Meatballs

Meatballs are generally comprised of ground meat (veal, beef, turkey, etc.) then rolled into a ball that varies in size depending on the preference of the person making them. Other ingredients that can be added are bread crumbs, any variety of seasonings, onions, cheese, egg, butter, and so on. The balls of meat are then fried, steamed, baked, or braised. This can occur in a sauce or sometimes they are cooked prior to being added to any sort of dressing. Traditionally, meatballs are served with a marinara sauce in pasta, but they have also been known to be served on a sandwich with their sauce. If they don't originate from an Italian style recipe, the sauce it likely to be a more creamy base.

Recipes for Meatballs

There are a few places that are ideal for seeking out great meatball recipes. Some suggestions for resources include:

• Searching the Internet can yield innumerable options for recipes.
• If you seek the counsel of a chef, they can not only provide you with a recipe, but also techniques for creating ideal meatballs.
• In most recipe books, magazines, or even chef journals, there are bound to be extensive listings for meatball recipe options.

Standard Ingredients in Meatball Recipes

As previously mentioned, ground meat makes up the foundation of a meatball recipe. In addition to that they also generally include, at a minimum, the following:

• Bread crumbs The addition of bread crumbs in a meatball recipe helps ensure that each ball has a spongy, airy texture. Often times you can get bread crumbs that are pre-seasoned in order to help enrich the flavor of the meatball.
• Eggs By adding eggs into a recipe, this helps bind all of the ingredients together so that the meatballs don't crumble into pieces during the cooking process.
• Seasonings At a minimum, most meatball recipes include basil, parsley, and oregano. These are traditional Italian seasonings and have very common usage. Most will also require salt and pepper. Depending on the recipe's place of origin, the seasonings will vary. For example, if it's a Swedish recipe, they will include things like nutmeg and allspice instead of basil and oregano.
• Cheese In order to give recipes an extra punch of flavor, it is advisable to add Parmesan, Romano, or some other type of semi dry cheese.
• Sauce In the overwhelming majority of recipes, meatballs are intended to be paired with some sort of sauce. Typically this is a marinara style sauce. However, if for example, you are making a recipe with Swedish origins, the sauce may end up being more of a creamy type gravy. Sauces are paired with the meatballs as opposed to being an actual ingredient in them.

Top 5 Routes for "Meatball"

Below are some great resources for those that wish to cook their own meatball recipe.

1. All Recipes All Recipes is a very popular website for recipe searching. It has the added benefit of a comments section and also a rating system. By providing this information, visitors to the site can see how many people have rated the recipe, how well it's rated, and also any tips and tricks people have offered when preparing the recipe.
2. Food Network As another popular recipe finding website, Food Network is nice because it offers an expansive list of recipe options. Each one is different and has its own little quirks that are sure to help cater to each person's individual tastes.
3. Serious Eats Serious Eats offers a lot of interesting insight about meatballs. The history and techniques to making them are chief among the information it offers.
4. Food Food provides visitors with a traditional meatball recipe if they wish to prepare something that is true to the meatball's Italian roots.
5. Bon Appetit Bon Appetit is another website that offers a list of recipe concoctions. It is different in that it provides some non-traditional recipe varieties in addition to more traditional options.