The Key to Great Meatballs

Balls of meat. Genius.

Once man found a way to cut meat into small enough pieces he soon realised that he could save himself the awful bother of tearing and chewing by simply squidging the meat back together and roasting it on a stick.

Some form of meatball seems to exist in just about every cuisine around the world. They pre-date their modern rival, the hamburger, by hundreds of years, I mean meatballs and flatbreads must have been a combo for centuries.

I guess we soon worked out that you could easily add all sorts of things to the meat to make it even tastier although I’m not quite sure who came up with the idea of a panade…

Key to a Great Meatball #1 — The Panade

A panade is a mixture of starch and liquid added to ground meat to stop it from shrinking into an overcooked hockey puck. As the name alludes to, bread is the usual starch and this, in the form of breadcrumbs is left to soak in a liquid — usually milk. I believe the starches in the bread absorb the juices of the meat while the calcium in the milk reacts with enzymes in the meat to break down the proteins. Whatever the science, it makes the meat more tender. Okay?

Key to a Great Meatball #2 — The Meat

This is a bit more obvious but don’t think you are doing yourself a favour by using lean cuts for your meatballs. Like a good burger, you want at least 10% to 20% fat. I use a 50:50 mix of ground pork and ground beef because that’s what everyone else seems to do. I think veal was often favoured but that’s a little pricey and hard to come by these days. You can vary the ratio however you like. Just beef or just pork is fine too.

Key to a Great Meatball #3 — The Cooking

Pan fry or roast your meatballs before simmering them in your sauce. Browning the meat creates flavour so I like to roast mine (it’s a bit less messy than frying and the pan can get a little over-crowded too) until they are nicely brown and have a core temperature of around 50°C (120°F). I then scape them and any juices into the pot of simmering sauce. Put the lid on and leave to simmer very gently for up to an hour — allowing it all to marry together and the meat to become beautifully soft.

If you’re short on time the meatballs will be fine to serve after about 20 minutes but the longer cooking time certainly improves the eating experience. Check and stir occasionally and make sure they are not bubbling too vigorously. You may want to add some water or stock at the end to thin the sauce down a bit.

There are so many options for meatballs but I like to keep it as simple as possible with a fairly traditional recipe. If I feel like changing it up I have a Mexican-style meatball recipe which is also incredible.

Ingredients for My Italian Meatballs:

1. 50g Breadcrumbs (any will do)

2. 100g Whole Milk (semi-skimmed will work)

3. ½ Large Onion — Grated.

4. 1½ Tsp Salt

5. ½ Tsp Ground Black Pepper

6. 375g Ground Beef

7. 375g Ground Pork

8. 1 tbsp Dried Oregano

9. 25g Grated Parmesan

These quantities make about 16 x 60g Meatballs

Approximate Nutrition per 60g Meatball: Carbohydrate 3g; Protein 12g; Fat 6g; 120 Kcal. (Source Carb Manager App)

For the sauce:

1. 1 x Onion — diced and softened in a pan with olive oil or butter.

2. 2 x 400g of Good Quality Tinned Tomatoes ( I use Mutti Polpa)

3. 2 x nice, plump Cloves of Garlic

4. 2 tsp Salt:

Method:

1. Set the oven to 200°C (390°F)

2. Make the panade — mix the breadcrumbs, milk and grated onion and leave to soak for 10 to 20 minutes.

3. Mix everything (including the panade), ball into the size you want, arrange on a baking tray and pop into the oven for about 10 to 12 minutes until browned. Be careful not to overcook them at this stage — this is about caramelisation — the real cooking comes next.

4. While the meatballs are cooking you can prepare your sauce which involves softening the onion in some butter or olive oil, then blitzing everything to a smooth consistency and heating it all up in a pot big enough to accommodate the meatballs.

5. Remove meatballs from the oven and transfer to the sauce — remember to scrape everything from the baking tray into the pot ensuring you splatter the sauce all over the walls in the process.

6. Cover and simmer very gently on the stove or transfer to an oven set to low (130°C/260°F) for an hour (20 mins if you’re starving). Check and stir every so often and make sure the sauce is not bubbling too ferociously.

7. Adjust the consistency of the sauce with water if necessary and season as required.

Cook up some pasta and ladle the meatballs over the top.

Seriously tasty stuff.