What's Cookin' in Jill's Kitchen: Mom's Meatballs

Mom's Meatballs

Now that I'm married, I can say my mom (in-law), Donna, makes the best meatballs around, because honestly my husband's mother really makes the best meatballs I've ever tasted. Don't get me wrong—my own mom's are delicious and everyone thoroughly enjoys eating them, too, but let's face it—if hers were the best this post would be about them. So to be fair I'm planning another post dedicated to my mother's awesome gnocchi. How lucky am I to have these two for moms? I know, it's not fair, but at least I'm sharing their recipes.

So, how does one make the best meatballs? I spent an afternoon in mom's kitchen watching her in meatball-making mode, which is always the best way to learn. A generous and giving soul, she was happy to share her secrets.

No one makes meatballs like mom's!

These meatballs are everything meatballs should be—hearty without being heavy, the tender, perfectly seasoned spheres crisp-fried to delectable perfection. And that's before they've simmered in and soaked up homemade tomato sauce.

Mom's Meatballs

Click here for print-friendly recipe

Like many of the best family recipes, these are typically made by "feel" so there isn't a cut-and-dried, measurable way to make them the same way every time. But for those who prefer to have a recipe to follow, this should do just fine. Just remember that it's flexible.

Ingredients

a large pot of your favorite homemade tomato sauce, for simmering

1 loaf day-old Italian bread (preferably unseeded, but seeded is OK too)
3 eggs

about 10 finely chopped garlic cloves

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 pounds ground "meatloaf mix" (beef, pork, and veal)

vegetable oil, for frying

cooked pasta and additional Parmesan cheese, for serving

Have your pot of tomato sauce simmering on the stove before you even start making the meatballs.


Simmering sauce. My bro-in-law made that beautiful backsplash. Nice backdrop!

Trim the all the crust off and then cube the bread.

Trimming off the crust.

Trimmed bread.

Cubing bread.

This bread is from Cassone's Bakery in Port Chester. They make the best Italian bread!

Cassone's Bakery

The crusts don't go to waste if you feed them to the birds and squirrels! (You can also make breadcrumbs out of them but that's not as fun.)

Feeding the birds and squirrels.

Place the bread in a bowl along with about 3/4 cup water. Place a dish and a weight on top (a big bottle of wine works great!) so the bread doesn't float and set aside while the bread soaks.

Weighing down the soaking bread with a bottle of wine.

Whisk the eggs in a wide bowl and stir in the garlic. (Make sure it's finely chopped so no one bites into a big hunk of garlic.)

Whisking eggs.


Lotsa garlic!

Whisking in the finely chopped garlic.

Add the Parmesan, parsley, salt and pepper, making sure to whisk each ingredient in before you add the next. This "mom secret" ensures that all that flavor will be nicely distributed in the meatballs. I've never seen this method before—usually people put the meat in a bowl and just add all the ingredients, then mix it up. Doing it this way is something I consider revolutionary. Genius!

Parmesan, salt and pepper.

Chopping parsley.

Whisk so everything gets incorporated into the meat evenly.

Now that the bread has soaked up the water, mush the soaked bread so it's nice and uniform in texture. Add the bread to the eggs.

Soaked bread.

Mushing the bread.

Bread mush goes into the egg mixture.

Now it's time for the "smell test"—another mom secret! If the egg/bread mixture doesn't have a strong garlicky smell, add more finely chopped garlic until it does. This time it needed a little more garlic to pass the test.


The Smell Test

Believe it or not, needs more garlic!

Eyeball the amount of bread/egg mixture in the bowl compared to the ground meat. You should have about the same amount of each. One large loaf of bread is typically about right for 1 1/2 pounds of meat.

Eyeballing the ratio.

Add the ground meat to the egg/bread mixture. Start off by mixing with a fork to get it started, then use your hands to mix everything together really well. If you feel any hunks of bread, take them out and discard them so no one bites into a “blop of dough.”

Start with a fork...

Then use "God's utensils"—can't beat 'em!

Nicely mixed meatball mixture.

Portion the mixture into balls (about the size of a golf ball). You can use an ice cream scoop to get even portions like Donna does, but Grandma Rosie (Donna's mom) would not approve!

Making even balls with an ice cream scoop.

Then roll each portion to get a nice round shape. Donna's mom-in-law, Grandma Red, taught her to keep wetting her hands during rolling, which keeps the meat from sticking and makes the meatballs crispier when they're fried.

Rolling into nice smooth balls with wet hands.

You can do the portioning and rolling in batches. First portion and roll one plateful of meatballs, and while those are frying portion and roll the next batch. Mom has a good system here—she uses one Corelle plateful of meatballs per batch, since the size of the plate is the same size as the skillet. Smart!

One plate = one skillet. How organized!

While you're getting your first batch ready, heat enough vegetable oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat (use a good cast iron skillet if you have one) to reach about halfway up the sides of the meatballs. When the oil shimmers, it's ready.

Cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.

Carefully place the meatballs in the hot oil, being careful not to crowd them in too much.


The oil's definitely hot enough. Look at that sizzle!

Fry until crispy on one side, about 6–8 minutes, then turn and cook until crispy on the other side, about 6 or 7 minutes more.

Beautiful color on those. Cast iron is the best!

Don't bother draining them—either set them aside on a plate or drop 'em right into that pot of simmering sauce. That grease has flavor!

Right into the sauce...no draining required.

Stir 'em in.

Be sure to try one (or a few...) before you even add them to the sauce. They're perfectly crispy and delicious when they're hot out of the oil—My husband and his siblings used to line up waiting for them to emerge from the oil, clamoring for the hot, crusty meatballs.

Set some aside to enjoy right from the frying pan.

Actually, if they're around while mom's making them they still do!

Yum.

While one batch fries, prepare the next batch so it's ready to go.

Second batch.

Add additional vegetable oil as necessary and continue frying until all your meatballs are in the sauce.

Meatballs in sauce.

Now stir a big spoonful of the oil you cooked the meatballs in into the sauce. Another one of mom's secrets!

Spooning out some meatball frying oil...

...and adding it to the sauce for even more flavor.

Simmer the meatballs in the tomato sauce for at least half an hour, but longer is fine too—in fact, it's preferable! Leave them in for an hour if you can wait that long.

Almost time to eat!

Serve the meatballs and sauce over your favorite cooked pasta (we like penne rigate, which stands up well to the flavorful, hearty meatballs) with additional Parmesan cheese for sprinkling and enjoy one of the best meals you're likely to ever eat. Buon appetito!