Moist Meatballs – Princes not Paupers

So, you know the story of Prince and the Pauper? They swapped places for a day. Well, minced/ground meat, (which some might consider the pauper of meats), should be treated like a prince on meatball days. Why? Because moist meatballs are good meatballs. And for a moist meatball to fulfil its potential, it needs to be treated delicately. Like a prince.

Meatballs are good value, go a long way, and, with simple tweaks to the seasonings, cover a variety of tastes. For example, the photo of my meatballs here shows Italian-flavoured meatballs with a tomato sauce, and cumin and coriander/cilantro meatballs with a lug of sweet chilli sauce. One I cooked in the pan; the other I baked in the oven.

I treated both delicately, both in the prep and cooking stages.

The trick to moist meatballs is a using a good amount of binder i.e. bread soaked in milk in the mix, and not a lot of egg. While you don’t need 50/50 meat to bread, I’d recommend about 70/30 meat/bread.

With regards to egg, I’ve used as little as one lightly-beaten egg to 1.5kg/3.3 lbs of minced/ground meat. It just needs enough to help hold it together. Some of this will depend on whether you use pork, or beef, and how lean, or not, the meat is. You will tell by feel, which is why you need hands. Pork mince will naturally be stickier. Too much egg, and the meatball gets tough in cooking.

“This is the recipe that divides Italy: meatballs. Or as we say in Italian, polpette. If you go to the south of Italy, in the middle of the north, everybody has their own recipe, they add their own ingredients, some people put in onions, some people put in garlic. One thing that you need to know, though, is that Italian people do not eat meatballs with spaghetti. That is an American thing, Italian people have meatballs with tomato sauce and crusty warm bread.”

-gino D’Acampo, chef, as quoted on SBS Food

Meatballs – Princes not Paupers

A moist meatball is a good meatball.

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Prep Time:45 minutes mins

Cook Time:25 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Servings: 6 as a meal

Ingredients

Basic Meatballs

• 1.5 kg 3.3 lbs minced/ground beef, or a mix of pork & beef, or lamb. I prefer regular mince, not lean, for meatballs.
• 9 slices fresh or day-old bread (I like to use white, with crusts cut off, supermarket loaf will do. I also prefer this to breadcrumbs as I think it makes a lighter mix)
• milk, enough to soak the bread in
• 1 egg, lightly whisked
• 2-3 cloves garlic, very finely minced, or 1-2 teaspoons garlic powder. Some people prefer garlic powder because they worry about raw garlic, but if finely minced, the garlic does cook within the meatball For FODMAP, leave out onion and garlic and season with herbs, salt and pepper only.
• ¾ onion, very finely chopped, or 2-3 teaspoons onion powder. See comment above.
• pepper (I don't add salt at this stage as it can dry out the meat)
• any finely chopped herb or dried herb you like (optional, or try the seasonings below)

Italian Meatballs – add to the meat before rolling into balls.

NOTE: The ingredients below are for the whole 1.5kg of meat. I like to split 1.5kg of meat into 500g each across three bowls and do different flavours (including without onion or garlic). I know each bowl needs 3 slices of bread & I adjust seasonings accordingly.

• 1 tbsp dried Italian seasoning
• 1-2 tbsp grated parmesan
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped finely
• Napoli tomato sauce (onion, garlic, tinned tomato, sugar, salt, pepper, herbs) to finish off cooking the meatballs and to serve https://stewedpears.com/tomato-napoli-sauce/

Cumin & Coriander/Cilantro Meatballs – add to meat before rolling into balls. Recommended with a pork/beef mix.

• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground coriander/cilantro
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped finely
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes (optional)
• store bought sweet chilli sauce to serve

Instructions

Preparation

• Mix meat, garlic, onion, pepper, herbs thoroughly in a bowl. (For FODMAP you can leave out the garlic and onion and season with herbs, pepper and salt only.) You will need to use your hands for the next stages.
• Soak bread in milk. Squeeze out milk with hands and add to the meat mixture and mix it through thoroughly, breaking up the bread lumps. We're looking for a 70% meat to 30% bread combination. Don't worry if it's more.
• Add whisked egg and mix. (Remember: if splitting meat mixture across bowls for different flavouring, you'll only need one egg total for all those bowls.)
• Using hands and a tablespoon, delicately craft mix into balls about the size of a ping pong ball. Place in a single layer on a plate, cover with film, and refrigerate for at least half an hour.

Bake or Pan-Fry

• Bake at 200℃/400℉ for 20-25 minutes. If using a tomato sauce to serve, have that warmed in a pan, remove meatballs from oven at 20 minutes. Gently transfer to pan and finish off in the sauce for another 5 minutes.
• OR shallow fry meatballs in pan until browned all over, reduce heat and allow to cook through, turning gently, about 15 minutes.

Serve

• Serve on their own as appetisers, with salad, pasta and Napoli tomato sauce, rice or mashed potato.