Need help in making gluten-free meatballs

[Paul Bacino]

I have to fill an obligation, we had a severe storm in Bennington ( Omaha ) ,and i need to make food to the person who helped in a clean up.  Problem is he wants my sugo , wife is gluten free.   He wants meatballs.  So i need something to replace bread,  that wont completely change profile.  Thoughts

 

B

[TicTac]

Gluten free bread?  Many good options available out there...Not sure what brands are available south of the border, but surely many more than what we have up here in the Great White North!

 

Because you want something that is going to create a fluffy texture and absorb fats/moisture, there are not many alternatives...perhaps GF Panko, but I would stick with GF Bread...

[curls]

Does the wife have a gluten free bread that she likes? Perhaps that will work for the bread in your meatballs.

[Alex]

Well, gluten-free bread, of course. Not surprisingly, I guess, I haven't found any I like nearly as much as "regular" bread, but the loaves I get via mail order from Atwater's in Baltimore are quite decent. Costco sometimes has an OK loaf. Otherwise, I'm thinking g-f matzo meal (Manischewitz) or bread crumbs (Schãr). I found a recipe online that uses potato flakes.

Edited October 15 by Alex (log)

[rotuts]

@Paul Bacino

 

for a panade effect , Ive been using freshly ground roiled oats for a while.

 

I use a blade coffee grinder for the desired amount .  Ive added this to my Turkey Meat Loaf ( TML )

 

for years to what I think is good effect.  I keep the rolled oats in a tightly fitted jar in the refrigerator 

 

as I don't use them often , and I think they dont get as stale that way.

 

I dont have fresh , good quality bread as much as I used to , even though my local TJ's has some

 

excellent fresh varieties daily , except Monday.

 

I just gobble that bread up w butter after a session in the CSO.

 

So delicious .  but a weighty proposition when you get to a certain age.;

 

good luck.

[chromedome]

I can second the rolled-oats option. When I was growing up, that was my mom's go-to for meatballs and meatloaf and she even used it sometimes in burger patties (I suspect that latter was when money was tight and she needed to stretch the ol' grocery budget). The beta-glucans in the oats (the soluble fiber that can make cooked oatmeal seem gummy) makes them a good binding ingredient.

 

Just be aware that while oats are naturally gluten-free, most brands are processed in mills that also process gluten-containing grains and are therefore susceptible to cross-contamination. You'd need to look for a brand that's certified gluten-free.

[Beebs]

Cooked rice & cooled rice.

 

Extra firm tofu, crumbled. There is some extra water content in tofu, though.

 

 

[YvetteMT]

Certified GF oats (Quaker brand is what I use, you can grind them if you want to avoid seeing the oats themselves in the meatballs).  I cant imagine a GF bread that would make a nice panade, the bread just doesnt behave like real bread.

[Mjx]

I regularly use rolled oats (both fine and coarse), rice flakes (my favourite, in terms of texture), rice panko, or millet flakes (I replace them 1:1 by weight) when I make meatballs, and the results are very satisfactory: I'm very picky about the texture of my food. I've used potato flakes and crushed potato chips in a pinch, but the results were heavier and a bit pasty in terms of consistency.

 

ETA I also used gluten-free-bread crumbs on one occasion, but the results were similar to the potato-chip or -flake meatballs, probably because of the lack of gluten: no structure.

 

ETA, I forgot to mention that I usually (i.e. unless I forget) lightly toast any grain flakes before I use them: a couple of minutes in a pan over medium-high heat does the trick. I think the texture is slightly better when I do this, but it may be imagination, and as I said, I'm very picky about food texture.

[rotuts]

@Mjx

 

very interesting .

 

Id like to hear a bit more about those rice flakes .

 

adding cooked rice is one thing , but Im guessing 

 

using rice flakes , gives you some rice flavor , and texture more like

 

ground rolled oats .

 

thanks for that idea

[Mjx]

11 hours ago, rotuts said:

@Mjx

 

very interesting .

 

Id like to hear a bit more about those rice flakes .

 

adding cooked rice is one thing , but Im guessing 

 

using rice flakes , gives you some rice flavor , and texture more like

 

ground rolled oats .

 

thanks for that idea

 

Most health food shops carry rice flakes, and some supermarkets, too; if they seem really expensive, look elsewhere, because they shouldn't be outrageously priced.

I've found that rice flakes don't add a noticeable flavour to meatballs, particularly the ones I make, which are fairly well-seasoned, so the herbs, spices, tomato paste, and so on dominate. The texture is not noticeably different to meatballs made with ordinary bread crumbs.

[Paul Bacino]

I   like the GF Rolled oats idea.   Question on rice flakes,  do u cook them first?   I mean,  i have like pad Thai noodles,  i can cook and use a light pulse in food processor, to keep texture

 

Thoughts 

[Mjx]

16 hours ago, Paul Bacino said:

I   like the GF Rolled oats idea.   Question on rice flakes,  do u cook them first?   I mean,  i have like pad Thai noodles,  i can cook and use a light pulse in food processor, to keep texture

 

Thoughts 

 

Usually, I lightly toast the rice (or oat, or millet) flakes first, which makes them more bread-crumb-like, but even when I've forgotten to, or skipped this, the results have been fine, perhaps a tiny bit denser.

[liuzhou]

 

Lion's head meatballs (狮子头 - shī zi tóu), tennis ball sized meatballs from eastern China are possibly the tenderest meatballs I've encountered. They usually use hand chopped pork with 30% fat, tofu and finely chopped water chestnuts for a bit of crunch (but these can be omitted). Beef can be substituted.

 

There are various recipes on the internet but many have been very westernised and include breadcrumbs and similar - something rarely used in China. This one from Serious Eats is the closest to what I find here. The recipe suggests that canned water chestnuts are acceptable. They are definitely not used here - in 30 years I've never even seen them! That said I can see them being OK in this context.

 

 

[Paul Bacino]

Thanks for all the input!!!

[Smithy]

48 minutes ago, Paul Bacino said:

Thanks for all the input!!!

 

Please report back after you've done them: what you did, how well they turned out!

[Paul Bacino]

So,  thanks to those chime in on Rolled oats.  Picked some up at WF. I didn't toast mine, as i some times toast my garlic.  I soaked the oats in milk for 1/2 hr.  I just used beef,  added the oat mixture,  mixed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They actually turned out really well,

[rotuts]

@Paul Bacino

 

very interessting .  you didn't grind the rolled oats ?

 

you might get a different texture , a one that;;s also good

 

by grinding the oats in a blade grinder 

 

 

 

 

[Fernwood]

Chiming in to say, rice flakes or 'flattened rice' are/is readily available at Indian groceries in my area--look for poha.  Like @rotuts I grind rolled oats (in food processor) and store the ground oats in the freezer, handy for this purpose.  For meatloaf I usually use 50:50 breadcrumbs:oats but I will try poha sometime--it's another convenient product. 

[Paul Bacino]

17 hours ago, rotuts said:

@Paul Bacino

 

very interessting .  you didn't grind the rolled oats ?

 

you might get a different texture , a one that;;s also good

 

by grinding the oats in a blade grinder 

 

 

 

 

Thanks  RT