MovieChat Forums > I Remember Mama (1948) Discussion > Mama's meatball recipe

Mama's meatball recipe

posted 17 years ago by jasonhurd
9 replies | jump to latest

Toward the end of the film, Mama gives Mrs. Moorehead her recipe for meatballs with cream sauce, of which we only hear three details: the meat is ground six times, the meatballs are cooked in boiling stock, and the sauce is one-half sour cream which is added at the end. I am a pretty decent cook, and would like to try to replicate this recipe, but I'm wondering about other details, like type of meat(veal, pork, lamb, etc.) and seasonings. Does this sound like a recipe any one else has heard of?

[–] joes119 17 years ago

I love this kind of stuff; I hunted down Irene Dunne's own Kentucky Nut Cake recipe once...was it ever good! Just now I Googled "Norwegian meatball recipe" and got several workable results. I'd suggest using those three secrets from the movie with any good recipe you choose. Here's a TinyUrl to one:

http://tinyurl.com/yhtylf

[–] jasonhurd 17 years ago

Thanks for the tip, joes119. I found several recipes that look tweakable. Looking forward to some delicious experiences!

[–] jasonhurd 17 years ago

Just a note to say that I combined my Swedish meatball recipe with a couple of the tips from the film(boiling in stock; replacing half of the cream with sour cream)and brought the hybrid version to an office potluck recently. Many people raved about the dish, and more than one said it was the best thing at the potluck. I guess Mama was right!

[–] The_Moose_From_Kansas 16 years ago

So glad to find this thread! What do you use to grind your meat? An electric grinder? hand-powered? Blender??

[–] jasonhurd 16 years ago

Do you know, I bought it pre-ground as I don't have a meat grinder, so it's not exactly the same as the movie recipe. However, since the food police are so influential these days, it is getting harder and harder to find really well-marbled meat like they had a hundred years ago, and the more you grind meat the more it dries out, so I feel OK about buying the pre-ground. It's probably closer to Mama's meat than I would get if I ground modern-day meat six times.

[–] original_sinner1978 15 years ago

with all this talk i now i want some swedish meatballs.. yummy.. do you just ask for the meat to be pre ground? in what way?what kind of meat is it? thanks

Whats your damage heather?-veronica sawyer

[–] MissMargoChanning 15 years ago

By pre-ground, I am assuming that she/he meant good old hamburger. I imagine that you could try it with ground turkey as well. Any grocery store has that too nowdays, although ground turkey is drier than beef.

Fasten your seatbelts.... It's going to be a bumpy night!

[–] snsurone 9 years ago

It seems sort of like Beef Stroganoff, only with ground meat.
In any case, it sounds delicious!

[–] poetcomic1 8 years ago

The REAL secret to authentic Swedish/Norwegian meatballs - a good 1/4 tsp of fresh ground nutmeg in the meat.