German Frikadellen with Cucumber Salad: Cold-Pack Meatball Lunches

Tear the bread into a bowl, pour the milk over it, and let it soak 10 minutes until completely soft. Squeeze out the excess milk with your hands and discard the liquid.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 stale bread roll or 2 slices white bread
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 lb ground beef and pork mixture
• 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 3 tbsp neutral oil, for frying
• 1 large English cucumber, thinly sliced
• 3 tbsp sour cream
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill

Instructions

1. Tear the bread into a bowl, pour the milk over it, and let it soak 10 minutes until completely soft. Squeeze out the excess milk with your hands and discard the liquid.
2. Combine the soaked bread with the ground meat, onion, egg, mustard, paprika, salt and pepper. Mix with your hands just until even; overworking makes the patties dense.
3. Shape into 8 oval patties about 3/4 inch thick, pressing a shallow dimple into the center of each so they cook flat instead of doming.
4. Heat the oil in a wide skillet over medium heat. Fry the patties 5 to 6 minutes per side, until deeply browned and cooked through to 160F.
5. Transfer to a rack and cool completely at room temperature, about 30 minutes. Cooling on a rack keeps the crust from steaming soft underneath.
6. Meanwhile, toss the cucumber slices with a pinch of salt and let them drain 15 minutes. Squeeze gently, then fold with the sour cream, vinegar and dill.
7. Pack two cooled Frikadellen per container alongside the cucumber salad and a slice of rye bread. Everything keeps 4 days refrigerated and is meant to be eaten cold.
8. Frikadellen are Germany's most democratic food, appearing at bakery counters, gas stations, funerals and school Pausenbrot boxes with equal frequency, and every region insists on a different name for them, from Buletten in Berlin to Fleischpflanzerl in Bavaria. The soaked bread is not a filler but a technique, keeping the interior tender and juicy even after a night in the refrigerator, which is exactly why these travel so well. Paired with a sharp, dill-flecked cucumber salad, they make a lunch that tastes deliberate rather than leftover.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 468 kcal
• Protein: 27g
• Fat: 33g
• Carbohydrates: 14g
• Fiber: 2g
• Sugar: 4g
• Sodium: 690mg