Meatballs

You may eat these meatballs with pasta, as I often do, although I’m sure the purists will note that this is a strictly Italian American combination. There are some Italian American moments throughout this collection, things they do particularly well, but for the most part I like to keep things as traditional as possible and not skew things towards the New World (or at least, when I do so, I like to do so in my own way). These meatballs are delicious on their own, or with a tomato sauce; either way, they do not demand pasta. But the comforts of good old spaghetti and meatballs are often too strong to be ignored.

It’s important to start with your meats cold, so that the fats go into an emulsion of sorts when you mix them, and don’t separate out. You want this to be almost whipped, so there’s a good snap when you bite into them, so mix vigorously. However, you should be careful not to over-mix it or it will become tough when cooked – it should have a bit of crumble, too (see hamburger and meatloaf entries for comparison).

There are a lot of variations that are possible here; the only one I like to do with any regularity is to add some diced and sautéed cremini or portabella mushrooms. But you can also play with the ratios – doubling or tripling the amount or switching the variety of cheese certainly could not hurt.

I often feel that as good as these are, there’s a way to make them perfect that I can’t figure out. But seeing as I’m not sure that these are the ultimate meatballs, I am quite sure they’ll do until the ultimate meatballs get here.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground sirloin (or whatever mixture you like best)
• ½ pound ground park (you may substitute sweet Italian sausage for the pork)
• 2 large eggs
• ¾ cup milk (or heavy cream)
• 2 oz parmiggiano reggiano
• 1 cup panko
• 1 TBS each dried basil, oregano, thyme
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2-3 TBS olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

Add each of the meats to a large bowl and break up with your finger tips so that they’re not thoroughly combined but they are evenly distributed. Add all of the other ingredients. Make sure that the panko have fully absorbed all the liquid they can before mixing. You don’t want them to be crunchy and dry within the meatballs. You can also add them to the milk in a separate bowl and let them soak for 30 seconds before adding them.

Using more fingertips than the heel of your hand, combine all the ingredients vigorously until you have a homogenous mixture. Don’t over mix once it’s thoroughly combined, and don’t continue to knead it like bread either. It’s a good idea to have someone on hand to add more breadcrumbs or milk if the consistency isn’t quite right – if it’s sticking to your hands it’s too dry and if it’s too wet, it will appear so.

Pinch a small amount off and roll it between your palms to form a ball the size of a golf ball – this is your test ball that you will use to judge the seasoning. This is very important when cooking any sort of forcemeat – since when it’s raw you cannot evaluate, you must do so before preparing the whole batch. Heat a drop of olive oil in a small pan and add the ball – I usually slice it in half so I have two small patties. Cook over medium heat until just cooked through then remove and let cool slightly. You don’t want to cook this too hard or fast, since a good sear on it will not give you a clear picture of the seasoning (it will be too delicious). Evaluate the test ball, then adjust seasoning if necessary and recombine. (Do another test ball if necessary, but you shouldn’t need to since you probably weren’t that far off to start.)

Form the balls and place on a plate. If you have increased this recipe and are working with a large batch, put whatever you’ve already done in the fridge after 10 minutes or so. As the balls warm up to room temperature, they’ll start to sag and will lose their spherical shape, but keeping them cold will prevent this. This also happens when you place them in the hot pan, so if you have the patience or time, place the entire batch in the fridge for about 30 minutes before cooking. This will firm them up and ensure that you have nice spherical balls, rather than flattened ones, and they’ll also sear more evenly.

When you’re ready to cook them, place a large skillet over high heat and film with olive oil. When they oil is very hot, fill the pan with as many balls as will fit – don’t over crowd the pan by stacking any on top of one other, but you also don’t need to leave any space. You want to cook these by using pretty perpetual motion so the sear is on their entire surface and they remain round, but of course they’ll contract as they cook so if you fill up all available real estate on the bottom of your pan, there should be enough room for them to roll around and bounce off each other and also remain largely in place.

If you’ve chilled your balls before cooking, you should be able to just roll them off the plate or whatever they’re on into the pan. If you need to place them in one by one, do so quickly so that they’re all cooking for the same amount of time. Let them sear for about 60 seconds, then shake the pan so they begin to flip over and bounce off each other. Carefully flip any that didn’t go using tongs. Cook for about another 60 seconds. You should now have a pretty good sear on two sides, and you shouldn’t need to address any individually from this point on. Using a combination of gentle flips, shakes, and rolling the pan in a circular motion every 30 seconds or so, keep the meatballs moving so that all sides are coming into contact with the bottom (or if you’ve got a pan with nice curved sides, the sides) of the pan. You may use a utensil if necessary, but it probably won’t be. If there is a statistical oddity among the group that always seems to land on the same side, flip it manually.

Don’t over cook these – split one open when they seem to be done and remove from the heat immediately if so. They should all be the same size so they should all be done at the same time but if there are any of varying size, adjust the cooking time accordingly. You may drain these on a paper towel when they’re done.

Enjoy immediately with dipping sauce, tomato sauce, or on their own; or, feel more than free to serve cold the next day. See also meatball sub entry.