Homemade Meatballs 

Laura Vitale

Laura in the Kitchen

In this episode Laura shares her grandmother’s recipe for homemade Italian Meatballs. YUM

A meatball is ground meat rolled into a small ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, minced onion, eggs, butter, and seasoning.

Meatballs are cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce.

There are many types of meatballs using different types of meats and spices. The term is sometimes extended to meatless versions based on vegetables or fish; the latter are commonly known as fishballs.In Italy, meatballs (named polpette singular polpetta) are generally eaten as a main course or in a soup. The main ingredients of an Italian meatball are beef and/or pork and sometimes poultry or sausage, salt, black pepper, chopped garlic, olive oil, Romano cheese, eggs, bread crumbs, and parsley, mixed and rolled by hand to a golf ball size. In the Abruzzo region of Italy, especially in the Province of Teramo, the meatballs are typically the size of marbles and are called polpettine.

The Chinese recipe “Four Joy Meatballs” is derived from Shandong cuisine, which originated in the native cooking styles of Shandong. Its history dates back to the Qin dynasty (221 BC to 207 BC).

The ancient Roman cookbook Apicius included many meatball-type recipes.

Early recipes included in some of the earliest known Arabic cookbooks generally feature seasoned lamb rolled into orange-sized balls and glazed with egg yolk and sometimes saffron. This method was taken to the West and is referred to as gilding. Many regional variations exist, notable among them the unusually large  having an average diameter of 20 centimetres (7.9 in).

Poume d’oranges is a gilded meatball dish from the Middle Ages.

Take a few moments and let Laura share her Nonna’s recipe.

Delizioso!