5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.
Tonight's forecast: cloudy with a chance of meatballs.
Spiced ground meat, shaped into balls, before being braised, baked or fried is well-rounded comfort food at its finest.
But if you're not quite sure how to get the ball rolling, Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow of The Meatball Shop and The Meatball Shop Cookbook can give you a little nudge in the right direction.
Five Tips for Great Meatballs: Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow
1. Pay attention to what you’re putting in the balls
"We weigh everything in a recipe: the right measure is the best way to ensure a consistent product. If you don't want to be that much of a dork about it, then at least pay attention to what you're putting in - that way if you stumble onto something great you can make it again.
Chances are you'll want to adjust something the next time you make it so it’s really nice to know what you did, and not make the same mistakes again.
And don't be afraid to season the balls, the flavors tend to mellow as the meatballs sit and absorb the ingredients. For recipes that call for braising, always add a little extra salt as the braising process tends to leach out some of the flavor."
2. Make sure you use top-quality ingredients
"Meatballs are an inexpensive food by their nature, so there is no need to skimp on quality. Buy inexpensive cuts of top-quality meat rather than expensive cuts like filet and loin. Once it's ground, almost any cut will render a tender meatball - so go for flavorful cuts such as pork butt, beef chuck or lamb shoulder."
3. Cook off a tester ball and taste it before rolling all the balls out
"Last thing you want to do is spend all day rolling, roasting, frying and braising your balls only to find out you needed a pinch more salt. Make a small patty and fry it in a little oil, and give it a try. It will make for a tasty snack while you’re cooking - and will save you if you forgot something."
4. Grind your own meat
"We grind all of our meat in-house which allows to choose what size grind to use. For tougher meat like lamb, wild game and goat, we like to use a small (5mm) die to help tenderize. For inherently tender animals and cuts like chicken, rabbit and pork, we prefer a larger grind size (6, 8 or even 10mm).
For some of our meatballs, we use multiple grind sizes which allows us to add interesting texture and differentiate ingredients. Grinding the meat yourself will allow you to mix the ingredients before you grind which saves time on chopping and helps to incorporate everything without over-mixing. When a recipe calls for fresh bread, we just grind it right in."
5. Choose your crumbs wisely
"Panko is all the rage for its crispy texture but it doesn't necessarily make the best meatballs. We like to use plain Italian-style breadcrumbs - that way we can add whatever spices we like to the mix.
Using fresh bread generally translates to a lighter, fluffier texture which is welcome in meatballs with heavier base ingredients like beef and pork."
Beef Meatballs
Makes about 24 golf ball-sized meatballs
Ingredients
- 2 pounds 80% lean beef, ground
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoon chili flake
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed, ground
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
- 1 tablespoon oregano, chopped
- 1 cup fresh ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Cooking Directions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Combine all of the ingredients except for the olive oil in a large mixing bowl and mix by hand until thoroughly incorporated.
- Drizzle the olive oil into a large baking dish (9 x 12) making sure to evenly coat the entire surface (use your hand to help spread the oil).
- Roll the mixture into round, golf ball-sized meatballs, making sure to pack the meat firmly.
- Place the balls into the oiled baking dish such that all of the meatballs are lined up evenly in rows and are touching each of their four neighbors in a grid.
- Roast until firm and cooked through - about 20 minutes.
- While the meatballs are roasting, heat four cups of tomato sauce in a small pot over a medium-high flame, stirring constantly.
- When the meatballs are firm and fully cooked, drain the excess grease from the pan. Pour the tomato sauce over them and continue roasting for another 14 minutes.
Classic Tomato Sauce
Makes 7 cups
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion, small dice (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 sprig fresh oregano (or 1/2 teaspoon dry)
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 28-ounce cans of canned tomatoes, chopped (preferably San Marzano)
Cooking Directions
- Cook the onions with the olive oil, oregano, bay, garlic and salt over medium heat in a large pot (12-quart), stirring constantly until soft and translucent (about 15 minutes).
