Swedish meatballs have been available throughout the world for several decades now, but making these small flavorful meatballs (that are served with lingonberry preserve) has been a tradition for centuries in Sweden. Arguments over who make the best meatballs are always heated and chefs take great pride in their specific recipes. However, most agree about the basics of what makes a good Swedish meatball - the right blend and grind of meats, the right selection of spices (which include allspice and nutmeg), and the right size meatball--not too big and not too small. Believe it or not, the size does affect the flavor.

THE "RIGHT" RECIPE?
But what is the "right" size and the "right" spice selection? Many Swedish Meatball chefs think their own recipes are the "right" ones; and they are very secretive about how to make them.They never share the details to anyone except maybe close family.

HOME COOKING VS. RESTAURANT KITCHEN
Smorgas Chef Restaurants started with over 20 different recipes, some of which were secret family recipes. And Chef Morten Sohlberg mounted large charts in the kitchen to manage the dozens of varieties of these recipes. One of the challenges was to maintain consistency as production grows. It is relatively easy to cook fantastic meatballs at home for a few people, however, to make equally tasty meatballs over and over again for hundreds and thousands of people is very tricky.

TESTING THE RECIPE ON CUSTOMERS
Chef Sohlberg and his kitchen team experimented over several months to create the best possible meatballs and the best possible methods to consistently produce them every day. The restaurants staff, their family and even many customers were invited in to test meatballs as they evolved.

The hard work paid off- the Swedish Meatball dish is Smorgas Chef's most popular dish--by far--and New York Post recently wrote on Page Six that Smorgas Chef is the "Swedish Meatball Mecca of New York". However, once people started to "discover" these meatballs, and as Smorgas Chef opened up two more restaurants, other methodology had to be developed to maintain the exact same quality and consistency.

80,000 LITTLE ONES
Smorgas Chef now makes over 80.000 delicious meatballs a month for its 3 restaurants and has a full-time chef whose only responsibility is making these meatballs. Although Chef Sohlberg did share a simplified version of meatball recipe with a small group of students while teaching a class at ICE (Institute of Culinary Education), no one except Mr. Sohlberg and his carefully appointed "Meatball Chef" know the recipe.