Meatball help?!

[badblackpug]

I don't make meatballs, but strangely, we were talking about meatball recipes at work. A coworker says that he puts finely shredded zucchini in his. He says it makes a great binder and the meatballs come out super moist.

 

[Ciao Mickey]

I made meatballs for the first time yesterday. I decided that I am going to make my own since I don't like the frozen ones. DH and DS LOVE meatballs, so I figured I'd try it.

The boys liked them. I thought they were okay - certainly nothing special. So, do you have a good meatball recipe that you are willing to share? I know there have been threads that had recipes, but I couldn't find anything that wasn't pages and pages long with a bunch of stuff I didn't need.

BTW, I went with a fairly common recipe (or so it seemed from looking all over for recipes) with ground beef, ground pork, garlic, bread crumbs, parmesan, eggs, and salt and pepper. They were very blah.

Any tips to make mine tastier will be greatly appreciated!

I only use ground beef in my meatballs. If you can find it use ground sirloin or ground round.

What I use is:

-Ground sirloin or ground round
-Salt (I like Diamond Crystal Kosher) and black pepper
-FRESH chopped Italian parsley (flat leaf)
-a couple of large cloves of garlic chopped fine
-Locatelli Pecorino Romano grated cheese (do not use parmigiano reggiano)
-fresh bread crumbs (do not use canned)
-one egg or two depending on how much you make

Fry the meatballs in olive oil until browned and then put into your gravy last (or tomato sauce). Meatballs do not have to be cooked for hours. They should be added to sauce that is already cooked.

My mother, grandmother and all other previous generations of Italian mothers would soak their stale leftover Italian bread in water and then they would squeeze out the water and mush up the bread, put it in a bowl and add the eggs, cheese, etc to it and mush it up again and then add the meat.

I do it another way.

I take my bread and put it into my KA small grinder and make fresh breadcrumbs. Put the breadcrumbs in a large bowl, add all of the other ingredients mix and then add some water to make a mush, then add the meat last. Mix well by hand, if mixture is dry add a little more water. Form into meatballs.

My family loves and eats the meatballs when they come out of the frying pan. I'm lucky if I have enough to make it to the pot of gravy.

One other thing I do--I take some meat and make a small patty and fry that. Taste it and correct for seasoning. If the meat taste bland then you have to add more salt and grated cheese, etc.

Good luck.

 

[traymoney]

I make big batches and then freeze them in ziploc bags with 8 meatballs per bag (enough for me and DH).

3lb of ground beef
1-2 lb italian sausage taken out of the casing(we shop at Costco so I buy theirs)
1 can diced water chestnuts (adds texture)
garlic and onions (fried in olive oil)
bread crumbs
milk
fresh parsley
lots of fresh pepper

I scoop them with a spring loaded cookie scoop so they are all the same size and then bake them on big sheet pans.
The italian sausage might be cheating... but it tastes so good!

 

[MineMail]

I only use ground beef in my meatballs. If you can find it use ground sirloin or ground round.

What I use is:

-Ground sirloin or ground round
-Salt (I like Diamond Crystal Kosher) and black pepper
-FRESH chopped Italian parsley (flat leaf)
-a couple of large cloves of garlic chopped fine
-Locatelli Pecorino Romano grated cheese (do not use parmigiano reggiano)
-fresh bread crumbs (do not use canned)
-one egg or two depending on how much you make

Fry the meatballs in olive oil until browned and then put into your gravy last (or tomato sauce). Meatballs do not have to be cooked for hours. They should be added to sauce that is already cooked.

My mother, grandmother and all other previous generations of Italian mothers would soak their stale leftover Italian bread in water and then they would squeeze out the water and mush up the bread, put it in a bowl and add the eggs, cheese, etc to it and mush it up again and then add the meat.

I do it another way.

I take my bread and put it into my KA small grinder and make fresh breadcrumbs. Put the breadcrumbs in a large bowl, add all of the other ingredients mix and then add some water to make a mush, then add the meat last. Mix well by hand, if mixture is dry add a little more water. Form into meatballs.

My family loves and eats the meatballs when they come out of the frying pan. I'm lucky if I have enough to make it to the pot of gravy.

One other thing I do--I take some meat and make a small patty and fry that. Taste it and correct for seasoning. If the meat taste bland then you have to add more salt and grated cheese, etc.

Good luck.

This is just like my MIL's recipe - right down to the sirloin and Locatelli Romano cheese. She would choose a steak and have the butcher grind it fresh. I don't know why, but our Kroger's "ground beef" is very lean and tasty, so I switched over about a year ago. It's less expensive, too. I don't care for Food Lion's ground beef - it always has gristle in it, which is unappetizing. Still, it's good to try different things.

Great tip about the tasting patty. I just brown the meatballs and finish them in the sauce so the flavors meld.