Every culture, every cuisine has a meatball. Ground meat, seasonings, binders. Now one can make highly flavored meatballs directed toward a specific cuisine, if you want, but the cuisine specific flavor us usually in the sauces and gravies that the meatballs are cooked with or in or slathered over the top. I make a basic meatball to use across the board.
This is not my normal meatball due to the lack of ground beef during the time of social distancing and some peoples’ need to buy the shelves clear of it. I found some “bork” i.e. ground beef and pork mixed, which is just fine.
Bork, Italian sausage, 2 eggs, mini peppers, garlic, onion, Worcestershire, milk, spices, salt, pepper, chili flake.
First I make a panade from 1 cup of oats – I use oats instead of the more traditional bread, or bread crumbs as they bring more protein, fiber and other nutrients.
Add a half cup of milk to the oats in a small bowl, let them soak while you prep and sweat your veg.
Slice the mini peppers in half, remove the seeds and membranes with a spoon and finely dice.
Smash 2 garlic cloves with the flat of your knife. Don’t pound on it, lay the flat side of the blade on top of the clove and pop it with the heel of your hand, the clove will crush slightly and the paper skin will be easily removed. Dice it finely.
Finely dice an onion. Melt some bacon grease in a large skillet. Add the peppers and onion to the hot pan.
Once softened add in the garlic and a bit of chili flake. These are not “spicy” but a pinch of chili flake adds some flavor. Add more if you like a little heat. Or less if not.
Add a pound and a half of the bork to a large bowl.
One pound. I have one of these little scales to help with portioning – at least until you can nail four ounces at a glance they really help to keep servings in proportion.
Half a pound.
Slit the casing of two of the Italian sausages.
Remove and discard casing.
Add the sausages to the mixing bowl with the bork.
Wrap the remaining three sausages.
Pack and freeze for three meals later.
Break up the sausages in the bowl.
Add the panade – milk and all. The acid in the milk will keep the meatballs tender, too much acid like lemon or vinegar can dry out ground meats, but milk is only mildly acidic and tenderizes it.
Add to eggs. One egg per pound of meat is typical rule of thumb/
One tablespoon worchestershire.
A good palm-full of Italian seasoning, and one of dried basil.
And smoosh it all together.
Keep smooshing. This is really the only way to do it.
Not yet.
There. Properly smooshed. Pop it in the fridge for an hour or more to firm up.
Meanwhile
I get the 1/2 pound leftover bork, and the pound of ground bison.Put them in a medium bowl. Have you noticed that I like my stainless steel bowl. I have just a large, medium and small that I use for everything. Stainless steel lasts forever, I don’t even remember a time when these three bowls were no in my kitchen. Mix the bison and bork together, and get out my trusty scale for portioning. Portion out 4 oz balls of the ground meat mixture. I only get five because the bison is not a pound but 12 oz package. Press the balls into patties. I store them in patty shape because they freeze and store better flat. If I choose to use them as patties I can, and if I choose to break them into chunks for another application I have a flat surface to begin with. Two patties on one sheet of plastic wrap. Fold the plastic wrap over the patties, pressing down around the edges to seal. Fold the patties over into stacks of two. Yes, there IS only four patties there , a girl’s gotta eat
Back to the meatballs
I make small meatballs, they cook faster, and look better on the plate, I use the small scoop to get even portions, you can also use a tablespoon, just find a measure that makes four balls per 1/4 pound.
Take a scoop of the meat mixture, roll it into a ball between your hands.
Place the balls on a wire rack set over a sheet pan.
I got 44 small balls, or 11 meals. Bake in 450 oven for 15-20 min till well browned on top. Add 1/2 cup of water to the sheet pan while cooking – the steam will help cook them through – and make a bit of gravy for dinner. Lovely.
Turn the meatballs upside down. As you can see some may squish through the rack a bit and you don’t want them to freeze into the rack.
Place rack and all into the freezer. Much like the rack helped the oven heat circulate around them in the oven it also helps the cold circulate in the freezer freezing them faster and individually.
Once fully frozen place in gallon freezer bag and label. Ten more meals in the freezer …. and one for now.
I have always cooked, I was that person who could make a meal from an empty fridge. I have lived alone and with large and small families, I have cooked for camps on wood stoves, and in professional kitchens. I have lived and worked all over the west from Montana, to Seattle to Arizona to San Diego. I have traveled, maybe not 'all over the world', yet, and have collected tastes recipes and techniques everywhere, and every one I meet.
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