- Add the tomato paste and continue cooking for five minutes.
- Add the canned tomatoes and stir constantly until the sauce begins to boil.
- Continue cooking for 1 hour, stirring ever four or five minutes so that the sauce does not burn.
- Season with extra salt to taste.
Recipe formatting optimized by the nice folks at RecipeSEO.com
Is there someone you'd like to see in the hot seat? Let us know in the comments below and if we agree, we'll do our best to chase 'em down.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertise with us | About us | Help | Advertising Practices
I have changed two things in my method that I think make ALL the difference. 1) A couple of tablespoons of milk in the meat mixture, and 2) I never cook them in the oven anymore, but right in the sauce. To me, these elements make a nearly perfect meatball!
I don't think either two pictured in the photo have any meatballs personally.
If you "think" then you would not have posted such a stupid comment.
Even if the dude with the tats was a eunuch, I'd still do him!
These picture look good and never tasty meatball can give me recipe please thank you :Luis morales
@Luis Morales: You can't read or speak english. No meatball for you!
I made meatballs and spaghettini tonight, somehow I just can't get into spaghetti. I grated a lil nutmeg, which gave it an earthy flavour. I like to keep a few back so I can make as sweet and sour or teriyaki in a different dish. Meatballs are very versatile and not just subjected to pasta dishes. As for the person up top who mentioned saffron and curry..I was actually going to add some turmeric when I was seasoning the meat, but opted out . You have to get creative in the kitchen if you want to keep things interesting.
u can have the meatballz cuz I got all dat gold!
Win
The perfect meatball from two guys that don't appear to be italian. You don't put oregano in tomato sauce (gravy) unless you intend to put it on pizza. I don't see bazil in either recipe. Non italians cooking Italian....it's like asking a plumber to fix your car.
I don't see bazil in the dictionary so why would either of these two guys put it in their recipes?
oooh...good one....you caught the misspelling of basil. You should enter the national spelling bee.
so what you think now, dummy?
Real Italians don't call tomato sauce "gravy" either.
Yahahahaha!
Guy with the tats is hot. I would sample his meat balls any day!
I'm wid you on dat!
Drop the chili, that's just yuk in a meatball. Add a little more garlic and some raisins and fry in Olive Oil then finish in sauce. Been doing this for 45 years and no complaints, tho I do leave out raisins for those who don't like them. Gives a sweet flavor to the pork or beef.
Oh yeah, in the sauce some diced green pepper.
Raisins? Really? I never would have thought to put raisins in meatballs.
Meat will kill you.
Everyone will die of something, its the only guarantee we all have.
you're an idiot.
Not if you kill and cook it first. Out here we call vegans-lunch
It will actually have the opposite effect and will keep you alive, try going 2 weeks without any food and 2 weeks with just meat, the results will be very interesting
meat...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Another trick for meatballs is to boil them, drop them in pot of boiling water, when they float, about 3 minutes usually, they are cooked through. I mix up about 10 lbs of meatballs a couple times of year and boil them this way, then put them in quart ziplocks and freeze for fast afterwork meals, easy camping meals, etc.
Great idea, thanks! I love boiled chicken so why not meatballs? Gonna try that the next time I make them.
Why are people so ignorant. What does race or the president have to do with a meatball article? Don't people have anything better to do than tear into these guys over a recipe? Get a life.
Sounds good to me and the last thing I would want to do is spend the day braising my balls.
It's been a long time, but my mother always put bread crumbs in meatballs. And once upon a time, we even had homemade spaghetti sauce.
What's with the tattoo freak?
A damn good looking tatoo freak!
Hell ya!
I do not like tattoos on either sex or earrings on guys. I understand why some get tattoos but do me a favor and have a picture in a frame...on the wall like other people.
You are an ignorant putz. Sounds like you are a bit jealous no one has your picture in the news.
