Meatballs gehaktbal

“Woensdag, gehaktdag!” (“Wednesday, minced meat day!”That is how it used to be up until the 1960s: on Wednesdays, virtually every Dutch housewife would serve minced meat for dinner. Even today, more traditional families and elderly people eat minced meat on Wednesday. Now why would a whole country eat the same food on the same day?

That has to do with the fact that butchers used to slaughter the animals themselves. They usually did so on Monday. On Tuesday, they would process the meat into high quality steaks, chops and the like. Finally, on Wednesday, the butcher would take the leftovers and turn them into minced meat that he would sell at a special low price.

The slogan “Woensdag, gehaktdag!” was introduced by the butcher association to promote their products and industry. The slogan took on and is still known today. Along the way, it even got new meanings. Today it is also used to refer to the third Wednesday in May. On this day, the Dutch Minister of Finance presents and defends the State expenses over the last year in parliament. If the defense is flawed or the State has spent her money unwisely, the Parliament will “make minced meat” of the minister (figuratively spoken of course).

In 2007, a very controversial book was published in the Netherlands with the title “Woensdag, Gehaktdag”. It was written by the convicted killer Richard Klinkhamer and in it, he describes how he fantasized about killing his wife and how he ultimately lived his fantasy in 1991.

Personally I prefer the original meaning: simply eating some nice meat balls on Wednesday (or any other day for that matter).

Information of the origin of the Dutch Gehaktbal found on Dutch Ancestory Magazine

Ingredients

• 2 slices of bread
• ½ lb ground beef (preferably 90%)
• ½ lb ground pork
• 1 egg
• ½ cup of bread crumbs, ¼ cup for
• rolling the meatballs
• 1 small onion, minced
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp curry powder
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ½ tsp pepper
• optional parsley1
• 1 tbsp cornstarch diluted w 1 tbsp water

Instructions

1. Break up the bread, add enough milk to saturate the bread. Squeeze the milk out of the bread, put 1 egg, ½ cup of bread crumbs, minced onion and seasonings to the ground beef/pork . If you have some fresh parsley available, add it to the ground meat.
2. Mix all together and make the meatballs. Roll the meatballs in the breadcrumbs. The Dutch meatballs are large, about the size of a tennis ball.
3. Heat the Dutch Oven on med-high, wait till the Dutch oven is hot. Then add one stick of butter. Wait till the butter turns slightly brown. Add the meatballs and brown on all sides. Add enough water till the meatballs are half way submerged. Put the lid on the pot and simmer for 30 min.
4. Take out the meatballs. Now you make the gravy. Mix 1 tbsp water to 1 tbsp cornstarch, add diluted cornstarch to the gravy to make the gravy thick.

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Meatballs (gehaktballetje)

The slogan "Woensdag, gehaktdag!" was introduced by the butcher association to promote their products and industry. The slogan took on and is still known today. Along the way, it even got new meanings. Today it is also used to refer to the third Wednesday in May. On this day, the Dutch Minister of Finance presents and defends the State expenses over the last year in parliament. If the defense is flawed or the State has spent her money unwisely, the Parliament will “make minced meat” of the minister (figuratively spoken of course).

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Course Dinner

Cuisine Dutch

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Ingredients

• ▢ 2 slices of bread
• ▢ 1/2 lb ground beef preferably 90%
• ▢ 1/2 lb ground pork
• ▢ 1 egg
• ▢ ½ cup of bread crumbs 1/4 cup for
• ▢ rolling the meatballs
• ▢ 1 small onion minced
• ▢ ½ tsp salt
• ▢ ½ tsp curry powder
• ▢ ½ tsp nutmeg
• ▢ ½ tsp pepper
• ▢ optional parsley1
• ▢ 1 tbsp cornstarch diluted w 1 tbsp water

Instructions

• Break up the bread, add enough milk to saturate the bread. Squeeze the milk out of the bread, put 1 egg, ½ cup of bread crumbs, minced onion and seasonings to the ground beef/pork . If you have some fresh parsley available, add it to the ground meat.
• Mix all together and make the meatballs. Roll the meatballs in the breadcrumbs. The Dutch meatballs are large, about the size of a tennis ball.
• Heat the Dutch Oven on med-high, wait till the Dutch oven is hot. Then add one stick of butter. Wait till the butter turns slightly brown. Add the meatballs and brown on all sides. Add enough water till the meatballs are half way submerged. Put the lid on the pot and simmer for 30 min.
• Take out the meatballs. Now you make the gravy. Mix 1 tbsp water to 1 tbsp cornstarch, add diluted cornstarch to the gravy to make the gravy thick.

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