Growing up, we would eat meatballs quite frequently. It was commonly served with vegetables and potatoes. I was a huge fan of these meatballs in jus. I remember as a kid that mixing the jus with the vegetables would make even some of the vegetables I didn’t care for enjoyable!
However, nowadays, we eat these meatballs with a nice piece of crusty bread. I always make sure to save a piece of bread to sop up any leftover jus on the plate!
Gehaktballen: Dutch Meatballs in Jus
These are large meatballs with onions in a flavorful, warm jus. You can eat these with a piece of crusty bread, or with the traditional Dutch dish "Hutspot."
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
Make the meatballs
- Dice the onion finely. Do not make the dice too large, otherwise, it'll make the meatballs fall apart.
- Rub 4 beschuiten together, to turn it into a fine powder. You'll need 6 tablespoons of crumbs. If you do not have beschuit, you can use 6 tablespoons of unseasoned breadcrumbs instead.
- Add the onion, the breadcrumbs, and the ground beef to a large bowl.
- Grate fresh nutmeg into the bowl with the meat.
- Add 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise to the bowl with the meat.
- Add 2 tablespoons of mustard to the meat.
- Add salt & pepper to taste.
- Mix all the ingredients together, until it's fully combined.
- Using a large ice cream scooper, shape meatballs. Each ball should be approximately 150-175grams (5.25 - 6oz). For me, this recipe created 12 meatballs.
Create liquid for jus
- In a bowl or measuring cup, add 1 cup of hot water
- Add 2 tbsp of Ketjap Manis
- Add 1tbsp of Sambal Oelek
- Add 2tbsp of Tomato Paste
- Mix it well, until fully combined.
Cook the meatballs
- In a large Dutch Oven, heat up 2tbsp of butter. I like to cook it long enough so it just starts to brown.
- Add meatballs to the pan, but do not overcrowd the pan. In my large Dutch oven, I can easily put 6 meatballs, but not much more.
- Brown the meatballs on all sides. When they're browned, take them out, and repeat for the rest of the meatballs. You may have to add more butter to the pan.
- Add all the balls back in the pan, and add the jus mixture.
- Lower the heat, and cover the pot with a lid. Let it simmer for at least 30 minutes.
I don’t see 4 beschuiten in the ingredient list. I looked this up and Wikipedia says it’s biscuits or rusks.
The ingredients has 6tbsp of ground up beschuit in it… you can also just plain, unseasoned, breadcrumbs.
I used crackers
I have been trying for years to make gehaktballen as good as my mother’s. So I tried yours and a number of others but they just aren’t the same. The closest I’ve come is by adding a bit of fried trassi.
Your meatballs are very good and are my go to when I’m not in the mood to continue my search for perfection.