It's a meat ball – kinda' like meatloaf, you use what you got, play with it. I found this recipe far too complex. Everyone has their own favorite pizza, meatball or meat loaf – no one is right, it's just what you like. That being said, grab some good ground beef, maybe some sausage, mix with 2 eggs per pound of meat, add some good Italian bread crumbs, some parm cheese, a little water and maybe some red wine, shape into ball (golf ball size) and slowly, and not many, fry them up in olive oil and cloves of garlic, then thow them in your hopefully good pot of sauce and let cook oh maybe 4 hours. Turn it off, set on back porch to cool and serve it the next day.
I reply to myself – I do swear by cooking the sauce and meatballs a day before service – ya' gotta' let the flavors play overnight and you would be wuprised at the change. This goes for many foods – chili and beef stew are inclusive.
Yup, as my pops says, "it always tastes better when you let it rot overnight."
That's pretty much how my mother did it, except for the wine because there were minors in the house. Mom and Dad were majors (get it?). Mom also made porcupines (which is meatballs with rice), and stuffed cabbage and Swedish meatballs. Yeah, the meatloaf too (try it with cranberry sauce instead of tomato). But my point being, once you got the recipe down pat, it can be adapted to the above.
These guys don't have a clue how to make a classc meatball. Chili, ricotta and oregano, never seen that and I owned pasta restaurants with a line at the door every lunch and dinner. What else, saffran and curry? Oviously, these guys are good writers but they surely are not real chefs!
Everybody has his or her own way of cooking. Why don't you try their recipe first and taste it? Then, after doing that you may post any positive or negative comment since you have experimented the results. Let others manifest themselves if they like to cook as well, because I don't think you are the only cook or chef in this world.
First off cooking as a professional chef, and cooking for your family (particularly with kids) can be very different. You have to admit most of us do not cook like chefs because that's not our profession; most of us cook because we have to eat and feed our families....period. Chili is too spicy and I do not like ricotta so I guess I wouldn't order meatballs from your restaurant.
Now about Campfire Stew...hamburger, vegetable soup, a little bit of onion, green pepper, maybe some garlic...simmer over a hot fire (always a favorite but doesn't quite work on a stove).
Campfire Stew, that sounds really good.
"What else, saffran and curry? "
Why not? Why does it have to be a rigid set of ingredients? Creativity iis what makes a great chef.
I'm italian and I've been a restaurant owner and manager, so I know that every commercial reciep is not liked by everyone. Ricotta in lasagne, chilli power in chilli, but it doesn't hurt to try different things. Do a small batch and then if you dont care for it, DONT USE IT. Many of us may not care for your food either.
how many of your chefs did a column on CNN? None? thats what I thought
That's not a meatball that's meat loaf. Amergon Meatballs.
ANY meatball recipe that does not involve beef/pork/veal in combination is not worth publishing.
They should at least have pork. I can understand leaving out veal.
To be fair, Muslims and Jews are forbidden to eat pork (or any other part of piggy for that matter), so they must find a recipe that doesn't violate their dietary regulations.
I've never seen a True Italian mother wearing a dirty towel wrapped around her head while making and cooking meatballs.Just sayin'.
Thank you brian! my itailian grandmother is smiling down on you from heaven :)
HEY!! There's no claim the recipe is Italian. Just because a recipe uses ingredients often found in Italian recipes doesn't mean that the recipe is supposed to mimic some so-called classic so-called Italian so-called recipe. There is not one "classic" Italian ingredient that is native to Italy, virtually everything was imported from elsewhere. I love the twist that Italians put on combining the ingredients, but what's this crap that because others use the same ingredients it has to match your imagination about Italian cooking? If your grandmother would throw a meatball because it wasn't like how she liked it, how rigid and intolerant is that? Just because you only want to eat only a certain recipe doesn't mean everyone else is obligated to your personal tastes. What a bunch of narrow-minded ethnic crap!!
And I bet you're Italian, right (I love little old Italian ladies)? Not sure why but when anyone says meatballs it's an automatic connection to pasta, particularly spaghetti. It might amuse you that many people think pizza is Italian (it isn't, sorry).
