The Frikandel of your life

Sascha was recently in the Netherlands. A few days short vacation. The Netherlands is not exactly considered the pinnacle of gastronomy. Unfortunately, because in our opinion there is neither good nor bad country cuisine. On the other hand, there are colleagues who cook differently: some well and with selected ingredients, others perhaps carelessly with ingredients from the discounter.

As passionate chefs, we eat almost everything that is put in front of us. To clear up a prejudice here: As a chef in the upscale gastronomy, you don't feed yourself exclusively with hand-massed Wagyu beef and West Swedish lobster. Rather the opposite is true. We cooks often suffer from a lack of time and an abundance of things to get done, which is why we like to grab snacks between the doors that health experts recommend only with reservations. Or, to come back to Sascha's short vacation: Of course, Sascha ate Frikandel Spezial in the Netherlands, the national dish of our neighbors: fried meat rolls, buried under ketchup, mayonnaise and onions. If you bring cravings with you: darn irresistible. Incidentally, Sascha is not afraid to pull a frikandel from a gas station vending machine, where it has probably been kept warm in a drawer with a viewing window for so long that you wouldn't want to know.

The frikandel – it can be made from beef, pork or even horsemeat – is very popular in the Netherlands, Belgium and northern France. In Germany, they are most likely associated with a bratwurst. But that leads in the wrong direction, because a frikandel sausage roll is a pasty mass and not a bratwurst, and certainly not a fresh one made from ground pork. The question that ambitious restaurateurs like us inevitably ask themselves: Can a frikandel also be prepared in such a way that it is not fast food, but quality food? Answer: Of course.

You need: 250 grams of ground beef and 250 grams of ground pork from your trusted butcher. (You know our principle: the better the ingredients, the greater the pleasure.) 60 grams of finely chopped parsley. 80 grams of finely grated white toast bread without crust (technical term: mie de pain). three eggs A heaped teaspoon of mild paprika powder. A clove of finely chopped garlic. Two shallots, finely diced. 90 milliliters of liquid, cold cream. 40 milliliters cold stock (vegetable, beef or poultry). Salt and pepper.

In a blender, combine eggs, shallots, garlic, parsley, paprika, grated bread, heavy cream and broth. You have chilled the blender attachment in the refrigerator for two to three hours beforehand. Mix once on the highest level. Then add the meat and mix well again. Sharpness desired? Then add chili to the mass before blending. Now you have a creamy mass, comparable to meat loaf. If you didn't chill the attachment beforehand, the rotation of the blender - which generates heat - would cause the fat and egg whites to separate, and we don't want that. Season with salt and pepper and refrigerate for an hour to set.

Then place the meat mass on a piece of cling film and roll it up in the film like a long candy. Cut the roll into eight sausages. Next, wrap each one additionally in aluminum foil. Now put a pot of water on, bring the water to the boil and cook the wrapped rolls for eight minutes. Admittedly, that sounds complicated, but we want to have a reasonable Frikandel on the table. When the eight minutes are up, take the rolls out of the pot and place them briefly in ice-cold water. Now remove the foil and fry the rolls in sunflower oil or clarified butter. Golden brown and crispy. Finally, garnish the sausage with mayonnaise, ketchup and red onions, as desired. And there it is in front of you: The Frikandel of your life.

Walter Stemberg and his son Sascha run the star restaurant "Haus Stemberg" in Velbert, whose star was confirmed in the Michelin guide for the ninth year in a row. In 2021, the house was awarded "Restaurant of the Year 2021" by the magazine "Der Feinschmecker". In WELT am Sonntag they write every week about the basics of cooking, from the right kitchen equipment to the question of how to recognize a good butcher or fishmonger. All episodes to read online: www.welt.de/kochschule