Meatballs

[nakji]

Thanks, I'll report back. The book is Madhur Jaffrey's Recipes from the Indian Spice Trail, and if I recall correctly, it's a Pakistani Kofta curry. I'm looking forward to it.

I'll add wryly that in my region with its many Vietnamese restaurants featuring "pho" soups [not actually an O in "pho" nor pronounced like one; the soup is French pot-au-feu evolved in Vietnam with local ingredients] you can encounter little meat or fish balls of hard-rubber consistency, resembling the hard little toy "Superballs" that bounce so effectively. Some of these meatballs recall a long-ago dining critic's phrase "USDA Steel-Belted Radial" and defy softening if cooked in anything less than boiling lye. (Use lye, not acid -- acid hardens albumins, alkali softens them -- if you want to try that.)

They also put these same meatballs into Chinese hotpot - although since the pot is usually going at temperatures to melt lead, the broth seems overall to be unaffected by their addition.

[IndyRob]

I'll take the middle ground and say that while heating from frozen would work fine, if you have the luxury of being able to thaw them in fridge overnight, take advantage of it. Reheating will go very quickly.

I've baked uncooked frozen meatballs in a toaster oven in around 15-20 minutes. They get up to temperature very quickly because they're so small.

If it were it me, and if it was important, I might add a few extra sacrificial meatballs that I could pull out and test prior to committing to the batch.

[Blether]

Thanks, I'll report back. The book is Madhur Jaffrey's Recipes from the Indian Spice Trail, and if I recall correctly, it's a Pakistani Kofta curry. I'm looking forward to it...

These kinds of dish - koftas, lamb kebabs - are of course common in North India and Pakistan, along the line of the mountains, aren't they ? I'm interested to compare your kofta experience with my own (mixed fresh and cooked straight away, in the case photographed).

Edited September 6, 2010 by Blether (log)

[judiu]

Have never tried the zucchini trick, but I usually add a can of drained, food processor chopped water chestnuts to a meatloaf, for a little lightness. Works great!

[MaxH]

... koftas ... are of course common in North India and Pakistan, along the line of the mountains, aren't they ?

Not to mention "C. Asia, the Middle East, the Balkans and N. Africa" (Davidson, OCF).

Not unlike the practice of cooking spiced ground meats and rice rolled up in grape or cabbage leaves, done with variations throughout the Mediterranean basin, Turkey and the Balkan peninsula, North Africa, even the Caucasus. People from all those places have sworn to me that their native country was the first. (One learns to expect such claims when talking to people from different countries that share regional cooking traditions!)

[Baron d'Apcher]

Veal Pojarski. Ground Randall-Lineback rose veal, bread & cream panade, butter cooked onions, paprika, salt, whathaveyou. Shaped into cutlets. Twice breaded with toasted breadcrumbs supplemented by parsley and lemon zest. Penne bone proxy and paper booties.

[Paul Bacino]

Killer Veal Presentation Baron..

But back to meat balls:

Generally I mass produce mine, by baking. Sorry I will wash mine off sometimes.. this get off extra fat. place them on wax paper .. freeze them then into a freezer bag.

When I make sugo.. I will wash any frost off.. into the pot they go.

Just being honest!!

BACINO..yeah Sicilian

[Jason Perlow]

I like to smoke or grill my meatballs lately. Do a nice pork and beef mix, season with choice of spices. Wrap them in bacon. Williams-Sonoma has a great meatball grill basket that's fantastic for this purpose.

[rlibkind]

A lunch place I know that specializes in Italian style pulled pork and roast pork frugally utilizes the fat trimmings as 25% of its meatball mix, 75% being exceedingly lean cuts of cheap beef they grind together with the trim. Season it properly and serve with a homey marinara in an Italian roll and you've got a wonderful sandwich.

[Jason Perlow]

Somewhat late, but I developed this recipe to use with shagbark hickory syrup for the holidays/Superbowl.

It's a turkey meatball with apples in it, with a hickory syrup/cider vinegar/apple juice/mustard BBQ sauce, served over smoked sausage rounds.

[Baron d'Apcher]

Rose Veal Paupiette à la Richelieu.

Rose veal paillards wrapped around ground pork seasoned with roasted garlic, rosemary and olive oil-cured tomatoes. Barded with caul fat, my ventrèche and a fatback calotte. Gently roasted with corn, striped roman tomatoes and dutifully basted.

[Mjx]

Rose Veal Paupiette à la Richelieu.

