Homemade meatballs thread

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Dominic1920

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Nothing beats a good meatball. I made a version of my Italian grandmothers meatballs, which were a way to feed 12 people with only a pound of meat. She would turn that pound of ground meat into about 2 1/2 pounds. Add a bunch of pasta and some tomato sauce and you had a meal. Here it is:

1 pound ground beef, ground pork, ground turkey, ground lamb, (whatever you have available) The ground lamb is my favorite.
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 large onion
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
3/4 tsp oregano
3/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 TBS Worcestershire sauce
dash hot pepper sauce
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Form into 1 1/2 inch meatballs. Place on a baking sheet about 1 inch apart in a 400 F oven bake 20-25 minutes. Serve over spaghetti with your favorite sauce. Now grand mama would put the meatballs in with the sauce so they would soak up some of the tomatoey goodness while the sauce was heating up, but they are good without sauce too.
 
I make a pretty good meatball myself, except I usually make them with equal parts ground beef and pork and instead of bread crumbs, I take several slices of Italian bread, remove the crust and add enough milk to make a loose paste. The rest, salt, pepper, parm, a little parsley, I just eyeball the amounts. I bake them like you mention and them simmer in the sauce for a couple few hours, which makes them nice and tender.
 
I like a 50/50 mix of beef and pork too.
I add some chopped mushrooms and fry instead of baking
 
I've even made them with ground beef, pork & veal & ground mushrooms. Day old Italian bread soaked with milk, worcestershire sauce, etc was good.
 
I assume we're talking about Italian Meatballs?? If so, it's all about the sauce, so you can't treat it like an afterthought...

Fine minced onion, carrot, and celery sweated down in some olive oil, salt & pepper, 2 bay leaves, sliced small red chile, 2 tbsp. tomato paste, 3 28 oz. cans skinned & seeded Roma tomatoes, maybe some veal bones and wine. No garlic or oregano. Fresh chopped basil at the end of cooking.

For the Meatballs:

1 lb. ground lamb shoulder w/some combo of veal, pork, and/or beef
1 small onion, minced & sweated
1 garlic clove, minced & sweated
6-10 oz. day old bread (most of the crust cut off)
Whole Milk, to soften broken up day old bread
3-4 oz. grated Pecorino Sardo or Parmigiano-Reggiano (Romano is too salty)
Fresh chopped parsley, to taste
1 egg
Kosher salt
Fresh cracked black pepper
Olive oil, for frying

Roll into golf ball sized meatballs.

I prefer pan-searing the meatballs until deep golden brown, and then tossing them in the almost completed sauce. The oven dries them out too much.
 
Dominic1920, great recipe!

I made these meatballs with 50/50 pork and beef and they were quite tasty. I ended up putting some of them in the wife's homemade chicken soup and they were a hit.
 
I assume we're talking about Italian Meatballs?? If so, it's all about the sauce, so you can't treat it like an afterthought...

I prefer pan-searing the meatballs until deep golden brown, and then tossing them in the almost completed sauce. The oven dries them out too much.

Of course they are Italian meatballs, and the sauce is important but frying meatballs are the way swedish meatballs are made not real Italian meatballs, thank you. :p
 
Of course they are Italian meatballs, and the sauce is important but frying meatballs are the way swedish meatballs are made not real Italian meatballs, thank you. :p

Well there are dozens upon dozens of types of meatballs. Almost every country has their own version. But with a name like Dominic, I assumed you were Italian.

Actually, the Italian meatball originated in Abruzzo, Italy and they were cooked in fat, in a skillet, over a fire, and then added to a slow-cooking pot of tomato-based sauce. Your ancestors did not have ovens.

If you really want to get traditional, spaghetti and meatballs were never meant to be eaten together, as one meal. Look up the origin if you want. In Abruzzo, meatballs are very tiny. So tiny that you scooped up several meatballs with each bite. In America, bigger = better and meat became more available and affordable.

But for both versions, they usually do not contain Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt in place of real garlic, or harsh raw onion in place of softened/sweated onion. And using store-bought processed breadcrumbs is a bit of a hack move. Small pieces of day old Italian bread that soak up all the flavor and moisture is key. Your recipe is also missing egg for a binder, fresh herbs, and olive oil. Thank you ;)
 
Actually, the Italian meatball originated in Abruzzo, Italy and they were cooked in fat, in a skillet, over a fire, and then added to a slow-cooking pot of tomato-based sauce. Your ancestors did not have ovens.

If you really want to get traditional, spaghetti and meatballs were never meant to be eaten together, as one meal. Look up the origin if you want. In Abruzzo, meatballs are very tiny. So tiny that you scooped up several meatballs with each bite. In America, bigger = better and meat became more available and affordable. But for both versions, they usually do not contain Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, or raw onion. And using store-bought processed breadcrumbs is a hack move. Your recipe is also missing egg for a binder, fresh herbs, and olive oil. Thank you ;)

Do you really wanna compare the size of our meatballs? Now I know my ancestors had ovens, we weren't neanderthals, the ovens of old were piles of baked mud with a hole in the top for a chimney that you could build a fire in and bake anything you want, that later became brick ovens, then metal, but I assume your ancestors were still hanging meat up over lightning struck stumps while mine were enjoying Roman bread baked in ovens. I'm just messing with you:D. Seriously though, breadcrumbs and milk are the binder.
 
