Finnish Meatballs with Allspice, Sour Cream and Lingonberries

I've made these several times and they are usually very nice, especially served with cranberry sauce and some plain boiled potatoes. You need to let the bread soak in the milk for a while and only make small meatballs to ensure they don't fall apart. I cook them on a low heat for the first 5-10 minutes with a lid on the pan to 'set' the meatballs. Then, to brown them, shake the pan gently to roll meatballs around and cook on all sides, rather than grab them with tongs. For the sauce I prefer to use a low-fat sour cream as the full-fat version is rather rich. Sometimes the sauce will separate a little but it reconstitutes very well on re-heating.

The first time I made these, the meatballs completely fell apart. I think the recipe uses too much milk (though I never let the bread soak for very long, so perhaps that might be the mistake), and the frying temperature given is definitely too high: you need to fry them on a low temperature, otherwise they’ll end up burned outside and raw inside (if they haven’t fallen apart before because you’ve been stirring too much).

Edited 14 October 2017: We've had very good success with a trick I've learned in another recipe: allow the meatballs to chill in the fridge for 30 min or more before frying them. Unfortunately, this time our sauce became way too liquid, and we hadn't even used the whole amount of water. Cranberry sauce is a must, really enhances this dish. We served it with these roasted carrots and parsnips.