Grandma Peg's Swedish Meatballs

Several years ago, Seamus, his brother Brian, and I all spent an afternoon with their Grandma Peg to learn how to make her famous meatballs. We watched carefully as she completed each step, and took detailed notes so that we could re-create this delicious dish.

These meatballs continue to be one of our favorite go-to dishes that we make often for friends and family when they are visiting. In fact, Seamus and I even wont a cooking competition among our friends with a variation on this dish (we made a Hawaiian loco-moco style twist).

Every time I make this dish, I feel like something must be wrong with the recipe. You really do but an entire can of sweetened condensed milk right into the meatballs, and you really do use molasses in the gravy. It always tastes a little bit weird on its own, but the final results are incredible. Trust the process and you will end up with sweet and savory meatballs that everyone will love.


Grandma Peg's Swedish Meatballs
Courtesy of Grandma Peg

Meatball Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds beef or pork (not sausage)

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

1 egg beaten slightly

2 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 small can condensed milk

1 small onion cut up and sauteed in butter

Directions

Mix together and form into balls; brown slowly; remove from pan.

Sauce 

2 cups water and 4 Tbspns flour in a jar and and shake! Then add 2 Tbspns molasses and stir. Add the liquid to the meat pan. Heat and add meatballs.  Simmer for about 30 minutes.