You know you're arguing food with a professional chef, right?

I challenge you to a meatball-off. Are you anywhere near the tri-state?

:mug:
 
You know you're arguing food with a professional chef, right?

I challenge you to a meatball-off. Are you anywhere near the tri-state?

:mug:

Yes I'm in the tri-state area (If you mean the states of Sonora, Baja California and Chihuahua) and I'm game for a meatball-off, can I use armadillo meat? :drunk: Just kidding, I'm not arguing anymore. I submit to your Abruzzo sized balls.:tank:
 
Tristate = Net York, New Jersey, Philly

Cali boy? Nah... You don't stand a chance.

You can adjust the size to however you see fit.
 
I grill some meatballs and place them in cast iron, cover with sauce and cheese, and place back on the grill.

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Tristate = Net York, New Jersey, Philly

Cali boy? Nah... You don't stand a chance.

You can adjust the size to however you see fit.

Who you calling Cali boy? I'm in Mexico, so you can call me Mexi-Sir. And since when is Philly a state? :D I agree though, nothing out here compares to the Italian food I had in the Eastern USA. Except maybe in San Diego's Little Italy back in the 1970's but that was for the fresh seafood.
 
Griund beef, ground pork, bread crumbs mixed with a little milk to moisten them, grated cheese, salt pepper, and fresh parsley. Add those to my homemade tomato sauce and my girls love it.

One of my "tricks" is to fry up the meatballs until they're almost done (finish cooking in the sauce) and then I use a half cup to a full cup of the tomato sauce to deglaze the pan so I get all that delicious fond into my sauce.
 
I just did meatballs today. I use Ted Allen's recipe as a guideline with some mods. I use equal parts beef pork and veal. I add onion, garlic, parsley, real bread crumbs, freshly grated parmesan, a little bit of chicken stock, eggs, salt, olive oil and a pinch of cayenne/Berbere. I bake them off instead of frying.

For the sauce it's sweat some onion, carrot and celery, add garlic for a minute, push veg aside and toast the tomato paste then stir it in along with 1-28 oz can san marzano tomatoes (I buy the ones that say "chef's cut" on them lol) and 3 quarts (!) of chicken stock that I make from carcasses of chickens I have grilled or roasted or whatever. A couple bay leaves and a couple sprigs of fresh thyme. Add the meatballs and let it simmer 2 or 3 hours to thicken. Skim the fat and foam every half hour or so. Remove the bay leaves and thyme branches and add fresh basil at the end if desired.

I serve as an open faced sandwich on a split hoagie roll (usually the jalapeno cheddar ones from Safeway) with fresh parm shredded on top.

The Christmas meatballs are the best because I use stock made of Thanksgiving Duck carcass instead of chicken. 3 quarts of duck stock reduced to 1 quart is about the tastiest thing in the world to me.

I'm a fairly serious home cook and Italian meatballs are my hands down favorite.
 
Oats are also a good replacement for the breadcrumbs.
 
Thanks. I googled it and that was the first recipe that came up.However I clicked on images and not one of them looked remotely as good as yours. Nice pic. oh yeah.Colcannon is the best side ever.
 
Thanks. I googled it and that was the first recipe that came up.However I clicked on images and not one of them looked remotely as good as yours. Nice pic. oh yeah.Colcannon is the best side ever.

Regardless of the recipe, presentation / plating makes a big difference. I take a lot of care when I put food on a plate, and when I take a picture. I'm semi-mostly OCD about nearly everything - a blessing and a curse.

I'll post the actual recipe tomorrow.
 
EDIT::: Was meant to go in what did I cook thread!!! PUI and my apologies...

I made some beer cheese soup last night after commenting on the Potato Leek thread. I used "Wisconsin Native's beer cheese soup" recipe. You can find it using teh Google. I changed the recipe based on my experience.

It's basically:

Saute Onion, Carrot, Celery, Garlic in some oil til sweated. Add beer (Newcastle is great) and simmer til veggies are soft and blend smooth with stick blender or regular blender. Set aside.

In another bigger pot, make a well done brown roux with butter and flour. Add half and half and simmer really low until it's the consistency of alfredo and add a lot of shredded sharp cheddar a little bit at a time and mix until smooth.

Add beer/veggie mixture to bechamel mixture and stir smooth. Add cayenne, worcestershire, dijon, hot sauce and dry mustard to taste. In Scansen they garnish with papcorn but I garnish with croutons.

Mini sandwiches made of black forest ham, swiss, dijon on king's hawaiian rolls and brushed with garlic butter and baked in the oven round it out.
 
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