Palt is part of my ultimate dumpling guide, which has been a huge endeavor. There are some recipes I wasn’t able to make by myself, so my buddy Brenton stepped in! You might know him from the YouTube channel.
I haven’t made this yet, but Brenton has just as much culinary prowess as me, is a perfectionist, and takes better pics than me. Y’all are in good hands. Take it away bud!
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Palt History
Thanks Den! Palt comes from the universal human ideal of neat parcels of chewy dough delivering all that we desire in a single bite. Several if you’re making palt. These monsters are tennis ball sized by tradition.
Palt is a dish of deep winter, of staring at the last frozen bit of reindeer shank in your left hand and then your last two potatoes in your right. You would make a dough of the potatoes and flour from warmer times, and honor that reindeer by using every last bit of it, down to the blood.
You’d kick jack frost in his bitter cackling teeth by enjoying an enormous butter smothered dumpling, filled with steaming savory meat, in the dead of freeze your toenails off Winter. With a side of tart lingonberry jam and a tall stein of milk for good measure.
That’s how I imagine it and that’s where I’m coming from, a Floridian’s attempt at a beloved Swedish dish steeped in tradition.
The sight of Palt decked in glistening red lingonberry jam came up a lot in my research for this recipe. These cold-weather almost cranberries are a staple of Nordic cuisine and a solid marketing strategy at IKEA.
Yet somehow, I got the idea to try making a ginger beet jam. I guess because it seemed patriotic (the US gets a surprising amount of its refined sugar from beets). Also, marginally saner than cranberries in March.
Step By Step
Palt Filling
- Skin and dice the pork belly. Add salt to taste (Dennis here to say don’t taste raw pork).
- In a bowl, mix the cubed pork with the braunschweiger. Set aside and let the temperature rise if it just came out of the fridge.
Making The Dough
- Fill a large pot with a generous amount of salted water. Boil it.
- Peel the potatoes, grate them, and drain most of the liquid. You need just a little moisture for the dough.
- Mix in the salt and flour. Work into a slightly sticky dough.
- Divide the dough into roughly tennis ball sized parcels and flatten them.
- Make a indent in the center of each round, large enough for a generous spoonful of pork. Add the pork and cup around, pinch at the top to seal, and roll into a ball.
- Drop those puppies into boiling water for 40-60 minutes, stirring gently until they stop sticking to the bottom, and occasionally after that.
- Serve your palt with a generous pat of butter, lingonberry jam and a tall glass of cold milk.
Lemon Ginger Beet Jam (Optional)
Skip this step if you just want to use premade lingonberry jam. Looks like they sell it on Amazon.
- Peel and quarter the beets.
- Arrange in a deep microwave-safe dish and cover with a damp cloth or paper towel.
- Microwave for 6-10 minutes until the beets are fork tender, drain and cool.
- Finely dice the beets and add to a sauce pan with the diced ginger, sugar and lemon juice.
- Simmer for about 40 minutes until thick and syrup like, stirring occasionally to keep the sugar from burning.
- Transfer jam to a mason jar or other rustic container and allow to cool.
- Bask in the glory of having made your own neat little container of jam. Add some to the palt!
Palt Tips
If you somehow get tired of eating just the meat and potato, you can break a chunk off the palt and have it with some lingonberry jam and butter.
The pocket left by the meat is perfect to melt butter in. It’s like a specialized butter delivery just for your mouth.
The Swedish have a word for the food coma you get from eating too many of these.
If you want more dumpling recipes, check out my ducana (sweet potato and coconut dumplings).
Palt
Equipment
- grater
- Large pot
Ingredients
Palt Filling
- 1.5 lbs pork belly fresh or cured
- 4 oz braunschweiger or pork pate
Palt Dough
- 3 lbs potatoes
- 3 cups flour
- 2 tbsp salt
Lemon Ginger Beet Jam (Optional)
- 3 beets
- 1 lemon
- 1 cup sugar
- ⅛ cup ginger diced
Instructions
Palt Filling
- Skin and cube the pork belly. Add some salt (not the 2 tbsp).
- Add the pork and braunschweiger to a mixing bowl. Combine thoroughly.
Palt Dough
- Fill a large pot with water, add some salt (not the 2 tbsp). Bring to a boil on medium.
- Peel the potatoes, grate them, and drain most of the liquid.
- Get another mixing bowl. Add the potatoes, flour and 2 tbsp of salt. Work until the dough is slightly sticky.
- Divide the dough into pieces, about tennis ball size. Flatten them, make an indentation in the middle, and add a generous spoon of pork filling. Pinch the dough at the top to seal.
- Drop the palt into the pot of boiling water. Boil for 40-60 minutes, stirring occasionally so they don't stick to the bottom.
- Serve with a pat of butter, lingonberry jam, and a glass of cold milk on the side.
Lemon Ginger Beet Jam (Optional)
- Peel and quarter the beets. Put on a microwave safe dish and cover with a damp paper towel.
- Microwave for 6-10 minutes, or until the beets can be easily pierced with a fork. Drain and let them cool.
- Finely dice the beets. Add to a pan with sugar, diced ginger, and the juice of 1 lemon.
- Simmer for 40 minutes until thick and syrup like, stirring occasionally so the sugar doesn't burn.
- Transfer to a prepared mason jar (a jar that has been sanitized so the jam stays good) and let it cool down. Use whenever you want jam!
Video
Nutrition
Can you freeze palt?
Haven’t tried it yet but I don’t see a reason why it wouldn’t work. Just add the jam on top after reheating.
What you do though is you chop them up in smaller pieces and fry them in butter. Fried palt is equally good as the “original”.
Also, as a swede you wouldnt use the pate 🙂
My mum is very particular on what type of flour and use something called kornmjöl https://www.coop.se/handla/varor/skafferi/bakning/mjol/kornmjol-7310130763106
I am not 100% sure but i think the english translation would be barley flour. if it gets a bit tough you have half and hafl of barley and wheat.
I grew up eating palt up here in Central Alberta. We used bacon as the filling and sometimes aged cheddar. Serve it with butter, cream and a cup of coffee. We freeze it all the time and it freezes fine.
My grandmother would make this when I was younger. My favorite was the next morning when she would slice them and fry them in bacon grease – we topped ours with Kyro syrup
Some tricks of the trade my family has been making palt since i can remember.. trick 1 take a small piece and stick it in the pot to make sure it doent denigrate in the water before you do all the dumplings
Trick 2 never stir the pot take a spoon or thin spatula and slowly scrap them from the bottom the boil will turn them and stirring can brake the dumplings apart
Trick 3.. keep water next to the mixing bowl put the dough in one hand flatten add the meat push the sides up around the meat and one hand dip your hand in water then put the dough in the wet hand wet the other hand and then roll the ball btw the hands. It keeps the flour from sticking so the dough wont form if your hands are sticky..