ITALIAN MEATBALLS WITH TOMATO SAUCE Here’s the great thing about cooking: once you learn the basic whys and hows of the craft, they can be applied to almost any situation Take classic Italian-American meatballs, for instance We learned the ins and outs of meat loaf here and of sausages here With that knowledge, we basically know all there is to know technique-wise about those meatballs In essence, Italian-American meatballs are nothing more than tiny spherical meat loaves with a few sausage-like properties, simmered in a rich, meaty tomato sauce (If you’re Italian, don’t tell your grandmother I said that.) Sure, they don’t usually have the same set of aromatics as meat loaf, but in terms of basic technique, they are nearly identical So anyone who’s ever made meat loaf knows how to make meatballs, and vice versa If only all of life were this easy! Rather than the onions, carrots, and celery I use in my meat loaf mix, I limit my meatballs to a simpler flavoring blend of garlic, parsley, and Parmesan cheese, making them even easier to form Meatball Texture On the spectrum of sausage to meat loaf, a meatball falls much closer to the meat loaf end, but there should be one sausage-like characteristic about them—namely a bit of bounce to their bite How to go about getting it? My first thought was the salt I know that if I salt my sausage meat and let it rest before mixing it, it gives the sausages a bouncier, tighter texture It works exactly the same way for meatballs I made two batches of meatballs side by side One was mixed right after seasoning, the other was left to sit for 30 minutes before mixing The batch that rested had a markedly more cohesive texture, with a nice resilient bounce I also tried mechanically kneading the balls ... tomato sauce (If you’re Italian, don’t tell your grandmother I said that.) Sure, they don’t usually have the same set of aromatics as meat loaf, but in terms of basic technique, they are nearly... Meatball Texture On the spectrum of sausage to meat loaf, a meatball falls much closer to the meat loaf end, but there should be one sausage-like characteristic about them—namely a bit of bounce to their bite... One was mixed right after seasoning, the other was left to sit for 30 minutes before mixing The batch that rested had a markedly more cohesive texture, with a nice resilient bounce I also tried mechanically kneading the balls