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Fiskeboller
Vestlandet · Western Fjords

Fiskeboller

Feather-light poached fish balls in a silky white sauce, the tinned-pantry staple made from scratch.

50 minModerate
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Cultural Context & History

Homemade fish balls are a world away from the tinned version — whipped from fresh haddock and milk until airy, then poached and cloaked in a nutmeg-scented béchamel. Coastal comfort at its gentlest.

Ingredients

  • 1 can fish balls, or 500 g fresh fish balls178 kcal · 13.3 g protein · 7.8 g fat · 12.2 g carbs per 100 g
  • 2 tbsp butter714 kcal · 0 g protein · 78.6 g fat · 0 g carbs per 100 g
  • 2 tbsp flour333 kcal · 6.7 g protein · 0 g fat · 70 g carbs per 100 g
  • 300 ml milk55 kcal · 3.4 g protein · 2.1 g fat · 5.1 g carbs per 100 g
  • 100 ml fish ball broth, reserved from the can16 kcal · 2 g protein · 0.6 g fat · 0.4 g carbs per 100 g
  • 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/2 tsp curry powder0 kcal · 0 g protein · 0 g fat · 1330 g carbs per 100 g
  • Boiled potatoes, grated carrot and crisp bacon bits, to serve

Per-100 g values shown for ingredients verified against Nutrition data: USDA FoodData Central (snapshot 2026-09-11). Ingredients not yet verified show no nutrition line.

Recommended Tools

  • Balloon whiskKeeps the béchamel silky and free of lumps.
  • Heavy-based saucepanHolds a low, even heat so the sauce never catches.

Product suggestions are editorial references only; no purchase or affiliate links are currently configured.

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. 1

    Melt the butter in a pot, whisk in the flour, and cook for 1 minute without letting it colour.

  2. 2

    Gradually whisk in the milk and reserved broth until you have a thick, smooth sauce, then simmer for 5 minutes.

  3. 3

    Season with salt, nutmeg and curry powder, tasting as you go.

  4. 4

    Drain the fish balls, slip them into the sauce, and warm through over low heat for 5-8 minutes.

  5. 5

    Serve with boiled potatoes, grated carrot and a scatter of crisp bacon.

Chef's Tip

Norwegian curry powder is mild and mellow — add it a pinch at a time until the sauce turns the faintest gold, no darker.

Chef's Tip

Keep the heat gentle once the fish balls go in; a hard boil toughens them and the sauce should stay barely trembling.

How this page was made

Written by
The Norcook editorial archive. No individual author is named yet — see the editorial and food-safety policy for what that means and what has to happen before a byline appears.
Content last checked
— “checked” records an editorial check, not a qualified review. Where one exists, the recipe-specific review record appears in the food-safety callout.
Regional context
Vestlandet — the hub carries the wider background, the ingredient glossary and its own sources.
Sources
No page-level sources are recorded for this recipe yet. The cultural background above is written as general context, not as a sourced historical claim.

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