For yrs. my mom made sauce and MB that came from the Italian family who owned the restaurant where she was on the wait-staff while i was a small child (45 yrs ago). Thought I would find her FABULOUS recipe they had given her, but can't find it.
The sauce cooked all day- starting out with a piece of beef and of pork (maybe another meat too. and then the tomato ingredients and spices at some point.
The meatballs had the leafy parts of celery stalks chopped and into the MB recipe– and bread, egg (of course) and whatever spices there too. The trick and reason these were different was that celery leaves and the sauce actually had small pieces of the shredded beef and pork that fell off the bones as the long cooking took place.
But I really have no "real" recipe on what is used and I would love anyone who uses such ingredients to tell me how they do it.
TIA for help here- I have searched for years.
And what about vegetarians (or who are prohibited from eating meat on Fridays...like during Lent)...how about a meatless meatball (matza?)
Um, then it wouldn't be a MEATball.
Ann, will you tug my meat?
Never roll the balls tightly – BOOMP – wrong. Gently coax into the ball shape loosely, this way it is not hard as a hockey puck when cooked. The sauce can not seep into a tight ball. Come on, haven't tasted their meatballs and can only imagine what they must be like. No thanks.
Mmmm. Sweaty balls...
Yeah, these guys know a thing or two about balls.
And grinding their meat ...
Oh, that sounds too sexual (if you know what I mean). Get thee mind out of theer gutter.
These guys are the reason I eat meatballs now! They really know how to make them right! Not only do they have the best meatballs, but they make killer homemade ice cream sandwiches (the peanut butter cookies are the best!) The trend has really taken off and restaurants all over NYC are trying to compete.
I refuse to dig another hole in the ground for the homemade ice cream. Those rocks were huge! (True story, "someone" decided we had to have homemade ice cream for dessert and of course we had to dig a hole to keep the ice cream cold. Yeah, not the brightest idea for a girl scout.
Oregano is for pizza sauce, never marinara sauce or meatballs! Basil for marinara sauce, parsley for meatballs. If I used that recipe to make meatballs my grandmother, who was born in Naples, would throw them at me!
I couldn't have said it better. All my Grandparents were born in Italy and all of them would throw these meatballs at me....Fennel seed, oregano, ricotta????? What are you crazy? Where is the pork, parsley, romano or parmesan cheeses?And the all important, GARLIC???????
Someday, somewhere I just HAVE to meat (misspelling intended) your grandparents even if I have to wait until I get to Heaven! Regardless of the recipe, they can cook for me anytime!
God love your sweet little old Grandma! Pizza is not Italian, sorry. Pizza is one of those foods that you can have sauce or no sauce, cheese or no cheese, have everything or nothing on it...including meatballs and (yeck) anchovies. You can have it half and half (but if you want tuna on it, you're on your own, friend). Love.
Perfecto! That's a meatball!
I go to the Meatball Shop all the time! The meatballs are always amazing AND the sides are the best! (Parmesan Cream sauce on the side anyone?) Can't wait to try making them at home! Although the prices at the meatball shop are very reasonable for NYC.
I'm laughing like a 15 year old at the headers and their use of the word, "balls". ... rolling the balls.
grow up.
I worked for a haute Italian Restaurant for several years: Their secret was to form the balls (your recipe choice) and baked them on cookie sheets until done! Only after baking were they added to the various sauces and pasta mixes. For non-commercial applications, this is the only way to go!
Thank-you, I am going to make them soon.
We ALL made the perfect meatball.....................he is sitting in the White House right now!
F'off oh worthless commentator.....
Hey Ed Bagger Slurp Boy, there is not reply for….. you don’t’ deserve and is not worth just..... try to dodge my spit.
@Edsr
Your moma makes the perfect meatballs, as well. That's why your here making pointless post like this one.
Blimey, how did you make a food article into a political article? But I agree with you! Love.
