LINDSTRÖM with brown sauce

Lindström

2 small onions
A few tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 dl breadcrumbs
1dl cream
2 eggs
400g cooked beetroot
400g ground beef (or other meat)
salt and pepper

The Lindström is one of Juha’s favourites. In the early days, every chef who cooked for the harvest crew made a Lindström at some point of the week. This is quite a traditional recipe and serving.

Chop the onions (quite finely) and cook them on a frying pan with some butter on a medium-heat. When they are beautifully brownish, add sugar and let them caramelise a little. Grate the beetroot and mix it together with the ground beef, cream and breadcrums. Add the onions and finally the eggs. Season with salt and pepper.

Form patties and cook them with a good amount of butter on a frying pan. We recommend making smaller patties rather than bigger ones, they keep their form better if not too big. And you can fry them all in advance and then warm up in the oven the number you need for serving.

The brown sauce or in Finnish: “ruskea kastike”

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons white flour
4 dl of meat or chicken stock
1-2 tablespoons of soy
1 dl of cream
salt & pepper

A true Finn would use the unwashed frying pan where the Lindström’s were cooked for this sauce. Brown the butter on this pan or in a clean small saucepan (that’s okay too). Let it brown well, but not burn. Then add the flour and whisk constantly. Little by little then add the meat stock and stir well to keep the sauce smooth. Let it come to boil and then turn the heat low. Add soy to your taste and the cream. Season with salt and fresh pepper.

We at Carsin think that the Lindström is at its best with mashed potatoes and a glass of good wine. Try our L’Aventure Nocturne with this food, it has rich and earthy flavours coming from one of the best Merlot parcels we have.

There is an interesting discussion that has been going on for years with Juha Berglund and his good friend, chef Markus Aremo. Juha is a fan of the brown sauce and prefers to serve this with the Lindström, whereas Markus prefers a hollandaise sauce with a little dill. It’s been very interesting to follow this “argumentation” and taste the results, both sauces work very well! Once they even served the Lindström with two sauces!

Bon Appétit!