Swedish Meatballs
culture  

Swedish Meatballs

By Noelle

Meal planning, among many other things, is difficult when you’re indecisive. It’s even more so when you have a big book of four-hundred recipes out of America’s Test Kitchen.

Thanks to my sister for this neat cookbook! And excuse the messy desk… After flipping through the book from front to back and then again from back to front, my friends and I still hadn’t picked a dinner recipe. However, inspiration can come from strange sources, such a furniture store’s cafeteria food. While passing a recipe for Swedish meatballs, my friend recalled really liking the ones from Ikea. I’d never had any before, and none of us had made them, but we just went for it, our typical cooking philosophy. We went grocery shopping—an outing I seriously miss doing at home—at the Trader Joe’s down the street.

I think this was my first time actually touching ground beef. I rarely cook with meat because it takes extra effort to obtain and handle it, and also because I’m somewhat squeamish about raw meat. But we were so wrapped up in preparing the meal that I guess I forgot to be grossed out. We molded and fried the meatballs, and to go with them, we prepared Swedish pickled cucumbers and egg noodles. Finally, instead of lingonberry jam, the traditional accompaniment to Swedish meatballs, we used blackberry preserves.

Serving the food. So what makes the meatballs Swedish? In comparison to typical Italian meatballs, these were slightly sweetened by brown sugar, and had spices which mostly appear in dessert recipes: nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves. Add onto this the fact that they’re eaten with jam and pickles, and it sounds really strange. However, the confluence of flavors was surprisingly scrumptious.

Yum!PC (plating creds) to Jennifer. We only cook once or twice a week, since our meal plans cover every meal but weekend dinners. Next year, however, we’ll be off-campus and off board, so we’ll be cooking almost every meal. Right now, I’m super excited, but I’m sure it’ll feel like a chore at times, especially on weeknights when we’re already struggling to finish sets due the next day… If anything, it’ll be a break from homework.

Recommended Articles

My Friday Nights
culture

My Friday Nights

It was the Friday night of midterms during my first year at Caltech, and I was alone in the library. That weekend (week five of term, if you’re keeping count) also happens to coincide with Halloween. But as a bright-eyed frosh trudging my way through Ma 1a lecture notes, I was just baffled that no one else was studying alongside me. Spoiler alert: not all Caltech students spend Friday night—or every night—studying or grinding sets, even during midterms. And especially on Halloween weekend.

By
caltech q and a
culture

caltech q and a

In order to get a good sense of the Caltech community, there is no better way than to talk to the students themselves. To give a little bit of an inside perspective of Caltech, I asked some students a variety of questions. Questions ranged from conspiracy theories to Caltech-specific takes and other random topics.

By
What's on my desk?
culture

What's on my desk?

I’d like to think that I keep a tidy desk, but hey— entropy prevails for everyone. Here’s a breakdown of all the items you could find on my desk, circa February 2023.

By
Searching for snow
culture

Searching for snow

My grandma always says that it rains whenever Dragonssuperior zodiac sign travel, and sure enough, it was raining when I landed at LAX for my last calendar year at Caltech. It’s officially my graduation year—but between leaving campus just before spring term in my freshman year and returning, twenty-one years old, as a junior, it really does feel like my time here has flown by.

By