When the sizzle of the fryer stops, you hear the onion being chopped
Order a frikandel speciaal at a Dutch snack bar and the fried, elongated meat comes with a lengthwise slit, and white sauce, curry ketchup and chopped onion settle into the groove. The surface of the hot meat is toasty, the onion cold and sharp. Bite it alongside french fries and that temperature contrast tightens the flavor.
Frikandel is a snack made by grinding beef, pork, chicken and other meat finely, shaping it into a rod without a sausage casing, cooking it through first and then frying it. It may look like a sausage, but it isn't a dish of coarsely ground meat stuffed into a casing. The goals at home are a finely bound cross-section and a thin toasty layer only on the surface.
The challenge is less about adding spices than about not letting the meat mixture warm up. Fry ground meat shaped into a rod as is, and the surface splits or only the center lags. Process cold meat finely, set the shape with heat-safe plastic wrap, poach gently in barely moving water, bring the center above 75°C (167°F), and only then lower it into 170 to 175°C (340 to 350°F) oil. The final frying isn't where the meat gets cooked; it is where you add color and aroma.
The Dutch language institute Onze Taal explains that the long fried snack is spelled frikandel with an n, while the older word for a meatball or meat patty is frikadel without one. In parts of Belgium the long fried meat is called curryworst, so knowing both spellings keeps you from getting lost when searching for the product.
Why frikandel stayed on the street-corner table
Accounts of its origins differ a little between sources. KRO-NCRV says that in 1954 Gerrit de Vries of Dordrecht shaped meatballs into a rod, and in 1958 Jan Bekkers refined the rough rod into a smooth form. Onze Taal, on the other hand, explains the name as arising in the late 1950s. The exact years don't match, but they agree that an effort to sell standard-sized meatballs led to today's long form.
The reasons it settled in as a street-corner snack also fit the character of the dish. The Dutch takeaway, which presents Dutch intangible cultural heritage, records that the habit of taking fried food home from the neighborhood snack bar has lasted at least 70 years, and that takeaway makes up 70 to 80 percent of sales at some shops. It isn't a dish for lingering in a restaurant; it is something you collect in a paper bag on the way home from work and share with fries at the table.
The speciaal spread in the mid-1970s. A source from the Nederlands Frituurcentrum explains that the combination of fritessaus or mayonnaise, chopped onion and ketchup became standard, and curry ketchup later became the norm. The lengthwise groove isn't decoration; it is a small dish for scooping up sauce and onion together with a piece of meat.
In Amsterdam, the automatiek, where you take a hot snack from a small window in a vending wall, is also part of snack culture. I amsterdam likewise describes frikandel speciaal as cut lengthwise and filled with mayonnaise, curry sauce or ketchup, and chopped onion. When recreating it at home, rather than putting a lot of curry powder in the meat, keep the meat to coriander and warm-scented spices and put the curry flavor in the sauce; that makes the differences in how it's eaten easier to see.
In parts of Belgium it is called curryworst, and frikadel can mean a meatball. In your own kitchen there is no need to match the naming across the border. If you keep the finely worked skinless meat, the cooking method of poaching and then a short fry, and the groove of sauce and raw onion, the key points of flavor and cooking are preserved. It differs from Romania's mititei (in Japanese), made of coarsely ground meat grilled over charcoal, in texture and cooking, even though the names sound similar.
Ingredients and shopping: adjust the meat blend for home
This quantity makes eight frikandel, each 17 to 18 cm long and about 90 g. Two per person makes a main dish for 4. Served lightly with fries, one each would feed 8. They are slightly larger than the roughly 75 g in the home recipe shown by VPRO, but the size is easy to divide as a main course at home.
Contains egg, wheat, beef, pork, chicken, mustard and soy. Check the ingredients of the sauces as well. Check the wrap's labeling for heated use and its heat-resistance temperature. Do not use a product that prohibits heating with fatty foods or that isn't intended for poaching in a pot; switch to something suited to the purpose, such as a heat-safe bag or cooking film.
What to buy where
Meat, eggs, onions and breadcrumbs are easy to find at a neighborhood store. What's worth hunting for elsewhere, such as at a spice shop or online, are the spices that define the meat's aroma. A probe thermometer makes checking easier, but if you would be buying it only for this recipe, get the meat and spices first.
