Perfect Meatballs
I've got a confession. A pretty rank one. Pull up a chair, get a cup of coffee.
First, a picture.
A skillet full of browning, herb-laced meatballs. Pretty good, eh? OK, so now the truth. Ready? I don't like ground meat.
OK, don't leave me. I did my best to prepare you. There's more. I could probably go the rest of my life and not eat another hamburger. (See, it gets worse.)
Growing up, we called it "loose meat." As in "loose meat sandwiches." (AKA, Sloppy Joes.) Call me crazy, but I don't like loose meat rolling around my plate. It's unbecoming. Plus, you have to go through about a thousand sessions of expensive therapy for every time your mother ever asked you as a teenager, "Mark, are you willing to try some loose meat tonight?"
That said, Bruce has changed me over the years. (Darn you, marriage.) I've actually gotten to the point where I like meatloaf. And--get this--crave meatballs. Beg for them, in fact. I'm still not over the burger thing, but I'm working on it. Nonetheless, when we were writing COOKING KNOW-HOW, the chapter on meatballs was hands-down my favorite. I loved the whole technique, the way you could make this crazy, global range, from Turkish kofta to buttery Danish frikadeller, from down-home Italian meatballs to Romanian chiftele (made with mashed potatoes and lots of garlic).
So I begged for meatballs the other night. And here's what I got:
First, Bruce mixed all of this in a bowl: 1 pound lean ground beef, 1 pound ground pork, 1 pound ground veal, 2 cups fresh bread crumbs, 1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, 1 tablespoon dried basil, 1 tablespoon dried oregano, 1 tablespoon dried marjoram, 1 tablespoon dried thyme, 1 tablespoon dried rosemary, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 1 large egg, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.
Mixed it up? Yes, with his cleaned, dried hands. He just got in there and smooshed the whole mess together until the herbs, cheese, and bread crumbs were evenly distributed throughout.
OK, fresh bread crumbs. Right. Not an everyday thing. Every time we have a baguette with dinner, we also have a bit left over. We cut it into slices and freeze these in a big zip-closed bag. So every time he needs fresh bread crumbs, he just takes out a bunch of slices and whirs them up in the food processor. But that said, they do the same thing with day-olds at the bakery of most supermarkets. You can usually find fresh bread crumbs there. Don't use dried for this recipe. They don't add enough moisture.
Next, hands dirty, he formed the mixture into 24 meatballs, then browned them in batches in a skillet with a couple tablespoons of olive oil.
Once they were all nicely browned and all on a platter--don't shortchange that step: let them get really browned, even a little blackened in spots--he heated about 2 tablespoons olive oil in a big Dutch oven, then added 1 1/2 cups frozen pearl onions. You could use fresh--but you'll have to peel them. A real pain. It's best to have a partner willing to do the deed. And I was too busy talking about myself.
Stir those onions over the heat until they're golden brown, then pour in 2 cups white wine. Bring it to a full simmer over high heat, scraping up the browned bits in the pot--and let it keep boiling away until the liquid in the pot has been reduced to about 1/2 cup. No need to measure exactly; just eyeball it. This isn't brain science. Or rocket surgery.
Pour in one 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, a couple teaspoons of fennel seeds, a teaspoon or so of red pepper flakes, and several gratings of nutmeg, maybe about 1/4 teaspoon. Return the meatballs and any sauce on their platter to the pot, then bring the whole thing to a full simmer over the heat.
Cover, reduce the heat to low, and let it bubble slowly for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring very gently every once in a long while to make sure nothing's sticking. If you find it drying out in any way--mostly because the heat is too high and/or the pot's lid doesn't fit tight enough to keep the steam inside--add a little broth, just so you have a thick, luscious tomato sauce. Check it for salt--it may need a little more. Listen, a bit pot of meatballs in tomato sauce is enough to make anyone like loose meat. Maybe not to forgo therapy, but certainly to give hamburgers another try.
Mark Scarbrough | Posted on Monday, January 11, 2010 at 1:25PM beef, comfort food, ground beef, loose meat, meatballs, pork, tomatoes, veal 
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Reader Comments (9)
The only meatballs I have ever made end up alongside baked pasta. These sound so great that I may just need to diversify.
now i reaaaaally can't wait to get your book, there's a whole chapter on meatballs?! and omg, how do you know about chiftele? gasp! people i know can hardly put romania on a map, let alone have a clue about its cuisine. (i'm more excited about this then about valentine's coming up.) my grandma used to make em with mashed potatoes.
i know i've said i want to cook all you're cooking, but this, already, is getting to feel a biiiiiit weird: thiswas a peek at my favorite blogs, while the meat for the meatballs was getting closer to room temp. jinx! aaand, while i love meatballs and sarmale, i don't serve other ground meat. over the top, i know, with the coincidences. sarmale is stuffed cabagge done right. posted my favourite under romanian holiday fare, if you'd like to see.
i was taught nutmeg turns villanous if not creamed? what's up with that?
Dave: Thanks for stopping by. Welcome! These meatballs were actually served over polenta. I have a crazy-good source for it, found by a great friend/cook up in Massachusetts. She made it the other night and I've been dreaming of this polenta every day since. When I get my stash, I'll post an entry.
Dana: Having spent time in Bucharest, I can assure you I can put it on the map! And I haven't been back since tanks were patrolling the streets at night. No joke. Anyway, I love those chiftele. And while we're at it, let's not even talk about sunca (darn this program for not allowing the right accents). But still unsure what the nutmeg/creamed comment is all about. Hmmm. Fill me in.
it's one of those bits of info that sticks to your brain early on and by the time you're grown up you never question their veracity. i was eight or nine, i liked nutmeg, so i used it to perfume our morning omlet. it was quite bad, and my grandma or her sister told me i'm only supposed to use it with something dairy, be it milk or cream or sour cream. it never occured to me to double check. after all, my grandma was a deity in that kitchen. she had entire hindquarters curing in the attic. i've never tasted sunca as good as hers.
thaaanks! i've seen that movie twice and wondered what the heck floating islands were!!
what were you doing in bucharest, when all the great grub is in transylvania! the best polenta, too. thanks for your comments mark!
So timely, I've been looking for a recipe for meatballs. I get cravings for them and the meatball heros I dash out for just dont make the grade!
What a mouth-watering post! Thank you! I love that you add fennel to your sauce - a flavour we adore and one we've found works particularly well with pork. On the breadcrumbs point, I remember reading somewhere that there is a world of difference, calorie-wise, between a cup of fresh breadcrumbs and a cup of dried - the latter uses much more bread!
Celia: Welcome to the site. I can tell you that dried bread crumbs require more fat to make them tasty and good. And it stands to reason that there's more "bread" in the collapsed dried versions than in the fresh. But I do know that fresh bread crumbs add more moisture to meatballs--and make them more tender.
M.
I read this post when it posted and have wanted to make these since. Tomorrow I will make these--what else would you serve these overr?
Bill: Mashed potatoes, polenta, mashed root vegetables, sauteed greens, big crunchy homemade croutons. Any of those would be great.