As Christmas approaches, I have been thinking about Iowa Ham Balls. My grandmother made them quite often as a Sunday dinner; she would make them on Saturday and then they just needed to bake while she made the mashed potatoes and vegetables.
One problem: there is no ground ham here. Ham in America is a sturdy staple protein for every-day use because it’s cheap; ham in Europe is a precious delicacy used as an accent.
One other problem: there are no graham crackers here. One other problem: there is no brown sugar here. One other problem: there is no canned cream of tomato soup here.
LD;TR: I won’t be getting any Iowa Ham Balls until I am physically in Iowa.
But as a Meatball Enthusiast, I have crafted a recipe to capture some of the traditional flavors of the New World with the inauthentic ingredients available the Old….wait, wait, this isn’t a food blog.
Also it was impossible, because the ham and the graham deliver all the flavor.
So here’s my jolly Christmastime replacement, with Spekulatius cookies and a sweet-sour basting sauce.
I went with the cheap grocery store Spekulatius, because the accent bacon cubes and Rauchsalz (smoke salt) were going to overpower any delicate flavors. Other than that, it’s pure ground pork and cookies, baked in the oven for an hour at 350°F (all Iowa foods that are cooked indoors are baked in the oven for an hour at 350°F).
The marinade is a typical sweet-sour sauce…vinegar, sugar, apple juice, with the addition of some ground cloves because they go well with pork.
They were…not terrible. But I’m not unhappy this variant is only possible for two months out of the year. Probably they would be better pan-fried.
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