Meatballs

"Joe" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My daughter just called from college asking for a meatball recipe. I
am embarassed to say that despite the fact that I am a pretty good
Italian cook, I have never made meatballs. Does anyone have a good
recipe? Joe Tomaino www.4fordinner.com

There's one on my recipe page, below.

--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

Quoted message said:

Joe said:

Does anyone have a good
recipe? Joe Tomaino www.4fordinner.com

The best Meatballs I have ever made!
_________

Marcella Hazan's Meatballs

1 lb ground chuck
2 slices homestyle white bread, crusts removed
1/2 c milk
1/4 c minced onion
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated black pepper
1/2 tsp salt (approximately)
3 TB grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
fine dry breadcrumbs (optional)

1. Tear the bread into pieces. Bring the milk to a boil and pour over the bread,
stirring so the bread absorbs the milk. Let cool then add to a large bowl
with all other ingredients except the bread crumbs. Mix gently but
thoroughly using your fingers.

2. A prime cause of rubbery meatballs is too much handling, so take it easy!
The goal is not a completely uniform paste but a mixture where some pieces
of bread are still distinct. Pinch off a tablespoon of the mixture and
cook in in a small frypan. Taste and add more salt to the mixture if
needed.

3. Form into balls 1 to 1-1/2 inches in diameter, again being as gentle as possible.
At this point in the recipe, opinions diverge as regards cooking the
meatballs.

4. There are three schools of thought:

1. Drop the meatballs into your simmering tomato sauce. Cover and cook for at least an hour.
Do not stir until they have cooked for at least 20 minutes - this lets the
eggs set and makes the meatballs more resistant to breaking up. You may
need to skim accumulated fat off the sauce before serving. This cooking
method lets the flavors of the sauce and meatballs meld.
2. Roll the meatballs in the breadcrumbs and sauté slowly in olive oil,
turning regularly, until browned and cooked through, about half an hour.
Serve separately from the sauce. This method keeps the meatball and sauce
flavors separate.
3. Follow method 2 but sauté the meatball just until
browned, then add to the sauce. The middle road approach.

Joe said:

My daughter just called from college asking for a meatball recipe. I
am embarassed to say that despite the fact that I am a pretty good
Italian cook, I have never made meatballs. Does anyone have a good
recipe? Joe Tomaino www.4fordinner.com

I like to mix half lean ground beef and half ground turkey (from a tube,
thawed.) The turkey is minced so fine it acts as a binder and I don't
need to add eggs.

To 2 pounds of ground meat mix, add a couple of slices of stale bread,
torn into small pieces. If it's too dry, add a splash of milk.

Season with parsley flakes, finely minced onion, salt, fresh-ground
black pepper, and a little nutmeg. Grated cheese would probably be a
good addition but I haven't tried it.

Mix it all up by hand, roll a little smaller than golf balls, and bake
on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees until they are browned a little. They
won't be done in the middle, but that's OK because you will finish
cooking them in the sauce.

They freeze marvelously. Just add the frozen meatballs to the sauce and
simmer for 20 minutes (once it comes back to a boil.)

Bob

Thanks! By the way, I thought your home pages and others looked great!

Thanks! By the way, I thought your home pages and others looked great!

Thanks

Thanks

"Joe" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My daughter just called from college asking for a meatball recipe. I
am embarassed to say that despite the fact that I am a pretty good
Italian cook, I have never made meatballs. Does anyone have a good
recipe? Joe Tomaino www.4fordinner.com

Meatballs are supposed to be easy, and they ain't. What I do is take the
ground/minced meat, add a bit of tomato paste and herbs (oregano, basil,
dried parsley, tarragon) and then make *small* meatballs out of the mix.
Half the size of an egg, or smaller. Brown them in hot oil (enough to cover
them as they brown) and make sure they are *brown*. Then you can do what you
want with them. Simmer them in a tomato-y sauce, add them to a chunky
minestrone for an hour, keep cooking them for a wee bit longer and call them
rissoles 😉

The trick is to add a lot of seasoning first, or they come out too bland,
and keep them small and well-browned on the outside, otherwise you end up
with vaguely round floaty bits of flabby meat. Not nice 🙁

Jani

jay said:

Joe said:

