ISO Good Meatball Recipe

[Addie]

I guess some people dislike fennel since it can appear to have an aniseedy flavour. I prefer the fennel bulb (to eat) but fennel seeds work well with pork I find ... as does a certain herb!

I don't like anything with that anise flavor. No matter what form it is in.

 

[GotGarlic]

He is also a Sage!

 

[Addie]

It is over now. And back to meatballs. What is the purpose of adding pork to meatballs? I have never done it. But then I have never been fond of ground pork except in sausages. Breakfast and Italian. I do enjoy a roasted fresh pork shoulder. Great for a Sunday dinner with roasted potatoes and carrots. But in meatballs? Eh. I think growing up in an Italian neighborhood has sort of spoiled me for other food adventures. I need to break out. I do need to make me some Swedish Meatballs though.

 

[creative]

It is over now. And back to meatballs. What is the purpose of adding pork to meatballs? I have never done it. But then I have never been fond of ground pork except in sausages. Breakfast and Italian. I do enjoy a roasted fresh pork shoulder. Great for a Sunday dinner with roasted potatoes and carrots. But in meatballs? Eh. I think growing up in an Italian neighborhood has sort of spoiled me for other food adventures. I need to break out. I do need to make me some Swedish Meatballs though.

Re. roast pork and italians....have you made porchetta?

You probably know that meatballs are in a one of the traditional lasagna recipes. (Of course there is more than one version).

http://youtu.be/rJLX2cqB2YI

 

[GotGarlic]

It is over now. And back to meatballs. What is the purpose of adding pork to meatballs? I have never done it. But then I have never been fond of ground pork except in sausages. Breakfast and Italian. I do enjoy a roasted fresh pork shoulder. Great for a Sunday dinner with roasted potatoes and carrots. But in meatballs? Eh. I think growing up in an Italian neighborhood has sort of spoiled me for other food adventures. I need to break out. I do need to make me some Swedish Meatballs though.

Ground pork adds a nice additional flavor to the meatballs that's different from just ground beef - I really like it, to the point that I won't make meatballs if I don't have both. They also come out of the oven more tender than beef meatballs alone.

We're going out of town tomorrow, but I think next week, I will have to make some meatballs. Dang, I love them so much. Maybe I'll try them on an old cookie sheet on the grill, so I won't have to heat up the kitchen so much with the oven.

 

[CWS4322]

Porchetta (or, as it was called in Northern MN, porketta), is not a meatball. Iron Range porchetta does use fennel. My bestie's granny's recipe used the bulb, seed, and fronds. It also included marjoram, rosemary, thyme, garlic, onion. Love it to this day, but it is not a meatball--we ate it as a roast or pulled on homemade buns. I know I posted Jo's Granny's recipe, but I can't find it using the search function. It is similar to the one below, but has the extra fennel. Love fennel raw--so so about it as braised veggie.

Minnesota’s Little Italy | jovinacooksitalian

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Over 50 posts have been cleansed from this thread. No more acting like kids on the playground, picking sides. Back to being polite and courteous or this thread will be closed.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

He is also a Sage!

Don't know about being a sage, but after sweet basil and black pepper, it's my favorite herb, or is that cilantro, no, wait, it must be oregano, though thyme is right up there too.

Oh now see what you've done? You made me try to pick a favorite. Do you know how hard that is?

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Addie]

Over 50 posts have been cleansed from this thread. No more acting like kids on the playground, picking sides. Back to being polite and courteous or this thread will be closed.

Peace at last. Thank you.

 

[CWS4322]

I decided to pack up and head out to the farm tonight (I only have a few tweaks to do to the document that is due tomorrow--brought my Internet thingy and laptop out). But what did I forget? My grandma's cookbooks and recipe box! However, I have emailed my cousin. Asked him to ask his mom (they lived across the street from my grandma) if she has the recipe handy. Stay tuned...but, then again, he might be at the cabin and fishing for walleye on LOW this weekend...might take awhile for him to get back to me...hopefully not, I'm craving Grandma's meatballs. I know sour cream was involved in the sauce...just don't have the measurements...and my taste memory only goes so far.

