This recipe is truly divine. I've made it many many times and without fail it is delicious. The first time I cooked for my boyfriend's parents, I made this. That's trust in a recipe! I like to keep the breadcrumbs in 1/2 inch chunks so they really soak up all the goodness. Soooo (sigh) good.
This is a very good recipe. It hits all my grandma notes. Only thing is I brown meat often and put it in the sauce. I make the meatballs with whatever bread I have. I brown them then they go into the sauce. They will never be dry because they were braised in sauce. They will always be tender. Tonight I made lasagne. My sauce has a beef short rib, 2 pork chops and the ground beef, pork veal mix.
Ilike to brown the meat first it seals in the juices, a good sear gives meat flavor. Then into the sauce.
This is not rocket science. Everyone should be able to make a good pasta meal. I taught Husband in about 4 tries.
My late husband's grandmother, an old Italian lady, whose family came from Tuscany never fried her meatballs, nor did she use milk and bread, yet her meatballs were wonderful. She cooked her sauce (home made from scratch) , she did fry sausage, then added it, and the uncooked meatballs to the sauce. She never served it the day she made it, but after sitting in the fridge overnight, the fat would have solidified at the top, where she could easily skim it off.
I have been making Ina's Spaghetti & Meatballs for a few years and there is nothing better. Personally, if you really watch Ina, she is very percise on every measurement and very matter of fact of how she cooks. She wants it to taste perfect. I have read where she will make the same recipe 20-30 times a day until she gets it right. Do you really think the Yummo woman does that??? I think not!!! Ina takes her cooking very serious and I think she is one of the best stars the FoodNetwork has.
I have been making meatballs (a recipe from Giada's show) for awhile now using breadcrumbs soaked in whole milk and ground turkey.
They are moist, tender and delicious. Even better the next day!
I would not use this recipe because of the veal.
I adore Ina and use alot of her recipes but will stick with my other meatball recipe for now.
For those concerned about the ethics of using veal, I would suggest finding a trustworthy butcher. Many animals are bred humanely now, in serene environments. The meat is much pinker than historically, because calves are outside and moving; it's also flavorful, unlike meat of yore. I use veal , if I know from where it comes. In response to the meatball recipe, I agree with soaking bread in milk; this recipe looks very typical to me, nothing special, though I'm sure it's tasty.
While this recipe for meatballs is indeed spot-on, you are right...Ina can't compete with the generations of Italian cooks in my family...this just tomato sauce heated up for half an hour without any character. Solution? Use a real sauce recipe, take a Saturday morning, cook up a big pot and freeze in quarts. Then when you need your quick meal, make Ina's meatballs, defrost the good stuff and simmer away. You'll be much happier!
Yesterday, I cooked spaghetti and meatballs from the James Beard cookbook and it was very good...no bread or breadcrumbs in the meatballs. I will try Ina's recipe soon, every one of her recipes that I have tried has been a winner.
it was late when i wrote my comment, what i meant to say was how much milk soaked white bread would you use in lieu of breadcrumbs. any help would be appreciated, i want to make this over the weekend.
I like the idea of using white bread soaked in breadcrumbs, what's the quantity conversion from breadcrumbs?
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