Hi fellow FT geniuses who know how to travel well,

I need some help or recipes for Italian beef meatballs made with ground beef. Suggestions please! It would be fun if I could just make my own meatballs.

From my Italian neighbor...

1 lb of ground meat
4 large eggs
1 cup of plain bread crumbs
3/4 cup romano grated cheese
1 clove of chopped garlic(fine)
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of basil, 1 to 2 tablespoon dried parsley. If you can get fresh its better Add 1/4 cup fresh.
water to mix

Place all ingredients in a large bowl mix with hands add a tablespoon of water at a time and mix to blend until the mixture is moist looking and not dry looking. Its hard to say how much water so just add a little at a time. Then ford into balls and brown in a large frying pan on med high til meatballs are golden brown on the bottom.Try not to turn them too soon or they won't brown right.When brown on all sides drain in a bowl lined with paper towel and then add to your cooking sauce. Let cook as long as you like.

I think meatballs are good when there is a mix of ground meats...such as beef and veal or beef and pork (I know that you don't eat pork) or even beef and italian sausage. I think the Costco frozen meatballs are excellent. I wouldn't even bother messing up my kitchen as I think those are really good.

I think he does eat pork. I think other household members do not.

I�m trying to avoid frozen meatballs but would try them. My preference is to just make meatballs and I�m hoping that some people here both make their own meatballs and will post their recipe.

I love pork and try my best to keep it out of our house.

I posted the recipe I use above. You can use just ground beef, or you can add in ground pork. I typically use ground Italian sausage and beef.

The recipe which kipper posted is good, however, I generally bake them as opposed to pan fry. The number of eggs I use is dependent on how fatty the meats I use are.

YMMV

EDIT: The house has a guest for the week and possibly longer, so I may have to change things up and I'm looking forward to it.

You can bake them too, although I generally just fry them in the pan I'm going to use for my sauce, so there's one less dish.

Unless it�s leftover carnitas you brought home.

those were a gift that a friend literally delivered to our house. Oh so nice!
i also have evergood sausage for the grill.

Just made a batch tonight. My husband is partial to chicken tsukune. Unfortunately, despite minced chicken being a mainstay in Japanese stores, it is virtually impossible to find it in London. Turkey mince is common enough (too lean!), chicken mince is nowhere. So I make my own - if it’s chicken breast filets I cut them into a rough mince myself with a cleaver, if it’s thigh meat I slice into small pieces and put them in a blender/liquidiser (has more tendons and ligaments)
Once minced, I massage the meat for a couple of minutes with a teaspoon or so of salt. After a while, if you look very closely, you’ll see flecks of white, that’s when the massaging is complete. Add pepper or any other preferred seasoning (I like miso and soy sauce), then massage in a beaten egg BUT don’t massage in more than a dribble at a time so that the egg is incorporated evenly (if you add it all at once the mince “separates”). If you’re using about 300g chicken then add 50-100g of tofu (I’ll press tofu through a sieve), massage in the tofu. Finally I add half a diced onion and that’s my carb concession. If you wish you can stir in some breadcrumbs or a spoon or so of potato starch, but it isn’t necessary.
Take a handful of the mince mixture and squeeze out a dollop of it through the hole made by your thumb and first finger. Size of the dollops are pretty uniform this way.
In a pan, add a thin layer of oil and on a medium heat, once the pan is hot, add the dollops appropriate to the size of the pan (without overcrowding) and then put a lid on the top so that the dollops both fry and cook in their own steam. Leave for about three minutes. Within each dollop, the cubed onion pieces will also release steam and help cook them from the inside. Take the lid off quickly (give it a quick wipe with a towel to get rid of excess water so that it doesn’t fall back and explode into the pan), turn the dollops over - they should be a deep golden brown) and replace the lid and cook for a further 3 minutes or so. If the lid picks up too much water before the end, just remove it quickly, wipe dry and replace over the pan. I generally fry/steam my dollops in two batches.
PS - If exploding water drops are likely to freak you out (a sensible reaction!), you can wrap/tie a damp but not wet towel to the underside of the pan lid. Just make sure the wrapped cloth doesn’t stick out enough so that it can catch fire from the burner.

I love the idea of covering the dollops (meatballs). It makes so much sense and I’m excited for this new method! I learn so much here. Big yay!!

I want to try making banana ice cream using the one banana ingredient. My ripe bananas are frozen. Is it ok to keep them frozen, then thaw to slice the bananas, and then refreeze for 2 hours per the recipe?

https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-mak...e-kitchn-93414

I remember noticing this when I lived in London. Turkey mince is everywhere, but no chicken.

Yes, you won't get sick. Might affect the texture of the bananas though.