Eat This! Jim Trick's Meatballs

You know people who roll up ground beef, cook it, stick it on a plate with some spaghetti and call it a meatball...

I hope you're not that person.

If you are that person, I hope this post is gonna help get you back on your feet, turn things around and help you get back on the right road.

We are not making "beef balls".

We are making "meat" balls.

1 lb of good quality, high fat content, ground beef.

Yes, high fat...

Just settle down, you're not eating this everyday.

1 lb ground pork

Ask your butcher if he has any kosher pork available. It's not essential but he’ll be glad you asked.

1 lb ground veal

I know... I know...

Try not to think about it.

1 cup good Parmesan cheese

5 slices of the best sourdough bread you can find.

It needs to be a little stale.

It's a texture thing.

1/3 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons oregano

2 Tablespoons granulated garlic (not garlic salt and not fresh garlic)

Why?

Because I said so!!!!

Kidding.

Not kidding...

We're gonna seer these at a pretty high temp.

Fresh garlic does not like to be burned.

1 Tablespoon thyme

Thyme is one of the things that’s gonna to make people say "wow, these are good.. what is that thing?"

You are going to say "glad you like em" and your not going to say anything else... right? RIGHT????

Salt to taste which means more than you would normally use.

Pepper... whatever.. use some pepper... don't go nuts. I'm trusting you here.

2 tsps cayenne pepper

This is non negotiable.

But Jim, I don't like spicy food!

2 teaspoons of cayenne is not going to make this hot.

It is going to give these meatballs depth.

You need to be brave here.

I actually want you to use more, but I don't want to upset you and I know how you can be.

3 eggs

UN SEASONED PANKO!!! (We will discuss the quantity later)

It's written in all caps...

I'm yelling.

Ok lets make these suckers

WASH

YOUR

HANDS

Take off your ring.

It's a symbol of your love, not the love itself.

You’re still married if you take it off to make meatballs.

In a big bowl, mix all the meat, eggs, spices and seasonings.

You are going to use your hands for this and it's gonna be fun....

You have cayenne pepper in here so please don't touch your eyes.

In a separate bowl moisten your stale sourdough with the cream.

You want the bread moist but you sill want it to resemble bread.

Moist, stale bread.

Yummy?

It’s gonna be!

Ok so here come the 2nd mixing.

Bread goes in to the meat mixture and your hands are gross again!

Gonna be worth it, I promise.

Ok so now let's talk about our panko.

This next step requires some intuition.

Your mix is pretty wet.

If you dumped all the cream on the bread and if the whole mess is looking really loose, use more panko crumbs.

If on the other hand it's feeling like you can form it into slightly larger than golf ball sized balls and they’re keeping their shape, use less.

Use your intuition.

You’ve got this.

Roll your meatballs and place em on a big platter.

I don't know how many we are gonna get but I do know they are going to be awesome!

Get your ginormous, well seasoned, cast iron frying pan. (or whatever you have) and heat some canola oil (not olive oil) over medium high heat.

In SMALL batches brown your meatballs and at the same time be heating your sauce over medium heat.

Ok,I love you.

I really do, seriously, but I'm not giving you my sauce recipe.

If you are not making your own then use Prego, and NEVER quote me or tell anyone I said that.

Don't get fancy prego, the basic stuff is what you want.

As the meatballs brown add them to your pot of heating sauce. When all of your meatballs are in the sauce, lower the heat to simmer and walk away.

How long?

How long you got?

The sauce is going to cook the inside of the meat balls and the meatballs are going to flavor the sauce.

Feel the synergy!

Let this rock out on the stove top for at least two hours.

Longer is better in my book.

When your gut tells you they are done, sneak a couple....

Delicious right?