Someone requested Finnish recipes recently and I didn't have time to post
until
now. Here is my mother in-law from Finland's recipe: It's pretty good!

Finnish Meatballs

Approx. 1.2 lbs. hamburger (I try to use not the leanest or not the
fattest but
something in-between like 80% fat due to tasting better with 80% and not
popping as much grease on you with the fatter stuff). The fatter stuff
makes
the best tasting meatballs but the grease pops all over you constantly!

1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground white pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 small to med. onion
1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
Real butter (approx 1 1/2 tbsp.)

Pour the cream into a bowl with the oatmeal before you start making
meatballs
so the oatmeal softens while you are chopping the onion. Add salt &
pepper to
the oatmeal mixture too.

Slice off about a third of the onion to go in meatballs themselves. Chop
really fine. Take the other part of onion and slice it into slices and
put
into the pot you are going to simmer your meatballs in. Cover the onions
with
water just until covered a couple of inches and turn on to simmer while
frying
meatballs.

Put hamburger in mixing bowl and add onion and oatmeal mixture and mix
well
with fork until it looks thoroughly mixed together.

Take about 1 tbsp. of butter and put in frying pan and turn to about med.
high.
Let the pan get hot and the butter a little browned. You want to brown
the meatballs at a pretty high temp but since they burn faster at the
higher temp you have to watch them carefully and may have to turn the heat
down a bit. The browner you get the meatballs the better they taste!
Mine almost look burnt when I finish frying them but when you simmer them
for half an hour in the water you can't tell they have been burnt at all.
Fry them in 2 batches and the second batch you will probably have enough
grease left that you won't need more butter. Put on paper towels to drain
after browning for about 8 minutes. Turn them at least a couple of times
or as much as you want them brown. Take the drained meatballs and put in
your pot with the onions. Pour any leftover grease out of your frying pan
and discard grease. Add some water to the frying pan and scrape up any
pan drippings. Pour this over meatballs. If you don't have enough water
to just cover them, add some from faucet. Try to use as small a pot as the
meatballs will fit in as they have more flavor with less broth. Add
enough salt to the simmering water to taste salty enough.
Simmer for 30 minutes and serve over salted boiled potatoes.

The trick to making really good meatballs is to get the salt just right
between the meatballs and potatoes. Also to get the meatballs as brown as
you can.


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