OT: Serious meatball hankering.

I love a good meatball. I have a Greek-style and a Dutch style in my repertoire. I am looking for a meatball which hopefully may have a tex- mex influence...something spicy. I tried a few on-line recipes, but wasn't impressed. I KNOW somebody in here makes a serious meatball. Out with it! Please.

Reply to
Robatoy
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I occasionally hanker a meatball, but not too often. When I do, I take the easy route to make a traditional half and half (pork/beef) meat ball.

This is my version.

I take a pound of lean ground meat, and mix it with a pound of good quality Italian pork sausage. There is plenty of fat in that sausage, so don't worry about the lean beef losing flavor.

To that, I add

1 1/2 teaspoons oregano 2 teaspoons dried onion 1 teaspoon thyme 1 teaspoon sage 1 teaspoon fennel seed (I mince it up) 2 cloves fresh garlic 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon bread crumbs 1 egg

Mix with hands until all ingredients are combined. I make loose packed meatballs (hard packed = dense balls) about the size of a .50 piece, and cook them separately.

I put them in the marinara about 20 minutes before serving, or just top them with sauce at the table when they are still warm.

Easy, fast, wonderful.

What's that? Tex Mex, say you?

Mix one pound of lean beef with Mexican style chorizo. The mexican style is different from Spanish or the Italian variant. It is a very fatty, mushy, and is sold it a clear casing. It orange in color due to its high spice content. It is meant to be fried as it is about 50% fat, so I drain the hell out of it. And like I said, it's full of it's own spices.

When I tried it out, I used the same basic recipe above, but added in

2 chopped jalepenos, a teaspoon of cayenne, and three teaspoons of cumin, and 1/2 teaspoon garlic granules. I served them floating in this red chile sauce

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1/2" noodles. It was a real hit.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Ahhh cumin... lately when I cook up something that wafts the cumin aroma through the kitchen....I get lucky. I can't find any cumin aftershave...LOL

I have access to a 'reportedly' excellent chorizo. Just an hour south of here, we have a huge Mexican culture. They came up as guest workers on the famous Leamington tomato fields. (Heinz got started there). A lot of authentic Mexican foods. You're absolutely right about the fat...gives Angela the shivers (runs a stroke prevention clinic) so drain, drain, drain, the norm around this house. I will give that a shot.

Reply to
Robatoy

----------------------------------------------- Almost every meatball recipe I've ever seen starts out with equal parts ground pork, veal and beef.

As a personal protest, I refuse to use veal, but that's my personal problem.

Throw in some bread crumbs and at least 3 eggs per pound of meat.

(The eggs keep the meatballs from getting tough.)

Now come the variations for Italian, Swedish, whoever.

The spices vary all over the place.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

Variations of this recipe have been used in Italian households for many decades.

33% to 50% beef and equal parts of pork and veal for the rest loaf of stale Italian bread Parmesan cheese salt, pepper, parsley, oregano about 1 egg per pound

Soak the stale break in water. Squeeze out the water and break it up into the meat mix. Add the other ingredients, form into balls about 1 1/4". Fry to crisp the outside, eat as is or add to the sauce.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Italian parsley, I presume? There's a big difference in parsleys... all the way from the tasteless curly to the cilantro... Did you know that Been-O is parsley oil?

Reply to
Robatoy

Robatoy wrote in news:9c973157-f070-4112-b640- snipped-for-privacy@g4g2000yqa.googlegroups.com:

I make Dutch type meatballs the easy way, using Verstegen's gehakt kruidenmix. Tweak the directions a bit, so there are 3 sachets per 2 lbs mixed ground meat (beef, veal, pork - no misgivings on my part, sorry). Add 2 eggs, some milk and breadcrumbs. Braise in hot butter, simmer 1/2 hour with some water after the meatballs are nicely browned. Call the granddaughters to help finish it.

Reply to
Han

You bastids are giving me a serious case of the munchies. :-)

Reply to
Steve Turner

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