How to make Meatballs - Part 1

Spaghetti Meatballs, one of those dishes that is not only Italian in origin, but now, is American as apple pie. Meatballs are an easy recipe to make with the family. Kids will love lend a hand on this one. So what makes a meatball good? Well, the secret is a mixture of meats, ⅔rds of the mix is beef, 1/6th pork, and 1/6th is veal, that are more coarsely ground. You can ask your butcher to do this for you, or you can actually use whole cuts of meat, placed into a food processor and pulsed into the desired constancy. Veal is a bit expensive, so I tend to leave that ingredient out and I like to substitute "Bacon Ends and Pieces" (because the thicknesses of the bacon is far grater than you can usually get, so you can cut larger lardons) for the pork, because, well, it's BACON. The other secret is the bread crumbs, which actually, and this sounds bad, absorbs the fat and retains it within the meat. This sounds bad for your waist, and it is, but it is also what keeps the meatballs moist and makes them taste so good. Well, anyway, here is my take on the classic dish.


Note: It is important to realize that these recipes are merely guidelines to follow. They'll taste great as they are, but I encourage you to play with them and make the recipes your own.

Note: It is good practice to read the entire recipe, while paying particular attention to the "Notes", before you try to make the dish, as there are often subtleties that can be easily overlooked, which sometimes, can make all the difference in the world for the outcome. 

Note: I split the recipe because of prep time. I if you do the whole dish from start to finish, your going to be in the kitchen all day. Since the meatballs can be made and stored, I suggest you make them ahead of time, to make the meal easier and faster to prepare.

Note: Traditional meatballs would be made with 1 pound of ground beef, ¼ pound of ground pork, and ¼ pound of ground veal. I substituted lardons of thick cut bacon for the pork and omitted the veal by adding a little more beef.

Makes about 25 golf ball sized meatballs.

Skill Level: Beginner

Prep time about 30 minutes.

Cook Time about 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ pound ground beef
• ¼ pound thick cut bacon or bacon ends and pieces, chopped
• 2 eggs
• Parmesan cheese (Fresh or the "green can stuff")
• 6-8 whole cloves of garlic
• 1 tld Dried basil
• ½ tlb Dried oregano
• 1 Dash cinnamon
• 3 slices fresh bread
• Bread crumbs (Plain)
• ¼ cup milk (Whole is best, but any kind will do)
• Vegetable Oil 
• Kosher salt
• Pepper (Note: preferably fresh cracked from a mill)

Tools Needed:

• Large Stock Pot
• 1 Sautoir Pan
• Wooden Spatula
• Chef's Knife
• Food processor
• Small Ice Cream Scoop
• Pan, Tray, or Cookie Sheet
• Small Ziploc Bag
• Aluminium Foil
• Parchment or Wax Paper
• Plastic Wrap

Before we chop the garlic, we are going to prune the clove. By pruning, I mean we are going to remove the core of the clove, which can add a bitter flavor to your dish. Use the face of your chefs knife to slightly crush the garlic clove. Pull the clove in two with your fingers. If you didn't over crush the clove, the core should be obvious and easily removed.

Note: Sometimes the core can have a greenish tip on one end and it will always be a slightly different color than the rest of the clove. 

Mince Garlic

Cut the crusts off the white bread.

Large dice the bread and place in a food processor.

Process the fresh bread in to crumbs.

Place all ingredients, except for the vegetable oil and the store bought bread crumbs and mix thoroughly by hand. Then begin adding the store bought bread crumbs until the mixture is just barely tacky to the touch. DO NOT add so much bread crumbs that the mixture becomes dry to the touch.

To portion the meatballs, use a small ice cream scoop. Choose a scoop that will produce the desired sized meatballs. I am using a 1 ounce ice cream scoop, which makes meatballs about the size of golf balls.

Every 3rd to 4th meatball scooped out, dip your ice cream scoop in water. This keeps the mixture from sticking to and caking onto the scoop.

Now, with moist hands, form each scooped out meatball into a perfect sphere. Rinse off meat residue from your hands every 3rd to 4th meatball, for the same reasons as the ice cream scoop. 

This recipe made 25 meatballs exactly.

In a Sautoir Pan, add oil until approximately ¼ inch deep. Heat oil, then add the meatballs in batches. DO NOT OVERLOAD the pan. It took me 3 separate batches to brown 25 meatballs. Brown the meatballs evenly all the way round.

Place the meatballs on paper towels to cool.

Note: The meatballs are not fully cooked at this point (THEY 'RE STILL RAW IN THE MIDDLE SO DO NOT EAT ONE) but they are ready to be finished in the sauce or to be stored for later use.

In my next post, we'll finish the meatballs in the sauce, so for now, let's talk about how to store your meatballs longterm for later use.

When completely cool, place in a appropriate sized freezer bag, force out as much air as possible and close.

Note: This method works for most every item you may want to freeze longterm. There are some exceptions which I'll cover in a future post.

Wrap the meatballs in the freezer bag in piece parchment or wax paper.

Now wrap in aluminum foil and a final layer of plastic wrap with a label and date. Place in the freezer.

Note: I placed my label on a standard sheet of paper between the plastic wrap and the aluminum foil, so you see, you don't need real labels or masking tape and a Sharpie to label your food, as you can use anything on hand.

Note: The layering of the different materials insulates the food item, causing it to freeze much more slowly. This 'controlled freeze' significantly reduces the effects of freezer burn. Additionally, the layers also reduce flavor transference from one food item to another while in storage. 

In Meatballs - Part 2, I'll show you how to make the tomato sauce that we'll finish cooking the meatballs in and we'll make the spaghetti and plate it up nice and pretty with some garlic bread.