Rose veal paillards wrapped around ground pork seasoned with roasted garlic, rosemary and olive oil-cured tomatoes. Barded with caul fat, my ventrèche and a fatback calotte. Gently roasted with corn, striped roman tomatoes and dutifully basted.

This is extremely pretty! How was the flavour?

[MaxH]

Rose Veal Paupiette à la Richelieu./ Rose veal paillards wrapped around ground pork seasoned with roasted garlic, rosemary and olive oil-cured tomatoes. Barded with caul fat, my ventrèche and a fatback calotte. Gently roasted with corn, striped roman tomatoes and dutifully basted.

IMO, it even READS pretty! :-)

[demo]

I make my meatballs from pork. Usually belly or rib. The high fat content make the texture very light. I usually fry them in a large stock-pot with lard. I know this sounds like the greasiest most unhealthy concoction ever, but my experience is that the meatballs actually loose some fat when fried in 180°C, and the crust is the best thing ever. I freeze them single and put them in a big bag. Then I can use them either in sauce or sandwich or whatever.

Kristian

[rod rock]

Wow,this meatballs here posted are awesome! This could be used as inspiration next time when making them.

[Darienne]

I make my meatballs from pork. Usually belly or rib. The high fat content make the texture very light. I usually fry them in a large stock-pot with lard. I know this sounds like the greasiest most unhealthy concoction ever, but my experience is that the meatballs actually loose some fat when fried in 180°C, and the crust is the best thing ever. I freeze them single and put them in a big bag. Then I can use them either in sauce or sandwich or whatever.

Kristian

I've never tried anything like this, but I think I'm going to... Thanks.

[Motherlover]

I usually make batches of meatballs. The "normal" ones with 1/3 pork, 2/3 beef and boiled potatoes as starch. The "special" ones are made with game (normally elk), duck fat and some potato. I always use allspice as the most important seasoner.

I fry them in a very hot pan, just to give them an almost burnt crust, but a raw center. I then freeze the excess meatballs and cook them in the oven when using them.

[patrickamory]

I'm planning some meatball dishes... Lion's Head meatballs (Chinese pork and water chestnut meatballs), and the Porcupine Meatballs with rice sticking out of them that someone posted recently. Will report back.

[TylerK]

It's interesting the different starches people use in their meatballs. This may be just a factor of having grown up with it, but I've always preferred the texture produced when we add ground oats to ours. A little denser and chewier than when the bread/milk is used, but to me anyway it's always seemed meatier.

[Shel_B]

Spoken like a guy who doesn't have to scrub those browned meat drippings out of the mini-muffin cups.

 

I just bought some mini muffin pans at a garage sale with the express purpose of cooking meatballs in them.  Never thought about any difficulty in cleaning.  Couldn't muffin pan liners be used to good advantage here?

[Smithy]

I just bought some mini muffin pans at a garage sale with the express purpose of cooking meatballs in them. Never thought about any difficulty in cleaning. Couldn't muffin pan liners be used to good advantage here?

That sounds like a good idea, Shel_B. Let us know how it works out, please.

[KennethT]

I know this is off topic, but an easy way to clean meat drippings from any pan (even the muffin pan) is to add a little soap and water to each receptacle while still very hot - you can then put on a burner, or in a hot oven, and in a very short time, all the drippings will wipe off very easily - just like deglazing, but with soap and water.

[FeChef]

Until now, I've roasted them and then frozen them after they cooled. Some interesting twists here to consider, though.

Here is a twist for you. I shape mine, freeze them on a parchment lined cookie sheet, then sous vide them for 4-6 hours at 140-145F then deep fry them for 1-2 minutes. Perfect browning and slight crunchy outside with soft and juicy inside.

[btbyrd]

Here is a twist for you. I shape mine, freeze them on a parchment lined cookie sheet, then sous vide them for 4-6 hours at 140-145F then deep fry them for 1-2 minutes. Perfect browning and slight crunchy outside with soft and juicy inside.

 

That's how I do mine too. If they're really big, I'll freeze them, fry them for 1 minute, freeze them again, cook SV, and then fry again before serving. But that's only for gigantor King Kong style meatballs.

[Shel_B]

On ‎5‎/‎21‎/‎2015 at 10:27 AM, Smithy said:

That sounds like a good idea, Shel_B. Let us know how it works out, please.

 

On ‎5‎/‎21‎/‎2015 at 10:09 AM, Shel_B said:

 

I just bought some mini muffin pans at a garage sale with the express purpose of cooking meatballs in them.  Never thought about any difficulty in cleaning.  Couldn't muffin pan liners be used to good advantage here?

 

Been meaning to follow up on this for some time: the technique worked great for me.