Eat the Match: Sweden vs Tunisia

Köttbullar and Brik.

Group F · Monterrey · June 14, 2026 · Iris

Sweden: Swedish meatballs (köttbullar)

Not the IKEA version. The real version — small, well-seasoned beef and pork meatballs, browned and finished in a cream sauce with lingonberry jam on the side. The meatball is not complicated. The cream sauce is the technique.

Ingredients

• For the meatballs:
• 300g ground beef
• 200g ground pork
• ½ small white onion, very finely grated
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs soaked in 3 tbsp milk
• ½ tsp ground allspice
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• salt and white pepper
• 2 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp oil for frying
• For the sauce:
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 400ml beef stock
• 200ml double cream
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• salt and white pepper
• To serve:
• lingonberry jam (or cranberry sauce)
• boiled or mashed potato
• pickled cucumber (optional)

Method

1. Combine meatball ingredients (except butter/oil) and mix gently but thoroughly — do not overwork or the meatballs will be dense. Form into balls of about 25g each. Fry in butter and oil over medium heat, turning regularly, until brown all over and cooked through — about 10 minutes. Set aside.
2. For the sauce: melt butter, add flour, cook 1 minute. Add stock gradually, whisking. Add cream and soy sauce. Simmer until slightly thickened. Season. Return meatballs to the sauce and warm through. Serve with potato and lingonberry jam.

Tunisia: Brik with egg

Brik is Tunisia's most iconic street food — a sheet of thin malsouka (warqa) pastry folded around an egg, tuna, harissa, and parsley, then fried in oil until the pastry is shatteringly crisp and the egg is just barely set inside. The skill is in the fold and the speed — the egg must go in raw, the brik must be folded and into the oil within seconds, and the fry time is exactly what it takes to set the white while leaving the yolk runny. This is a dish with a learning curve and a very good payoff.

Ingredients

• 4 sheets brick/brik pastry (or large spring roll wrappers as substitute)
• 4 eggs (fresh and small — they set faster)
• 100g good canned tuna, drained and flaked
• 2 tbsp capers, rinsed
• 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp harissa
• salt
• 1 litre neutral oil for frying
• lemon wedges to serve

Method

1. Heat oil to 175°C. Lay one pastry sheet flat. Place a small mound of tuna, capers, parsley, and harissa slightly off-center. Make a small well in the mound. Crack an egg carefully into the well — work fast. Fold the pastry over into a half-moon shape, pressing edges firmly to seal. Lower immediately into the oil. Fry 2 to 3 minutes, turning once, until deeply golden. The white should be set; the yolk still soft. Drain on a rack. Serve immediately with lemon. Repeat for remaining briks — do them one at a time.