Italians like me are known for many things. When we get a cut, for example, it’s been scientifically proven that what comes out is seventy-five percent tomato sauce and twenty-five percent parmesan cheese. Today, I’ll be taking you into the kitchen personally to show you how to make a killer meatball.
Meatballs, Oui, s’il vous plaît
What You’ll Need:
1. About 1.5 lb of ground meat
2. Ingredient Stuff
3. Kitchen Stuff
The first thing you should know about cooking meatballs is that it is unlike cooking other foods. It is essential that you wear the proper attire in order to cook a good meatball.
When cooking meatballs, stance is everything!
Rolling pins and turkey basters make excellent weapons in the right, trained hands.
Lay out all the seasonings and cheese that you plan to mix with the meatballs. This mix of stuff has been known to fight the chef from time to time so it’s important to remind the ingredients who’s boss.
Show no fear.
Before you begin, you should always wash your hands.
Don’t be afraid to use a little soap.
Clean Hands = Winning!
Now, start dumping all of that stuff into a bowl.
Yes, you’re going to eat that eventually.
More cheese, please!
You can never have enough paprika.
Don’t forget to exhale.
After everything is in the bowl, mix it up with your hands. Trust me, there is no better substitute.
Warning…your concoction may be a little gross…
…and cold.
Once you’ve thoroughly mixed up your meat and ingredients, it’s time to starting rolling that meat into balls. Many people don’t know this, but that is probably why meatballs are called, “meatballs.”
It’s easy to get carried away when you’re rolling your balls.
Sometimes less is more.
Put the uncooked meatballs into a pot of boiling water to drain away the blood and grease. Let it sit for a little.
Each meatball deserves nothing less than your full attention.
While you wait, ready a separate pot of boiling water. It’s best to use a bigger one, as you’ll be combining the cooked meatballs and pasta into this one later on.
This is a large pot.
See, it’s not so hard.
While you’re waiting for your other pot of water to boil, stir your meatballs occasionally.
Don’t make the mistake of coddling your meat.
Upper body strength is key when stirring your pot of meatballs.
When your pasta water begins to boil, pick out your sauce and your pasta. Leave the sauce off to the side for now and pour the contents of the box of pasta noodles into your boiling pot of water.
You can’t go wrong with Barilla. Ever.
At this point, you’re probably worried that you did something wrong. It’s important to maintain a positive attitude beginning to end, or else the meatballs will win in the end.
Mistake or no mistake, you’re still Winning.
When both the meatballs and noodles are done cooking in their respective pots, use a strainer and strain both pots into the sink, one at a time. When you’re done, combine the meatballs with your larger pot of pasta.
Oven mitts are an important part of the combining process.
You managed not to burn yourself. Thumbs up!
The sauce can be tricky. You’re tired and forgot that you are still wearing your oven mitts. At times like these, help may be required.
Oven mitts don’t help when trying to open a jar of sauce.
A good chef always recognizes when he needs help.
You’re in the home stretch. Stir it up! Don’t be shy!
Proper stance is important now more than ever.
Serve and enjoy!
Yummy!