød with remoulade, is possibly better.
Why Try It
Frikadeller is Danish home cooking at its most honest, unpretentious, reliable and genuinely satisfying in both its hot and cold incarnations. Every Danish household has a recipe and considers every other family's recipe a slightly inferior version of their own.
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Insider Tips
Use half pork and half veal for the best flavour, all-pork frikadeller are slightly coarser.
The sparkling water in the mixture is important, don't substitute still water.
Eat cold leftovers on rugbrød with remoulade. This is the best application.
