My mother never made them. Of course, the only thing Italian about her was that they knew the local Fiat dealer… in any case, we had meat sauce (sort of Bolognese) and that’s all I ever learned out to make.
There’s a thread elsewhere, from a couple of years back, discussing whether you should brown the meatballs first or plunk 'em into the sauce raw. IIRC, there was no real consensus.
Anyhow:
Got a good recipe for meatballs?
If so, can I make 'em and freeze 'em raw? or brown 'em and freeze them?
If I do the plunk into sauce raw approach, can I freeze that? (assuming not, as they’d likely fall apart when thawing the mess)
Most recipes, I gather, involve soaking bread in milk then mixing that into the rest of the mixture before shaping. Can we use whole wheat (or “whole grain white”) for that?
And, got a good marinara recipe?
Right now, our approach is a bag of frozen meatballs, a jar of store-bought sauce (a good brand, not Ragu!!), simmered together for a bit. Which works, but those meatballs are really kinda bad-tasting.
I use this recipe for meatballs, and absolutely love them. I freeze them raw all the time, and just cook enough for the meal. They’re good either browned first, or just cooked in the sauce. My suggestion is to try both ways, and go with the one you prefer.
I don’t know about freezing them in the sauce, haven’t done that myself.
I like to make meatballs almost as big as billiard balls. Use pure beef (80% chuck). Mix with chopped garlic and onions, salt and pepper. One scrambled egg mixed in for every half pound. Mold them into balls. Fry them in oil that sinks them at least half-way. To see whther or not they’re done, pierce them with either a thin barbecue stick or a fat toothpick (made from bamboo.) The ball must cling to the stick enough to raise it above the oil. Put them on a plate and pour some of the spaghetti sauce over to keep them moist.
I prefer half 20% fat beef (chuck) and half pork. Then, a must–breadcrumbs. My mom’s meatballs were delicious, but she only used beef and no crumbs (crumbs are for poor people–to extend the meat). I found the crumbs suck up and retain some moisture, so the meatballs stay moist and tender.
1 lb ground chuck
1 lb ground pork
1/2 cup of breadcrumbs
1/4 cup parsley
1/3 cup parmesean or romano cheese
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins
Salt and pepper to taste
That’s right–raisins and cinnamon. When I tell that to people I get the polite, “oh crap i have to eat one to be polite” face, but I’m always out at the end of a party and everybody wants the recipe. Raisins add a great sweetness to the savory meatballs. some people say to rehydrate the raisins. I don’t. They’ll plump up on their own as they cook–just don’t use the 5 year old raisins in the back of your cupboard. Try it. You’ll like it.
Mix everything together, roll into balls about the size of a billiard ball. Put on a cookie sheet and bake at 450 for 5-10 min. Turn over, bake for another 5-10–you’re browning–not cooking. You can brown these in a fry pan, but the oven is just easier for this many meatballs.
Take them out, dump them in a pot of red sauce and braise for at least 3-4 hours. These are really good.
Something along these lines are my favorite. I say “along these lines,” because I use beef, veal, and pork (in equal proportions) instead of all beef, but otherwise, that’s the recipe I base them off. The raisins and pine nuts are key. These are awesome. I’ve always liked pine nuts in meatballs, but I didn’t realize raisins were also used in the Sicilian-style meatballs until I found a few recipes to try to replicate them.
Coincidentally, that’s what we had for dinner tonight. Except that I use vegetarian "meat"balls from Veggie Patch which my GF, a meat-eater, thinks are seriously awesome. I sautéed a lot of garlic in olive oil in which I browned the "meat"balls and then simmered them in marinara. Over dinner, we watched an episode of Buffy in which plates of spaghetti in the cafeteria turn into dozens of evil snakes which attack the kids and one bites Cory on the face. I remarked that if I’d known we’d see that, I would have planned something else for dinner.
These are excellent, and are part of a recipe called - strangely enough - Mama Zappa’s spaghetti sauce, which is to die for. Make sure the meatballs are large; larger than a golf ball, smaller than a baseball. Italian meatballs are supposed to be large, as opposed to Swedish meatballs. Make sure you don’t overwork the meat or compress it.
