YPDIW: Meatballs
When I, as well as many people, think of Italian food, they likely think of the classics: pasta, pizza, tiramisu, gelato, and wine.
But one dish that has a high place on that list in my heart is, of course, meatballs. Somehow, meat simply tastes that much better when it’s in a ball form.
While I’m not saying that Italy is the only country that makes great meatballs, there are also lamb meatballs from India called kofta, Swedish meatballs, and even Vietnamese meatballs, the Italian meatball is certainly a classic.
Sadly, as great as meatballs are, there are a lot of common mistakes that people make when cooking meatballs, so today I’m going to go over those mistakes in detail and also describe how you can make juicy, tender, delicious meatballs without even thinking.
A good meatball, just like a burger or meatloaf, starts with good meat, and a lot of people seem to start with lean ground beef, that’s meat with a >5% fat ratio.
This is an issue because, without that added fat, there won’t be much to hold onto the moisture and flavor of the meat during cooking, so they end up eating a dry, flavorless meatball in no time.
Meatballs are not diet food, deal with it!
So even if you get the meat right, I often see people add too many breadcrumbs or other binding agents.
Breadcrumbs are important for meatballs because they help the meat hold its shape during cooking and keep the meatballs from becoming dry by grabbing onto the juices that the meatballs release.
However, using too many breadcrumbs is a problem because that can ruin the final texture of your meatball, giving you more of a Thanksgiving stuffing texture than ground meat.
One of the biggest mistakes someone can make when making meatballs is packing them too tight, they’ll pick up the meat mixture and squeeze it together like it’s a stress ball.
What ends up happening is the ground beef compacts together really tight, leading to a dense texture, almost like sausage, and turning those meatballs into those little bounce balls.
Even worse is that people don’t portion the meatballs evenly, so they end up with some meatballs twice the size of others, meaning those larger meatballs will still be pink by the time the smaller ones are overcooked.
Finally, the last mistake people make when making meatballs is putting the raw meatballs directly into the marinara sauce without searing them and what happens is the meatballs end up taking on the texture of boiled meat.
You wouldn’t want a burger that’s grey, flavorless, and boring, so why would you want your meatballs that way?
What you end up with are dense, chewy, unevenly cooked meatballs that would make every Italian grandmother faint from just the thought.
Now, I’m going to show you the right way to make delicious meatballs.
(Recipe is towards the bottom)
First, start with the freshest ground beef as you possibly can.
I’m not saying you have to grind the meat yourself, though compliments to the chef if you did, but it does need to be fresh and have an 80/20 meat-to-fat ratio.
This extra fat will help keep the meatballs moist during cooking and also add flavor.
Place your meat into a bowl, then add grated onion, garlic, parmesan, salt, and pepper.
You can add other things like grated carrots, chopped herbs, or even chopped pancetta to enhance the flavor of your meatballs even more, but I’d stay away from mushrooms as they have a lot of water and that water can cause your meatballs to fall apart.
Then it’s time to add the eggs and breadcrumbs, the question is how many do you add?
For every pound of ground beef, I say using 2 whole eggs and 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs is ideal, you can always add more breadcrumbs if you need to.
With open hands, gently mix the meat mixture together until it’s fully combined. To test if you have enough breadcrumbs, pick up a pinch of meat, form it into a small ball, and toss that around in your hands a few times.
If the meat doesn’t fall apart, then you’re good to go!
To make sure your meatball mixture is seasoned properly, and this is something done in restaurant kitchens, take that same pinch of meat and form it into a patty, then cook in a small frying pan for about a minute on each side.
Taste that, see if it needs more salt, and adjust the seasoning accordingly.
Because once the meatballs are cooked, it’ll be too late to adjust the seasoning.
Now that your meatball mixture is perfect, it’s time to form it into balls. If you have a small ice cream scoop, then that would be good, but I figure that making each meatball the size of a golf ball is ideal.
You can make them bigger or smaller if you wish, but the most important thing is that all of the meatballs are about the same size.
Also, when shaping your meatballs, you want to gently roll and caress your meat in the palm of your hands until the mixture forms a ball, it should only need a few seconds of rolling.
Now comes the most important process for making flavorful meatballs, the searing process.
Place the meatballs in the same pan you just cooked that tester meatball in one at a time.
Think about the face of a clock, you want to start with 12 o’clock then work your way around the pan in that clockwise fashion, that way you know the order you put your meatballs in and therefore you know the order to flip your meatballs and which ones need to come out first.
I usually sear the meatballs for about a minute per side until all of the sides are browned nicely, working in batches if I need to as overcrowding the pan can cause the meatballs to steam rather than sear.
It’s ok if the meatballs aren’t fully cooked at this point because they will cook more later on. Also, one or two of your meatballs might fall apart, but this isn’t the end of the world.
Once all of my meatballs are browned, it’s time for the other important step, putting them into the marinara sauce and leaving them to cook for about 5-10 minutes.
That’s another advantage to searing the meatballs, it’s that they won’t take as long to cook once they go into the sauce.
This stage is important because meatballs are absorbing some of the flavor of the sauce and getting cooked through, and the sauce is taking on the flavor of the meatballs.
When it comes to checking if the meatballs are done, this is a good time to have one extra meatball that you can take out of the sauce and cut open to see if it’s cooked.
Meatballs are done when there is no visible pink on the inside, sorry but there’s no such thing as a medium-rare meatball. If that extra meatball is still a little pink in the middle, I will give the meatballs another 4-5 minutes.
If you’ve done everything right, then you’ll find how easy it is to make soft, tender, flavorful, rustic Italian meatballs, and your family will love you.
Easy Meatballs (The right way)
Makes 16 balls
1 pound of 80/20 ground beef
1/4 cup of grated onion
2 minced garlic cloves
1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of breadcrumbs, plus more if needed
2 eggs
salt and pepper
Olive oil
2 cups of marinara sauce
In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients except for the sauce and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
(To test if there are enough breadcrumbs, form a piece of the meat mixture into a small ball, then toss it around in your hands a bit. If the meat doesn’t fall apart after you do this, then it’s good to go!
To test if the seasoning is right, take a pinch of the meat mixture, form it into a small patty, then cook in a small frying pan for a minute on each side. Taste that, and adjust the seasoning accordingly.)
Gently mix together to combine, then evenly divide the meat mixture into 1 1/2-2 inch balls, being very gentle as you roll them.
Heat some olive oil in a large pan, then, working in batches if necessary, cook the meatballs for about 1 minute per side, or until browned all over.
To remember which meatball went in first, place one meatball in the edge of the pan farthest from you, that’s 12 o’clock, then add more meatballs in a clockwise pattern until you’ve circled back around.
Bring the marinara sauce to a simmer in a medium pot, then add all of the meatballs, stirring to coat, and simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the meatballs are fully cooked.
Enjoy!
