I’m trying a new recipe for meatballs which includes diced raisins and chopped pine nuts, garlic and minced onions (with the usual suspects for herbs) wrapped in ground beef (20% fat) slowly simmered in tomato sauce (that’s a different recipe.) Talk to me about your best recipe for meatballs. I wanna get laid…
Skip on raisins and pine nuts.
Equal amounts of beef and pork mince, some minced onion, crushed garlic, ground rock salt and black pepper, chopped parsley, touch of cayenne pepper and 1 egg.
Mix it all together, make meatballs, roll in flour and put in the fridge for an hour or so.
To cook, brown them in a pan then lob them into the sauce of your choice.
- Mixed (pork and veal) meat, minced twice.
- Salt.
- Egg.
- uhm… pan rallado. Teeny weeny breadcrumbs, I guess you could use cookie crumbs.
That’s for the balls themselves. Other ingredients:
- flour
- ingredients for a relatively plain tomato sauce, not including any sources of fat. For my family this means tomato puree (or tomatoes), two cloves of garlic. There is no need for salt or fat as these are provided by the balls.
- frying oil.
The Sacred Amount is that held by the Holiest of Forks, neither more nor less. If the Holiest of Forks is not available, thee shalt use a lesser Fork of the size used for meals; not a spoon shall you use, nor thine hand, to determine the Sacred Amount. The Sacred Amount shall be that held upon the tines of the fork, without covering the base of the tines.
Take the Sacred Amount and use the tips of thine other fingers to roll it up into a ball, then deposit it on a mound of flour and roll it around. Take the floured ball and place it on a flat surface. Continue until all balls are balled.
Fry the balls in a generous amount of oil, using two wooden spoons (or those rubber ones, in any case not metal) for all necessary transfers; the idea is to leave them golden-brown, no need to fry them thoroughly. Start the tomato boiling in a separate pot at the same time that you start heating the oil.
As you fry the balls, move them to the tomato. Let sauce and balls cook together slowly, with the pot uncovered (it may be covered with a grille, or with the lid not completely closed so the vapor can escape), until the sauce has acquired the appropriate consistency.
If you wish to watch the balls disappear at speeds approaching c, serve alone or with spaghetti. If you wish to reserve any balls for other uses, do so before the barbarian hordes descend upon the pot, because once the balls have been seen… they just go!
FYI - I was planning to do diced raisins (sweetness) and chopped pine nuts for a bit more “Mediterranean” take on meatballs, but just slightly with those two ingredients. Doesn’t frying the meatballs beforehand make them a bit tough/rubbery/chewy on the outside?
If you add chopped spinach to those raisins and pine nuts, then it’s called “Catalan style”. I’ve also seen it with almonds and with hazelnuts.
The meatballs shouldn’t be fried throughout, you’re just “precooking” them. The combination of the thin flour crust and the frying keeps them from breaking apart or getting stuck to each other.
Ah, Nava! Thx. But will I get laid? (Queue Berry White music.) Seriously, any tinkering with your recipe?
That first one is a question for your piglette of choice, sirrah.
The second, I’d say try it once and then play with it.
About a pound of beef or lamb (or a combination of both), about a cup of soaked bulgur wheat, parsely, diced onion, spices all smooshed together. Brown meatballs, then simmer in tomato sauce. Or brown and serve with greek-style tzadziki sauce or minted yogurt - they are good cold this way as well. They also work well skewered and cooked on a grill.
Loosely based on Turkish kofte, which I ate a lot of as a kid and still love.
Rolling this over to Cafe Society, from IMHO.
1 pound of beef, mixed with breadcrumbs, 1 egg, parsley, oregeno, salt, pepper, a few red pepper flakes, and italian seasoning. Slightly brown them on all sides in a frying pan. Place them into a pot of tomato sauce and let simmer for at least 30 minutes. Don’t bring sauce to a boil. Oh and add a bay leaf to the sauce.
I do meatballs with whatever mix of meat is convenient, but the ones best in texture are always the ones that incorporate veal into the mix. I typically like a third each of pork, beef, and veal, or just pork and veal 50-50.
The frying step doesn’t make them chewy, in my experience. You’re just browning the outside for flavor. Now, sometimes I do the meatballs without this first fry. It’s a little bit different. Without frying first you get a slightly more delicate texture, but you miss some of the flavor. It really is up to you to see what you like. It’s like the difference between browning or not browning your meat for stew–you get slightly different texture and slightly different flavor. Personally? I generally fry or broil the meatballs to get some color and extra flavor on them.
I don’t really use a recipe, but this is very close to what I end up doing. One difference is that I like to incorporate pine nuts, when I can, but they’re pretty bloody expensive (about 1/4 cup or so is enough for that amount of meat.)
Also, sometimes I substitute fresh Italian sausage (casings removed, of course, or just buy the bulk meat without casings) for the pork in the meatball. That goes over quite well.
½ pound ground beef
½ pound ground pork
½ pound ground veal
1 package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1½ teaspoons dried basil
1½ teaspoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon garlic powder or 4-6 (or more) cloves crushed garlic
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup bread crumbs
You could use lamb in place of the veal, but the SO doesn’t care for lamb. 
Mix everything together. Some people will say to use your hands, but it’s easier and less messy to use the ‘stir’ setting on the stand mixer. Form the meat into balls. We like smaller meatballs, about the size of making a ring with your thumb and index finger. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan and slowly brown the meatballs on all sides. Since they’re small, they should be cooked through when they have been browned. If they aren’t, don’t worry about it. They’ll finish in the sauce. If you like bigger meatballs, like twice that size, bake them in a 375°F oven for half an hour so they’re cooked thoroughly.
When the meatballs are cooked, put them into the sauce. To tell the truth, I like Prego sauce so I tend not to make my own. I put the meatballs into the cold sauce and heat it all up, simmering for 20 or 30 minutes once it comes to a boil.
Grate your own Parmesan cheese with a microplane grater. Don’t use the stuff that comes in a can.
Thanks to everyone who replied. - LP
I got laid! Yippie!!!
Little Pig gave me permission to ask this meatball question in his thread.
I need a recipe for meatballs that is like the one used in meatball subs. Those are usually softer in texture, and the meat is finely ground. Can anyone help me out?
So, which meatball recipe or tips worked? 
Make Italian meatballs and then slice them. Italian meatballs are usually large: smaller than a baseball, larger than a golf ball.
2 pounds ground beef
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan
1 heaping tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 heaping tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
3 tablespoons olive oil.
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In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except olive oil by hand, using a light touch. Take a portion of meat in hand, and roll between palms to form a ball that is firmly packed but not compressed. Repeat, making each meatball about 2 inches in diameter.
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In a large, heavy pot heat olive oil over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, add meatballs in batches. Do not crowd. Brown well on bottoms before turning, or meatballs will break apart. Continue cooking until browned all over. Remove meatballs to a plate as each batch is finished. Let meatballs cool slightly; cover and refrigerate until needed.
Yield: About 16 meatballs.
If you want the recipe for the Sunday gravy that they go into, I’ve posted that here in the past.
The only thing I can add is: my mother, for Swedish Meatballs, uses GRAPE JELLY :eek: !?! Am I having a fever dream?
Well, I’ve never had them with anything advertised as “Swedish meatballs,” but grape jelly and chili sauce or similar to braise appetizer meatballs in is a fairly normal appetizer around here at house parties.
^ Thanks. And forgive my mom–she’s from Alabama.