Stop this now. This recipe is a disgrace....
Agreed!
How to make meatballs and Gravy from two Medagons! No thank you!
Glad you phrased it the way you did. Real Italians from South Philly only use a mixture of beef-pork-veal. Everything else is just meatloaf! Mangia!
Even my Danish Nana used beef-veal-pork for frikadellar! Philistines!
Because this "recipe" created by these two who obviously do not know the Italian food culture serves only to create a great disservice to the gastronomic culture of I put together a classic Italian recipe with the translation from Italian
Chef Eleano Camboni
Polpette classiche
Dosi per 4 persone: 400 g di carne di manzo tritata, 200 g di salsiccia, 1 uovo, 2 spicchi d'aglio, 1 manciata di prezzemolo, 2 fette di pan carré, 1/2 dl di latte, 40 g di parmigiano grattugiato, 30 g di pangrattato, 1/2 dl d'olio d'oliva, sale e pepe.
Levate la crosta alle fette di pan carré e lasciatele a bagno in 1/2 dl di latte (3 cucchiai). Tritate finissimamente l'aglio e il prezzemolo.
Eliminate la pelle della salsiccia, sgranatela con una forchetta e mettetela in una terrina con la carne.
Unite l'uovo, il pancarré ben strizzato e sminuzzato e il trito d'aglio e prezzemolo.
Lavorate bene il composto, aggiungete il parmigiano, salate, pepate e amalgamate con cura il tutto.
Ricavatene con le mani delle polpette di forma rotonda: la loro dimensione potrà andare da quella di una grossa oliva a quella di un uovo.
Passate le polpette più volte nel pangrattato in modo che rimangano ricoperte, quindi fatele friggere in olio d'oliva molto caldo e a fuoco vivace.
Giratele spesso per dare uniformità alla doratura, scolatele su carta da cucina e servitele calde.
Classic Meatballs
Serves 4 400 g of minced beef, 200 g of sausage, 1 egg, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 bunch of parsley, 2 slices of white bread, 1 / 2 cups milk, 40 g of grated Parmesan cheese , 30 g of bread crumbs, 1 / 2 dl olive oil, salt and pepper.
English
Lift the crust from the slices of white bread and let soak in 1 / 2 cups milk (3 tablespoons). Finely chopped garlic and parsley.
Remove the skin of the sausage, sgranatela with a fork and place in a bowl with the meat.
United egg, sliced bread and wrung out and chopped garlic and chopped parsley.
Work the mixture well, add the Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and mix everything thoroughly.
Ricavatene of balls with your hands round: their size can range from that of a large olive to that of an egg.
Dip the patties in breadcrumbs several times so that they are covered, then let them fry in very hot olive oil and heat.
Turn it frequently to give uniformity to the golden, drain on kitchen paper and serve
I just did a blog today on my special meatballs! Spicy italian sausage and the secret ingredient – raisins! (Don't knock it till you try it!) Fry and then bake them...they are fantastic.
http://handmixed.wordpress.com/
i always put raisons in meatballs they make them tender and slightly sweet. i also like a few pine nuts. just the way my italian grandmother made them
Too spicy (I like my sausage sweet-like you), and I don't like raisins. Sorry. But my mother sometimes put cranberry sauce on meatloaf so for me, it's not too much of a novel idea.
I use a screen-reader, which sometimes doesn't have the best enunciation. The title of this article sounded like "wheat ball" and I was SO excited for a minute there... here I thought I was going to get some great vegetarian recipe... but no. It's just ol' MEATballs.
I'm NOT making meatballs. My favorite kind of meatballs are ones that someone else makes.
Wheatballs I'd have been interested in...
Wheatballs, do you mean couscous? ;)
Well, that IS what couscous IS...
And THAT is one that I love. ESPECIALLY when someone else makes it, royal pain to make.
They have instant, try Near East. If you're talking from scratch (and who does these days unless you're a pro) that's different.