Ground coriander isn't a seasoning to make the meat taste of curry. Its role is to leave a small, dry, citrus-like scent and pull together the sweetness of the pork and chicken. It is worth buying if you plan to use it not just for these eight but also in hamburger patties, tsukune and bean dishes. If you already have a fragrant coriander at home, just measure 1 1/2 tsp and use it.
Allspice adds a scent reminiscent of nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves in a single jar. This recipe uses only 1 g, so buying it just for frikandel makes sense for people who also use it in meatballs, meatloaf and stews. The reason not to buy is if you will make this dish only once and already have nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. Mixing small amounts of those three can stand in, though the roundness of the aroma changes a little.
After poaching, the surface looks whitish, and you can't tell from appearance whether the center is cooked. Because it contains chicken and ground meat, the first time insert a thermometer into the center of one and confirm 75°C or higher.
Method: chill the meat, process it finely, and poach first
If you process the mixture at room temperature, the fat loosens and holes appear in the poached cross-section. If you chill the food processor's blade, the bowl and the meat first, and don't let the meat warm too much until step 4, it is less likely to split even without a casing.
The Dutch Voedingscentrum advises keeping oil at a maximum of 175°C and not adding too much at once. Don't fill the pot more than half with oil, blot moisture off the meat and fry 2 at a time. Because it contains ground chicken, confirm 75°C or higher at the center. This is above the 74°C that FoodSafety.gov gives as the safe minimum internal temperature for poultry, and an easy standard to read at home. Never pour water on a fire. Turn off the heat, cover with a lid if possible, don't try to move it, and use a fire extinguisher or similar.
What to do when it isn't smooth, splits or is greasy
With frikandel, failures show in the cross-section more than in the meat blend. A coarse, crumbly cross-section means the meat wasn't processed long enough or cold enough. A series of small cavities means you trapped air when shaping. If you build the shape and doneness in the poach before frying, the final oil becomes a short step that adds flavor and color.
| What happened | Main cause | What to fix next |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-section is coarse like a hamburger patty | Not finely processed, meat is warm | Chill the meat and blade 10 minutes and process 10 seconds at a time |
| Long cracks on the surface | Air trapped in shaping, boiling poach | Wrap tightly and lower the water to 85 to 90°C |
| Shrinks thin after poaching | Too lean, too little moisture | Use chicken thigh rather than breast and divide the 45 ml ice water into 3 additions |
| Greasy after frying | Oil too cool, too many at once | Bring back to 170°C and fry 2 at a time |
| Dark outside, lukewarm inside | Under-poached, oil too hot | Confirm 75°C at the center when poaching and keep oil at 175°C or less |
| Spices smell sweet like pastry | Too much allspice or nutmeg | Cap at 1 g allspice and 0.5 g nutmeg |
If the mixture is too loose to shape into a rod, don't suddenly add breadcrumbs. First rest it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Only if it still spreads, add 5 g breadcrumbs and mix for 30 seconds before shaping. More crumbs steady the shape but make it prone to dryness in the mouth after frying.
Storage and serving: stopping before frying is more convenient
For make-ahead, stop after the poach in step 4. Once cool enough, remove the wrap and blot the surface dry. In a clean container, they keep 2 days refrigerated, or about 1 month if frozen one by one, separated, and then bagged. Home freezers fluctuate in temperature with opening and closing, so this is set shorter than the long storage times seen in local recipes. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Don't leave them at room temperature; fry at 170 to 175°C for 3 minutes until hot in the center.
How you order changes what you get
At a Dutch snack bar, if you ask for just frikandel, you first get the fried rod. With frikandel speciaal, the lengthwise slit holds a white mayonnaise-type sauce, curry ketchup and chopped raw onion as the norm. According to the Snack- en Fastfoodmuseum, this combination spread in the mid-1970s. It isn't a regional dish of centuries; it is a relatively new classic that grew up alongside the town's fried-food shops.
In parts of Belgium the name curryworst is understood. The curry here doesn't mean the meat mixture is yellow and curry-flavored; the name is tied to the finishing sauce. At home too, building the meat's aroma with coriander, nutmeg and allspice and sending the curry powder to the ketchup side comes closer to the local way of telling versions apart than putting a lot of curry powder in the meat. If you don't like the sharpness of raw onion you may want to soak it in water, but start with half the amount and leave a little cold sharpness, so the sweetness of the hot meat and sauce doesn't blur.
