Fiskeboller And Hvit Saus
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Loading... - elijah sophia
- 16 Aug 2022
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Husmannskost—“husband’s fare”1—is a Norwegian term used to describe simple, hearty, traditional foods. Fish balls—ground white fish covered in a thick white sauce—entered that pantheon later than lutefisk and lefse, but they are very much considered a Norwegian staple. From all I can find, the modern variant has been around since the fifties.
Fishballs were a weekly affair during my childhood and one I thoroughly despised. I can only assume this was a common feeling amongst kids: Fish shaped as balls covered in a thick white sauce doesn’t exactly scream “kid-friendly.” To add insult to injury, it was also the only dish we made during elementary school home economics. There was no escaping the fish balls—the dish’s cultural relevance cannot be understated.
Fish balls from a tin were ubiquitous in the eighties. Fish, potatoes, white sauce: Dump the can in a pot with a plop and let it simmer for ten minutes, et voilà: an instant dinner. That’s modern eighties convenience for you.
As an adult, I have long held a suspicion that I probably would stomach fish balls made from scratch. The concept isn’t entirely unappetizing, and eating them as a kid wasn’t exactly traumatizing.
Repurposing a recipe from Meny, it quickly became apparent that while not as horrid as I recalled, fish balls still give me a pavlovian response. Why don’t I like them? I can’t say. It is entirely unreasonable, but I kept chewing and chewing each bite like I was eight years old again.
I wouldn’t be surprised if adults trying fish balls for the first time would handle them just fine. Again, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with fish in white sauce. Plus, the recipe is easy to follow.
The Fish Balls·
1 ¼ lbs white fish, no skin or bones (I used halibut)
1 ts salt
1 tbsp flour
1 egg
1 ¼ cups milk
Pepper
Method
Toss the fish and the salt in a food processor. Mix until smooth.
Mix in flour and egg.
Slowly mix in milk. (Add more than 1 ¼ cups if the mixture is dry.)
Heat water until it almost reaches a boil, then reduce to simmer. Read More…