Thanks for the morning giggle! Sounds like your a vegetarian (I'm a part time one-some days I eat meat, some days I don't). How about Matza soup with carrots rice and boiled onions...some crackers?). Call Liberman.
The best meatball recipe I have come across only has a few ingredients, and is a no brainer.
I've been making it ever since I came across it.
Ground chuck
onion
garlic
parsley
plain breadcrumbs
eggs (2 eggs per lb. of beef)
S+P
Sorry, but I'm not putting fennel seeds or ricotta in anytime soon.
Try parmesan cheese. It makes an excellent counterpoint in flavor. :)
Sounds like my mother gave you the recipe. I don't handle raw meat, but if I did, if I could do it-ANYBODY could.
I'll stick to my Italian Grandmother's Meatball recipe. No need to improve on perfection.
my family comes from Sicily and my grandmother also taught me how to cook Meatballs and Gravy. You can't improve on old country cooking
You mean like regular gravy, not sauce? Never thought Italian meatballs with beef gravy. Sounds like it would be good over risotto (or Italian rice).
I am going to try this recipe, and if it is good, I will buy their book.
Erm, the only use I have for BOTH of those recipes and that book is if I get a parakeet. For the bottom of its cage.
First, oregano is NOT in tomato sauce, unless you're making pizza sauce. BASIL is used!
Second, they can shove the fennel in the meatballs, too easy for FRESH fennel to overpower the meatball AND rigotta cheese is NOT used, parmesan cheese is used, which sweetens the meatball slightly. The olive oil is ONLY used in lean meats, such as the idiot is using. Indeed, the ONLY time I use olive oil in my meatballs is if I'm using lamb, to keep the things moist.
So, if these recipes are any indication of the book, it's bird cage liner.
Wzrd1, you're a schmuck. Let people try these recipes and come to their own conclusions.
Hey Meatball Nazi...this is America where we can try all different ingrediants any way we want. These two guys are obviously doing something right since their restaurant ranks higher than most anything else in NYC. Innovation is the American way. Go stick your basil behind your meatballs.
You're 100% correct. If you're making TRADITIONAL ITALIAN MEATBALLS you do not use the ingredients they list in their recipe. You don't "throw" in whatever you want in a recipe and use the same name because it then becomes something else, such as swedish meatballs. TRADITIONAL ITALIAN MEATBALLS ARE DELICIOUS WHEN MADE AS ITALIANS MAKE THEM AND DON'T NEED TO BE IMPROVED.
Guy with the doggie tat is cute and the article is about meatballs....oh my.
I put breadcrumbs, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, 2 eggs and combine. I then roll them out and lightly dust with cheyenne pepper, then add them raw to the sauce and let the sauce simmer for 4 hours. Meatballs come out moist and don't have the cooked in a pan or oven taste.
I like your ingredients Paul. What is your recipe? Thanks.
Add parmesan cheese to it and you can't go wrong.
I, however, DO bake the meatballs, when preparing in quantity. In small batches, I'll pan fry them.
AFTER partial cooking, I add them to the sauce.
For a treat, add pine nuts to the meatballs. :)
I never brown mine, just put them in the sauce and let them simmer, my mom used to make them after we all went to bed, it was killer laying upstairs smelling them simmer... next day, they were melt in your mouth divine!
Except for the pepper, it seems you have also been talking to Mom. Has anyone ever thought of throwing those Italian meatballs into soup (minestrone and wedding?) I thinks I's going to have meatballs for lunch someway, somehow.
I like my balls made with a mixture of equal amouts of beef, pork, and veal.
Mario Batali has the best recipe for meatballs. I have been making them for years the way my Italian relatives instructed me but Mario has the better recipe. He soaks day old bread in water and then drains it and squeezes out the excess water, adds garlic, egg, lots of cheese and no onion.
Add stove top stuffing to your meatballs and your life will never be the same !
Enough about meat already!
Yes, we all know that you want to eat my meat, but are phobic.