Besides the speciaal, there is the frikandelbroodje, sandwiched in bread. To try it at home, cut frozen puff pastry sheets to 10 cm wide, wrap the poached rods, put in only 2 tsp curry ketchup, and bake in a 200°C (400°F) oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Using ones poached to 75°C at the center, rather than wrapping the raw mixture directly, makes the cooking easier to control.
On a day when you want the sides to lean toward the Low Countries, make Belgian carbonnade (in Japanese), beef braised in beer, the main dish, and halve the frikandel for a starter. A small Belgian waffle (in Japanese) after the fried food suits it as well. As a light meal that brings potatoes, meat and sauce onto one plate, it can also be compared with Australia's halal snack pack (in Japanese).
Right after mixing, the curry powder's aroma is sharp. After 10 minutes it absorbs the ketchup's moisture and blends in. It keeps 3 days refrigerated, but don't mix in the onion; chop it just before eating.
FAQ
Can I make it without a food processor?
You can, but the cross-section will be a little coarser. Chop the ground meat with a knife for another 5 minutes, then work the ingredients with a wooden spatula for 3 to 4 minutes while pressing the bottom of a metal bowl into ice water. The fat melts easily from the heat of your hands, so don't knead with bare hands for long. It is ready to shape when the mixture sticks to the spatula in one mass and leaves a thin film on the bottom of the bowl.
Do I have to use all three of beef, pork and chicken?
No. What's easy to find is 300 g ground beef-pork blend and 250 g ground chicken thigh. Pork alone is tender and rich in fat, and chicken alone gives a mild, firm texture. Whichever meat you swap in, don't change keeping it cold and finely ground, and 75°C at the center.
What if I don't want to put plastic wrap in the water?
You can use heat-safe sausage bags or cooking film; check the temperature and use each product is designed for. The other method is to pipe the mixture into thin rods, firm them up in the freezer for 30 minutes, and apply gentle steam in a steamer lined with parchment. The surface gets a little flat, though, and a round rod is harder to keep.
Can I finish it in the oven or air fryer instead of frying?
Brush the poached rods thinly with 1 tsp oil each and cook in a 200°C oven or air fryer for 8 to 10 minutes, turning once halfway. The surface takes color, but the thin crust and aroma you get from submerging in oil are weaker. Make sure the rods were poached to 75°C at the center before finishing.
Can I sprinkle curry powder directly on the "speciaal"?
It would linger in your mouth as powder. Mix it with the ketchup, honey and Worcestershire sauce and let it sit for 10 minutes. Japanese curry powders vary in heat by product, so start with 2 g. Plain ketchup alone is edible, but the sweet spice of curry ketchup brings it closer to a local snack bar.
Main reference links
- VPRO, "Recept: Home made frikandel": https://www.vpro.nl/koken-met-van-boven/artikelen/recept-home-made-frikandel
- Genootschap Onze Taal, "frikadel / frikandel": https://onzetaal.nl/taalloket/frikadel-frikandel
- KRO-NCRV Best Bites, "Waarom heeft Nederland de kroket en de frikandel?": https://kro-ncrv.nl/programmas/best-bites/waarom-heeft-nederland-de-kroket-en-de-frikandel
- Snack- en Fastfoodmuseum, "Friet & Frikandel speciaal": https://www.fastfoodmuseum.nl/friet-en-frikandel-speciaal/
- Kenniscentrum Immaterieel Erfgoed Nederland, "The Dutch takeaway": https://www.immaterieelerfgoed.nl/en/page/2703/the-dutch-takeaway
- I amsterdam, "Love letter to the snack bars of Amsterdam": https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/see-and-do/restaurant-and-bars/snack-bars
- Nederlandse Voedsel- en Warenautoriteit, "HACCP-regels in de keuken": https://www.nvwa.nl/onderwerpen/voedselveiligheid/voedselveilig-werken-in-horeca-ambacht-en-retail/hoe-werk-ik-veilig/schoon-en-veilig
- Voedingscentrum, "Hoe gebruik ik de frituurpan?": https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/nl/gezonde-recepten/kookhulp/frituren-hoe-frituur-ik-.aspx
- FoodSafety.gov, "Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures": https://www.foodsafety.gov/food-safety-charts/safe-minimum-internal-temperatures
- Albert Heijn Allerhande, "Frikandel speciaal": https://www.ah.nl/allerhande/recept/R-R1188295/frikandel-speciaal
- Andrea Janssen, "Homemade Dutch Frikandellen Recipe": https://www.byandreajanssen.com/homemade-dutch-frikandellen-recipe/
