Koenigsberger Klopse

Ingredients

• 500g minced veal (or half veal, half pork)
• 1 stale white bread roll
• 100ml milk, for soaking
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 20g butter, for the onion
• 1 egg
• 4 anchovy fillets, mashed to a paste
• 1 tsp salt
• 0.5 tsp white pepper
• Grated zest of half a lemon
• For the stock: 1.2 litres water
• 1 onion studded with 3 cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 peppercorns
• 1 tsp salt
• For the sauce: 40g butter
• 40g plain flour
• 3 tbsp capers, plus 2 tbsp of their brine
• 100ml double cream
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• Boiled potatoes and pickled beetroot, to serve

Before you cook

• Tear the bread roll into pieces, pour the milk over it and leave it to soak for 10 minutes.
• Cook the chopped onion in the 20g of butter over low heat for 8 minutes until soft, then cool it completely.
• Squeeze the soaked bread out firmly and discard the milk.
• Mash the anchovy fillets to a paste with the flat of a knife.
• Mix the mince, squeezed bread, cooled onion, egg, anchovy paste, salt, white pepper and lemon zest, then work it together for 2 minutes until smooth and sticky.

Steps

1. Put the water, clove-studded onion, bay leaves, peppercorns and salt in a wide pan and bring it to a simmer.
2. Wet your hands and roll the mince into 16 balls about the size of a walnut.
3. Lower the balls into the barely simmering stock in a single layer.
4. Poach them for 15 minutes at a bare tremble, never a boil, until they float and feel firm.
5. Lift the klopse out with a slotted spoon into a bowl and cover them.
6. Strain the stock through a sieve into a jug and measure out 600ml.
7. Melt the 40g of butter in a clean pan and stir in the flour.
8. Cook the roux for 2 minutes without letting it colour, stirring the whole time.
9. Whisk in the hot stock a ladle at a time until the sauce is smooth.
10. Simmer the sauce for 8 minutes, whisking now and then, until it thickens and loses any floury taste.
11. Add the capers and their brine and cook for 2 minutes more.
12. Whisk the cream and egg yolk together in a small bowl.
13. Take the sauce off the heat and whisk a ladle of it into the cream mixture to temper it.
14. Pour the tempered mixture back into the pan and stir it in, keeping the pan off the heat so the yolk does not scramble.
15. Sharpen the sauce with the lemon juice and taste for salt.
16. Slip the klopse back into the sauce and warm them through over low heat for 3 minutes.
17. Serve with boiled potatoes and pickled beetroot.