My dad’s meatballs are just delicious. They just are. I know this recipe makes more meatballs than you can possibly eat in one sitting, but if you’re going to go through the effort of making meatballs you might as well make a bunch. I always keep them in the freezer. They defrost quickly and are great for when you have unexpected guests. You’ll need a meat grinder for this (trust me it’s worth it). I have one that attaches to a kitchenaid stand mixer and is easy to use.
Ingredients:
3 lbs ground beef
1 lb ground veal
1 lb ground pork
3 baseball size balls of white bread soaked in milk (about 20 slices of bread and about 1 cup of milk. Do not use the excess milk)
10-15 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of parsley
5 eggs
8 drops Worcestershire sauce (i will measure this for you next time. I basically count to 8 while it’s dripping out!)
5 squirts of ketchup (good hearty squirts!)
1 Tbsp cutlery teaspoons of salt
1 Tsp espresso spoon of pepper
Other ingredients:
Olive oil for rolling the meatballs and lining bottom of baking sheet pan.
Stock (chicken/vegetable/beef…whatever you have on hand) for bottom of pan if meatballs start sticking during cooking
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 325oF
- Run the first 6 ingredients together through meat grinder.
- Mix in remaining 5 ingredients. (make sure everything is fully mixed in)
To form meatballs:
- Drizzle a little oil in the pans to coat bottom. Leave a little extra for dipping your fingers
- Dip fingers in oil and using your palms roll the mixture into round balls. (the oil will ensure the meat doesn’t stick to your hands).
- Line them up in rows on pan leaving a little space between balls.
- Bake for about 45-55 mins or until 165oF internal temp. Flip meatballs over about halfway through cooking time. T
Total cooking time depends on size of meatball. If they are starting to brown too much on the bottom or stick to pan pour a little broth in the bottom of the pan.
Yields: about 50 (2” meatballs)
