Kjøttkaker i brun saus (Norwegian meat cakes in brown gravy)
55 min · 38 g protein · 504 cals / serving
Norway's Sunday-dinner favourite: juicy beef patties seasoned with nutmeg and ginger, browned hard and then simmered in a dark, glossy gravy made from the pan. Served the proper way with boiled potatoes, carrots, creamy stewed cabbage and a spoon of lingonberries. Lean beef and a lighter roux keep it every bit as comforting.
Ingredients
Meat cakes
- 1 lb 2 oz ground beef (95% lean), karbonadedeig (lean minced beef, about 5 % fat)
- 1 1/2 tbsp potato starch (potato flour)
- scant 1/2 cup skim milk
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 small onion, finely grated
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg, plus a grating for the cabbage
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1 1/4 tsp butter, divided
Brown gravy
- 2 1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour (bleached), plain flour
- 2 cups beef broth
Kålstuing (creamed cabbage)
- 1/2 large head (1 3/4 lb) cabbage, white cabbage, cored, in 2 cm (3/4-inch) squares
- 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp skim milk
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp butter
- 1/3 tsp salt
To serve
- 1/4 cup lingonberry jam, reduced sugar, lingonberry jam (tyttebær)
Steps
- Mix the potato starch into the milk. In a bowl, work the beef with the salt for a minute until it turns sticky, then beat in the starch-milk, egg, grated onion, pepper, nutmeg and ginger. Shape 12 flattish cakes with wet hands.
- Heat half the butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat and brown the cakes well, 2–3 minutes a side. They need not be cooked through yet. Lift them onto a plate.
- Add the rest of the butter to the pan, sprinkle in the flour and stir over medium heat for 3–4 minutes until it turns nut-brown; this is where the gravy's colour comes from. Whisk in the broth a little at a time, scraping up the browned bits. Return the cakes, cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes until they reach 160°F.
- Meanwhile boil the potatoes in salted water for about 20 minutes, adding the carrots for the last 10, until both are tender. Drain.
- For the kålstuing, simmer the cabbage in a lidded pan with 100 ml (scant 1/2 cup) of water for 8–10 minutes until soft, then pour off any water left. Whisk the cornstarch into the cold milk, pour it over the cabbage and stir over medium heat until it bubbles and turns creamy, 2 minutes. Stir in the butter, the salt and a grating of nutmeg.
- Taste the gravy for salt and pepper and serve the cakes in it, with potatoes, carrots, kålstuing and lingonberries on the side.
Good to know
Kålstuing or ertestuing?
Both are classic with kjøttkaker. Creamed cabbage is the lighter of the two; for ertestuing, mash 2 cups of cooked frozen peas with a teaspoon of butter and a pinch of salt.
My gravy is pale. What happened?
The flour needs to cook in the fat until it is the colour of milk chocolate before the broth goes in. Keep the heat moderate and keep stirring; if it is still light, a few drops of soy sauce deepen it without changing the taste much.
Can I use regular mince?
Yes. Ordinary kjøttdeig (about 14 % fat) makes juicier cakes and a richer gravy: a score of about 67 instead of 73.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 69
- Protein
- (32%)
- 5 g
- Fat
- (21%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (47%)
- 9 g
- of which sugar
- 3 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 192 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 2015 kcal goes into the pot and 3233 g of ingredients comes out as about 2900 g of food: 69 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.