Well, Katharina, you beat me to the punch !! However, I'm certain the resulting meals will differ, as good German cooking should do from preparer to preparer. So, I offer MY recipe, with annotations (for those of you who are patient enough to read them !! ========================================================== MEAT BALLS WITH CAPER AND SARDELLEN SAUCE (Koenigsberger Klops mit Sardellen- und Kapernsosse) 1-1/2 lbs. raw veal 1) 1/4 lb. fat pork 1) 3 T. butter 1-1/2 hard rolls 2) 2 T. grated onion 3) 1/2 t. grated lemon peel 3 eggs, beaten 1/2 t. pepper 4) 1 t. salt 1 T. lemon juice 5) 1 t. Worcestershire sauce 6) Chopped parsley 1-1/2 qts. stock or bouillon 7) Grind meats very fine; mix with 2 T. butter 8) Moisten rolls with water; when soft, squeeze water out, pick into small chunks and mix with meat. 9) Sauté onion in butter until browned 10). Add to meat mixture with lemon peel, eggs, pepper, salt, lemon juice, Worcestershire and parsley. 11) 12) Mix thoroughly. Shape into 12 balls. 13) Heat bouillon/stock (see #7) to boiling; drop balls in and simmer, covered, 15 minutes. Remove from stock with slotted spoon to a warmed dish and make gravy. GRAVY (Sardellen und Kapernsosse) 4 or 5 T. butter 4 or 5 T. flour 14) 1 or 2 small boneless sardines 2 T. Capers 15) 2 T. chopped parsley 1/2 cup buttered crumbs Measure stock; for every 2 cups of stock, mix 2 T. butter with 2 T. flour 16) Stir into hot stock and stir until smooth and boiling. Mash sardines with 1 T. butter 17); stir into gravy with capers and parsley. Reheat meatballs in gravy. Serve covered with buttered crumbs. Serves 4 or more. ANNOTATION NOTES 1) Veal is so expensive; it makes great Klops, but I’ve begun making the Klops purely from good ground pork, and this seems to be perfectly satisfactory. Have your butcher grind up a pork shoulder or some such. Lots of fat is good for the Germans’ taste, but we try to keep our cooking as low-fat as possible. I suppose that one could add some ground beef (lean) in place of the veal; I’ve never tried it. 2) I buy Kaiser rolls at the supermarket and let them dry out WELL !! 3) I mince lots of onion rather fine and add it, not bothering with grating. Mincing with the Chinese knife is quicker and not so messy. 4) Or more to taste 5) I use extract straight from the bottle 6) Or more, to taste 7) I start with the water I’ve saved from making Spaetzle (it’s good and starchy; see N.B: below), then add several cans of the store-bought beef broth -- or I use home-made beef stock, if I have any on hand. This is FAR more satisfactory than starting out with straight water or broth. 8) I no longer use butter at this phase; the eggs and other liquids are quite sufficient moisture to achieve a good mix. 9) At this point, mix bread and meat VERY thoroughly (yeh, with your hands !! Rings off first !!) 10) As I said, I just chop up the onion and add it directly to the meat/bread mixture. Suit your own tastes !! 11) If you have some Liebstoeckel, you can throw a bunch of those flakes in too. If you don’t know what Liebstoeckel is, don’t ask !! I don’t either, except that it’s a good additive in German cooking. It’s a plant, and maybe someone out there can explain it. It comes in herb bottles, dried and in flakes. We get it in Germany. 12) I’ve found that expanding the mixture with Wheaties or Corn Flakes doesn’t hurt, maybe requiring another egg. Naturally, your choice. 13) I make mine about the size of golf balls; they swell as they cook. A double recipe makes about 30 meat balls, 1” to 1-1/2” in diameter. 14) I use cornstarch dissolved in water (I LOVE to stir things up !!) 15) I usually make the double recipe, so I put in the entire bottle of capers, including the brine. It doesn’t hurt to have more capers, believe me !! 16) This is busy work !! Just use the cornstarch/water in sufficient quantity to thicken this broth to the desired consistency. 17) Now, you’re going to have some sardines left in that can !! My procedure is to have some Saltines handy, as well as a bottle of white wine. While I’m mashing the sardines (this normally takes a VERY long time :-)))), I put the other sardines on crackers, munch the combination, washing it down with the good German wine. Good sardines shall NOT be wasted !! N.B: Our usual accompaniments are salad (your favorite; but a Swiss Cheese/Wurst salad is a good one), Spaetzle, Rotkohl mit Apfeln und Zwiebeln, Apfelmuss, and a light dessert. Of course, we wash all this down with good Mosel/Saar/Ruwer wines. We normally do this conglomeration in the wintertime. We normally do it for company. Therefore, I make the Spaetzle two days ahead (they should be kept in cold garage or fridge; if any are left over, they will freeze successfully for future use); I set the Spaetzle water out in the garage in the stock pot, then bring it in the day before the company to do the Klops. Then I set the whole stock pot, broth, Klops and all, back out in the garage until time to heat it all up for the company. The Klops benefit from the day of sitting in the broth. HAPPY COOKING AND EATING !!