Does anyone have a good
recipe? Joe Tomaino www.4fordinner.com

The best Meatballs I have ever made!
_________

Marcella Hazan's Meatballs

1 lb ground chuck
2 slices homestyle white bread, crusts removed
1/2 c milk
1/4 c minced onion
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated black pepper
1/2 tsp salt (approximately)
3 TB grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
fine dry breadcrumbs (optional)

(snipped)

With all due respect to Marcella Hazan (who knows more about cooking
Italian than I ever will), if I ever made meatballs without adding
garlic to the mix, DH would take his business elsewhere. Have never
added milk or cinnamon to the mix either, but do toss in some basil and
a few red pepper flakes. Actually whipped up a batch and meatballs and
some sauce for dinner tonight. I'm of the "brown, drain, and finish
cooking them in the sauce" school. Think it adds a nice element to the
sauce.

Nancy T (who will be enjoying speecy spicy meatball sandwiches for
lunch tomorrow)

Joe said:

Thanks

It's hard to tell whom you are addressing and regarding what. See below.

Brian
--
Please quote enough of the previous message for context. To do so from
Google, click "show options" and use the Reply shown in the expanded
header.

Sounds like some very practical suggestions...thanks!

ntantiques said:

jay said:

Joe said:

Does anyone have a good
recipe? Joe Tomaino www.4fordinner.com

The best Meatballs I have ever made!
_________

Marcella Hazan's Meatballs

<remove recipe>

Quoted message said:

With all due respect to Marcella Hazan (who knows more about cooking
Italian than I ever will), if I ever made meatballs without adding
garlic to the mix, DH would take his business elsewhere. Have never
added milk or cinnamon to the mix either, but do toss in some basil and
a few red pepper flakes.

Quoted message said:

I'm of the "brown, drain, and finish
cooking them in the sauce" school. Think it adds a nice element to the
sauce.

Nancy T (who will be enjoying speecy spicy meatball sandwiches for
lunch tomorrow)

Fair additions. Try the cinnamon.. I know it sounds odd..but it makes the
recipe. I don't add garlic because I brown them heavily and don't like the
flavor of "heavily" browned/burned garlic.

Here are a few meatball recipes -- The "Perfect Polpette" is very easy to
make, and the meatballs are very good.

Perfect Polpette
http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/bin/show_recipe.cgi?italian+recipe127

Polpette alla Cantinella
http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/bin/show_recipe.cgi?italian+recipe19

Polpette Napoletane
http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/bin/show_recipe.cgi?italian+recipe20

Polpette
http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/bin/show_recipe.cgi?italian+recipe33

Meatballs ala` Nicolina DiSpirito
http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/bin/show_recipe.cgi?italian+recipe86

The Ultimate Meatballs al Forno with Creamy Polenta
http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/bin/show_recipe.cgi?italian+recipe21

--
Clay Irving <[email hidden]>
JAPANESE MINIMALISM: The most frequently offered interior design aesthetic
used by rootless career-hopping young people.
- Douglas Coupland

Joe said:

Sounds like some very practical suggestions...thanks!

Who are you talking to?

In article <[email hidden]>,

Joe said:

My daughter just called from college asking for a meatball recipe. I
am embarassed to say that despite the fact that I am a pretty good
Italian cook, I have never made meatballs. Does anyone have a good
recipe? Joe Tomaino www.4fordinner.com

You can search the archives for this group at http://groups.google.com
and you'll find many recipes for meatballs.

Thanks for the lead. I didn't realize what a "hot" topic meatballs
would be!

Joe Tomaino
www.4fordinner.com

ntantiques said:

jay said:

Joe said:

Does anyone have a good
recipe? Joe Tomaino www.4fordinner.com

The best Meatballs I have ever made!
_________

Marcella Hazan's Meatballs

1 lb ground chuck
2 slices homestyle white bread, crusts removed

With all due respect to Marcella Hazan (who knows more about cooking
Italian than I ever will), if I ever made meatballs without adding
garlic to the mix, DH would take his business elsewhere. Have never
added milk or cinnamon to the mix either, but do toss in some basil and

With all due respect to Marcella Hazan, this is pretty much a Better
Homes & Gardens recipe from a mid-10th century cookbook.

N.

ntantiques wrote:

What a wonderful typo - not mid-10th century LOL. Mid-20th century.
Sorry.

N. (still laughing)