About Meatballs
Meatballs are ground or minced meat mixed with some kind of binder (which is usually, but not always, bread crumbs and egg), some herbs, spices and sometimes minced vegetables like onions or garlic. Meatballs can be made from just about any type of meat that you can think of. I have recipes for beef, pork, lamb, bison, venison, turkey, and even duck meatballs. Some of the most popular meatball recipes are Spaghetti and Meatballs, Meatball Subs, Italian Meatballs, and my personal favorite: Swedish Meatballs. I have all my meatball recipes listed below, and I recommend you try them all. Above is a short video featuring me mixing up a simple recipe for meatballs with ground meat, minced onion, bread crumbs, egg, fennel, oregano, salt and pepper. It was very good.
Making Meatballs
- Mixing Assemble all your ingredients and mix them together. Try not to overmix the meat as it will become stringy.
- Portioning You can portion the meatballs by hand rolling into log and cutting into squares. Or you can use a ice-cream scoop. Or just wing it.
- Cooking I like to pan-fry my meatballs, but baking also works. Baking in a cupcake tin works really well for larger meatballs.
- Saucing (optional) Whether you prefer tomato or gravy or butter or brown, sauces go great with meatballs. For the lamb meatballs a coconut curry goes great!
Tips & Tricks
Mixing a little bit of Italian Sausage into your beef meatballs is a good way to keep them juicy.
To make these meatballs gluten free substitute tapioca or soy flour for the breadcrumbs.
Try substituting dried onion, celery or garlic to reduce prep time.
If the mixture is sticking to your fingers place a bowl of water near your operation and dip your fingers in it every now and then to keep the meat from sticking.
If your meatballs are really sticky try rolling them in a seasoned breadcrumb mixture and deep-frying them.
Everything is better with BACON.