Boulets à la liégeoise

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 400 gminced pork
• 400 gminced beef
• 2onions, very finely chopped
• 100 gstale bread, soaked in milk and squeezed
• 2eggs
• 2 tbspchopped parsley
• 1 tspgrated nutmeg
• salt and plenty of black pepper

Sauce

• 3onions, sliced
• 50 gbutter
• 2 tbspplain flour
• 700 mlbeef stock
• 4 tbspsirop de Liège
• 3 tbspred wine vinegar
• 1 tbspDijon mustard
• 2bay leaves
• 1 sprigthyme
• 1 tbspredcurrant jelly, optional

To serve

• frites
• mayonnaise
• a salad
• a Belgian beer

Directions

1. Use mince with a decent fat content, since lean mince gives dry crumbly boulets. Soak stale bread in milk and squeeze it out before working it in. Squeeze it genuinely dry, since a wet binder makes the mixture slack. Now the onion, which must be squeezed too. Chop it extremely finely, then wring out the juice. Onion water makes the mixture wet and the boulets fall apart in the pan.
2. Mix everything and knead it firmly with your hands for several minutes. Kneading makes the mixture cohesive so the boulets hold together through an hour of braising. Shape the boulets and refrigerate them for at least an hour. Chilling firms the fat so they hold their shape when they hit the hot pan. Brown them all over in butter or oil in a heavy pan.
3. Brown them properly and patiently, turning them so every side colours. That browning is where much of the sauce’s depth comes from, and pale boulets give a pale thin sauce.
4. Lift them out and set them aside. Cook the sliced onions slowly in butter for fifteen to twenty minutes until soft and deep golden. Take real time over the onions, since they dissolve into the sauce and are much of its body. Stir in the flour and cook it for two minutes without letting it burn.
5. Whisk in the stock gradually, working out any lumps as you go. Add the sirop de Liège, vinegar, mustard, bay and thyme. Taste it: it should be clearly sweet and clearly sour at once, with neither dominating.
6. Adjust with more syrup for sweetness or more vinegar for sharpness. It should make you notice both, which is what aigre-doux means. Return the boulets to the sauce and simmer gently, partly covered, for forty-five minutes to an hour. Keep it at a bare simmer, since a hard boil breaks the meatballs apart.
7. Turn them once or twice so they colour evenly in the sauce. It should be thick, dark and glossy, coating the boulets rather than pooling thinly. Reduce it further if it is thin, or add stock if it has gone too far. Serve them with frites and mayonnaise, which is the only correct accompaniment in Liège.

Technique

• Sirop de Liège is boiled-down apple and pear juice with no added sugar.
• Boulet means cannonball, and they are made genuinely large.
• The sauce must be clearly both sweet and sour at once.

Substitutions

• Apple butter with a little molasses if sirop de Liège is unavailable.
• Beef alone, though the mixture is better.

Variations

• Made with a splash of beer in the sauce.
• With raisins added to the sauce.
• Served with mashed potato rather than frites.

History

Meatballs in a sauce sweetened with sirop de Liège, the thick apple and pear syrup boiled in the Pays de Herve.

Frequently asked questions

What is Boulets à la liégeoise?

Boulets à la liégeoise is a main from Belgium: pork-beef meatballs in sweet-sour Liège syrup sauce. Meatballs in a sauce sweetened with sirop de Liège, the thick apple and pear syrup boiled in the Pays de Herve.

How long does Boulets à la liégeoise take to make?

Boulets à la liégeoise takes 30 min plus 1 hr chilling of preparation and 1 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Boulets à la liégeoise?

Yes, within limits. Apple butter with a little molasses if sirop de Liège is unavailable. Beef alone, though the mixture is better.

What is the most important thing to get right in Boulets à la liégeoise?

Use mince with a decent fat content, since lean mince gives dry crumbly boulets. Soak stale bread in milk and squeeze it out before working it in. Squeeze it genuinely dry, since a wet binder makes the mixture slack. Now the onion, which must be squeezed too. Chop it extremely finely, then wring out the juice. Onion water makes the mixture wet and the boulets fall apart in the pan.