 

[Kayelle]

I've looked at recipes on line for Swedish Meatballs till I'm blue in the face. So many of them say to use your paddle attachment to mix the meat. Now I know I can mix it by hand like my Aunt Jessie did, but it just gripes me for some reason. Not everyone who cooks, and does it well, even wants a stand mixer. OK, off my soapbox now and headed back to bed to try and get to sleep. ACK..maybe this guy can knock me out..

 

[creative]

Over 50 posts have been cleansed from this thread. No more acting like kids on the playground, picking sides. Back to being polite and courteous or this thread will be closed.

Thank you. I welcome this.

 

[taxlady]

I've looked at recipes on line for Swedish Meatballs till I'm blue in the face. So many of them say to use your paddle attachment to mix the meat. Now I know I can mix it by hand like my Aunt Jessie did, but it just gripes me for some reason. Not everyone who cooks, and does it well, even wants a stand mixer. OK, off my soapbox now and headed back to bed to try and get to sleep. ACK..maybe this guy can knock me out..

I hear ya. I think they write that because the meat and stuff should be stirred a lot, to a smooth consistency.

 

[GotGarlic]

I've looked at recipes on line for Swedish Meatballs till I'm blue in the face. So many of them say to use your paddle attachment to mix the meat. Now I know I can mix it by hand like my Aunt Jessie did, but it just gripes me for some reason. Not everyone who cooks, and does it well, even wants a stand mixer. OK, off my soapbox now and headed back to bed to try and get to sleep. ACK..maybe this guy can knock me out..

Well, I'll tell ya, I never made DH's favorite springerle German Christmas cookies from his mother's recipe till after he bought me a stand mixer because the recipe calls for mixing this very stiff dough for 30 minutes! I'm not a farm wife and I don't have that kind of strength or *patience*! lol

And while my Swedish meatballs before I had the mixer were good, the ones I've made with it are better. Not only is the mixture more smooth, but there is air whipped into them, so they're lighter in texture.

 

[taxlady]

Well, I'll tell ya, I never made DH's favorite springerle German Christmas cookies from his mother's recipe till after he bought me a stand mixer because the recipe calls for mixing this very stiff dough for 30 minutes! I'm not a farm wife and I don't have that kind of strength or *patience*! lol

And while my Swedish meatballs before I had the mixer were good, the ones I've made with it are better. Not only is the mixture more smooth, but there is air whipped into them, so they're lighter in texture.

I wonder how well it work in a food processor with a dough blade.

 

[Andy M.]

I wonder how well it work in a food processor with a dough blade.

If the objective is a smoother mixture and air being introduced, that should work fine. The regular blade would work as well.

 

[CWS4322]

I've looked at recipes on line for Swedish Meatballs till I'm blue in the face. So many of them say to use your paddle attachment to mix the meat. Now I know I can mix it by hand like my Aunt Jessie did, but it just gripes me for some reason. Not everyone who cooks, and does it well, even wants a stand mixer. OK, off my soapbox now and headed back to bed to try and get to sleep. ACK..maybe this guy can knock me out..

I went "what the ... ?" when I saw that recipes recommended using a stand mixer...my grandma never had a stand mixer...and her meatballs were to die for...

 

[taxlady]

I went "what the ... ?" when I saw that recipes recommended using a stand mixer...my grandma never had a stand mixer...and her meatballs were to die for...

She probably just stirred them really well by hand.

I have a Danish meatloaf recipe that says to stir the meat with salt until it is "sejg" (Swedish: seg). The word doesn't translate well. The best translation I found was "tenacious". I suspect that the extra stirring is relevant in the Swedish meatballs too.

 

[GotGarlic]

I went "what the ... ?" when I saw that recipes recommended using a stand mixer...my grandma never had a stand mixer...and her meatballs were to die for...

I don't think anyone over 50 has a grandmother who used a stand mixer It certainly does make a lot of things easier to make, which of course is the point.

 

[Andy M.]

I went "what the ... ?" when I saw that recipes recommended using a stand mixer...my grandma never had a stand mixer...and her meatballs were to die for...

I suspect your grandma may have had a hand cranked meat grinder that could grind meat finer than what we buy in the markets today.