I first learned how to make meatballs from my Aunt Margaret. As you have read in other posts, her mother-in-law immigrated to the United States from Sicily and my aunt learned many spectacularly delicious Italian dishes from her.
In all the years that I have been making them, they have evolved into a recipe that I have updated after making constant adjustments and taking pieces of other recipes that I liked. I love the way these turn out. They are tender, meaty and moist.
This recipe makes about 50+ meatballs, so you may want to half it. I like making the full recipe and freezing some for later.
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 Pounds ground beef
- 2 pounds ground pork
- 2 Cups Italian style bread crumbs
- 8 Eggs
- 3/4 Cup half and half
- 3/4 Cup water
- 1 Cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
- 4 Tbsp fressh pressed garlic
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 2 Tsp fresh ground pepper
- 1 Tbsp baking soda
INSTRUCTIONS:
Allow meat to come to room temperature
I like to grind my own meats. However you can do this with store bought ground meats. If you have a KitchenAid mixer, you can purchase a meat grinder attachment. I like to grind my own so that I can mix the pork and beef evenly. I find that sometimes packages of ground pork are hard to break up and evenly distribute with the beef.
In one bowl, combine the eggs, half and half, water, cheese, baking soda, garlic, salt and pepper. Beat well with a hand mixer.
In another bowl or large pan, mix the meats well with your hands, breaking it up as much as possible so that both meats are evenly distributed. Add the bread crumbs and toss the meats like you would a salad to fully incorporate the bread crumbs.Â
Add the liquid mixture to your meat and, using your hands again, mix well. It will look very watery at first, but keep mixing well and let set.
Form the meatballs with wet hands or with a meat baller (I like to use this as it makes all your meatballs a uniform size). If using the meatballer, have a bowl of ice water to dip the utensil in after each meatball is formed.
Brown the meatballs in a pan with enough oil to cover half the meatball. You want to quickly form a crust on both sides so as not to have them fall apart in your sauce. At this point, if you are going to cook them in a sauce, you do not want to cook them too well done. Once drained, carefully put them in your sauce of choice.
After they are browned, place on a cookie pan with a rack to drain and then add to your sauce. If you don’t want to cook them in a sauce, you can freeze them in a cookie sheet and once frozen, vacuum pack them and put back in the freezer.
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