Meatball Sunday Part II: The Meat

There are a couple of basic rules for making meatballs.
Rule 1: If you are going to make a small batch, you may as well make a big batch.
The mess will be the same. Make a lot and freeze them. You'll be glad that you did. I usually freeze them in bags of 10. This is enough for a family of 4 for a quick spaghetti and meatball dinner during the week.

Rule 2: Fry them.
You can bake them, broil them or fry them. Mary is emphatic about frying them. It gives them a better flavor.

Mary "The Meatball Maker's" Meatballs
ground beef (ratio: 80/20)
ground pork
1 egg/lb.
(for this batch, I used 4 lbs of ground beef and 1.5 lbs of ground pork)

In a very large bowl, add the meat and eggs.

In a small dish, stir together:
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1/2 c. milk

Add the bread crumb/milk mixture to the bowl and mix all of the ingredients together by hand.

Remember Mary's "layering effect" from the tomato sauce? We're going to do that again. "Flatten your meat," she told me. After your meat is flat, layer the following seasonings:
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
grated cheese

Mary's layering effect..."Make sure your meat is flat."

Incorporate all of the seasonings into the meat. Heat a large frying pan and add a little bit of canola oil. Form your meatballs by pinching the meat with your index, middle finger and thumb. If I had to guess, I'd say this is approximately 1/3 of a cup of meat. Roll into a ball and add to the pan.

Fry until they have a nice crust on them being careful not to burn them. Turn them and fry on the other side for a couple of minutes removing the meatball from the pan before they are completely cooked through. Before adding them to the sauce, I line a dish with paper towels and drain some of the excess fat from them. The meatballs will finish cooking in the sauce.

Fry until the meatballs have a golden brown crust.

Depending on how much meat you prepared, you will have to do this several times or have two pans going at once. I like to wipe the pan out with a paper towel between batches so there is not an excess of fat in the pan.

If you want to go all out, you can add a piece of pork, some beef bracciole and some Italian sausage (cut into pieces). Quickly brown the meats before adding them to the sauce. The different meats will add great flavor to your sauce.

Extra credit: beef bracciole, Italian sausage and pork

Here's what the sauce will look like after it's been cooking for a few hours.


It's almost dinner time...