The Emporia Gazette

May 28, 2012

• Headlines
• Sports
• Forums
• Weather
• Classifieds

• Help
• Log in
• Home

• E-mail story
• Post a comment
• iPod friendly version

In “News of the Weird” published Nov. 1 in The Gazette, there was a very interesting item. Matthew Mitnitsky, owner of Nonni’s Italian Eatery in Concord, N.H., had logged the world’s largest meatball, a 225.5-pound monstrosity authenticated by the Guinness Book of World Records. Can you imagine? I mean, how did they get it cooked all the way through?

I polled my Gazette colleagues a few weeks before about what their culinary interests were, and Ronda Pierce had asked about meatballs. What size should they be? How do you keep them together? So, I took this mega-meatball as a sign.

Personally, although I love meatballs, it seemed mine were either too dry or not done in the center or fell apart in my sauce. I had generally given up on them entirely, enjoying them in other people’s dishes or resorting to frozen ones when in need.

Fortunately I have a friend who is Italian-Irish-American, and another who loves Italian cooking.

Andrea Garritano Freeze — as those of you who read regularly know — is an excellent cook. She lent me cookbooks by Mario Batali, Giada de Laurentiis and Lidia Mattichio Bastianich for research.

In discussing meatballs, she said, “Well, my grandmother always fried them in a pan on the stove and my Mom oven-bakes them. After either process, they go in the pot of sauce for a minimum of one hour to finish cooking and bring some flavor to the sauce.

“I think the idea behind the frying is that they get firm on the outside, enough to withstand a gentle stir once they get into the sauce to finish cooking through. The idea behind baking them is that you leave the drippings (and flavor.) in the pan, which makes your sauce less greasy. But with high-quality ground beef and pork this shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

“As far as size goes, too big and they get dry. My grandmother always just said roll what you can comfortably fit in the palm of your hand.”

For most people that will result in a meatball from one to two inches in diameter.

Most of Andrea’s cooks agree on the frying method so you can seal the meatball, and give it a crust to help hold it together in the sauce. Lidia lightly coats hers with flour before frying over medium high heat. She cooks them about 6 minutes, turning as necessary to turn them golden brown on all sides.

This is where one of my problems comes into play. My meatballs are generally so soft they spread in the heat, and so instead of a ball I get something closer to a plush pyramid shape. Reading through these authentic recipes showed me my error. A meatball is more than just meat. We aren’t making hamburgers, here.

Andrea says the best meatballs use a combination of beef and pork to balance the flavor and the fat. One of her favorite recipes is from “Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen.” Note that there are moisturizers and binders included: milk, cheese, egg and bread crumbs.

LIDIA’S MEATBALLS

1/2 lb. ground pork

To read complete story see the print edition or the online print edition.