That's fine, I'm not available. Relax.
Personally chili flakes do not belong in meatballs. Isn't there anything sacred anymore?
I would LOVE to hear Beavis & Butthead read this!!! :OD
They have never tried MY Schwetty Balls.
You got it wrong. It's "Schweddy"
That picture of those two dudes make me.... uncomfortable.
I love the feeling of balls in my mouth.
Shweaty balls are my favorite, so soft and moist.
Oh hey, I love balls
Chocolate , Salty Balls !!!! LMAO
No pork no veal no meatball
disagree completely. Balls!
As of last Saturday, the biggest meatball of all is running for President!
What do you mean 'as of last Saturday'?
The incumbent pretty much always runs for reelection after his first term....
I know, it seems like unless there are extenuating circumstances, it's like a unwritten rule that presidents always run for re-election as if a) to correct the mistakes they did during the first term, or b) think the second term's the charm or c) If they like me the first term, they'll love me in the second or d) since I'm here anyway, why the hell not?
Wrong, he already got elected, but since he's going for re-election, you're partly right. I'd rather have the real thing, thank you very much.
Lamb is tougher? Than what.....yoghourt?
Each one of these "rules" is the exact antithesis of true meatballs- which are grandma food... And- in the majority of cases, impoverished grandma food- meaning : [1] using the LEAST expensive ingredients [2] using day old break; not panko & [3] not measuring ANYTHING. Get a grip & ask an Italian
This may very well be true, but it doesn't mean that someone can't try to take the meatball in a new direction, to move it away from "grandma food." Doing so does not diminish the "grandma" meatball either. There's places enough for all kinds of meatballs.
Chuck- We can respectfully disagree on this. Since 1980 I've been privileged to eat at some of the best restaurants in the world. Food has evolved to pretentious absurdities. Balsamic Vinegar [sweet syrup] on everything. Limes in the bottle necks of even the finest Mexican beers [ruining them]. More concern with having a multiplicity of ingredients [the claim being that more "levels" are better] than on focusing on the intrinsic flavor of the featured food. A fixation on stacking food as high on the plate as possible. And the current trend "foams"-
If that's what floats your boat- great.
What floats mine is TRADITIONAL Italian, Japanese [giving an thumbs up to Nobu Matsuhisa], Chinese, and French food- and American barbeque in most of its manifestations. Just sayin'
Sounds very old world to me. During the Great Depression, you used what you had available and can afford, that's it. Hence probably why there are so many different recipes for what should be a very simple food.
This story is just to funny.
Seriously? Because my name's Mike and I was able to read it...
Ah man. I just have to link this again. I can't stop myself. It's just too relevant.
http://basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/2010/12/5/how-to-describe-food.html
Best meatballs in The WORLD at Cunetto's on the Hill in STL. Veal and Pork
I find that place bland and rude!
Yes i hate when i spend too much time preparing my balls and no one cares for them.
Yeah, sure, I will take advice on making meatballs from Holzman and Chernow, two real Italians.....gimme a break!!!!
Yes, because everyone knows that ethnicity is a critical component when evaluating one's ability to cook. I'm happy to try the Holzman and Chernow recipe; you can you get your authentic Italian meat from the cast of Jersey Shore.
Hey Tom...not only are the cast of Jersey shore NOT from NJ but 75% of them aren't even Italian!
I guess sarcasm gets lost on ya?
My fellow Bostonians, how's Anthony?
For quite some time I have been adding Italian sausage to my meatballs. Recently I had to make several hundred for a party and inadvertently bought several packages of bratwurst. So in one batch of 100 or so the ratio was about 2 beef, 1 italian, 1 brat. I got many compliments on that batch.
Hey, how did the Germans get into this?
Toooooo easy. Backing away from the keyboard ..... :)
I'll do it then. "Last thing you want to do is spend all day rolling, roasting, frying and braising your balls only to find out you needed a pinch more salt."
lol...
Too right. My brain's about to implode.