I prefer a mix of beef/pork/lamb, but just beef works fine too. Soft shredded bread is better than crumbs, but crumbs work pretty well, just add a little extra liquid. For 2 pounds of meat add 1/2 cup of cream, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup parmesan, and usually parsley, oregano and some cayenne. I’ll often add thyme, basil, black pepper, and/or a dash of worcestershire. Billiard ball size is about right. I’ve sometimes browned them ahead of time, but I think it works best to form the meatballs, let them sit in the fridge for an hour or more, then drop them right into sauce.
It’s all pretty regional. In Italy, they vary from 1/2 inch across to about 2 inches across. The larger styles of Italian meatballs seem to be more popular in the US. I typically make them about golf-ball sized.
Here’s my recipe, which is a slight variation on this one:
2 1/2 pounds ground beef (I use 7% fat because (a) I need to watch my cholesterol and (b) the fat in 20% beef tends to burn if you leave it in the oven too long)
2 eggs (I use 1/2 cup of “liquid egg-like product”
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon mixed Italian herbs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan/Romano
Mix, shape into 20 meatballs (around 2 1/2 ounces each), and bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.
I have had no problem with freezing them.
Suggestion: when you bake the meatballs, use either a baking dish or a baking sheet with raised edges - otherwise the fat will run off the sides and onto the bottom of your oven (especially not a good thing if you use 80/20 beef).
The other meats are what impart the deep flavor to the sauce. They braise until they fall apart, then are typically removed to a separate plate for people to help themselves. It’s a true “Sunday gravy” recipe, rich and flavorful and authentic, not at all weird. I’ve turned leftover sauce into a soup with white beans. I’ve used leftover meatballs and sauce for meatball sandwiches (with provalone melted under the broiler). Sometimes I just make a sauce with meatballs and just have the sandwiches, skipping the pasta altogether.
For me, smaller meatballs tend to become dense and overcooked. I prefer browning them, as the caramelized flavor is what you’re after. Same with the braised meats. Many people who don’t brown them think that somehow the flavor is being “sealed in” by browning, which is patently false.
I missed this, but I’m with Chefguy on this one. Nothing weird about it, it’s typical “Sunday gravy.” I think it may be most well-known in New York and Chicago Italian-American traditions, though. When I make it, I add all that, plus Italian sausage. Just google “Sunday gravy recipe” to see.
I usually cook some sausage in the sauce also. And yes, many people will throw all the leftovers into the sauce. I’ve frequently seen chicken wings and bones tossed in to enrich the flavor. Some add meat broths as well.
My recipe, which has evolved over the years and involves almost no input from anyone else:
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 c Italian bread crumbs
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese
1 T dry oregano
1 T dry basil
1 T dry parsley
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 egg
1/2 c hot water
Mix everything together and let sit for 20 minutes so the bread crumbs absorb the moisture. I sautee with cooking spray to get some browning on the outside, then simmer them in the spaghetti sauce. I think that you’d be fine freezing this in the sauce once they’re cooked.
I don’t get throwing them uncooked into the sauce. I bake mine first (and drain away a ton of grease). Doesn’t that make the sauce greasy? Or is that a good thing?
to a pound of 80% hamburg (or a pound of ‘meatloaf mix’, veal/pork/beef) I soak maybe 4 or 5 slices of crumbled white bread in a little milk and a beaten egg. I add oregano, salt, pepper, some parmesan cheese, garlic and onion (I often used powders - I’m not cooking for goormays here). I let this mixture sit till the bread dissolves as we don’t care for chunks of bread in our meatballs. Or beat it up with a fork till the bigger pieces are broken up. Then I crumble in the meat into the egg/bread and moosh it all up till it’s incorporated. Make golfball size meatballs, bake on a rimmed cookie sheet at 325 degrees maybe 20 minutes. Take them off, and they’re ready to be simmered in sauce for however long it takes to cook and drain the pasta. Any leftover meatballs and sauce are easily frozen!
