Meatloaf and Meatball Question

ground beef

I mince my beef with veal and a little pork.

Two out of three ain’t bad.

ALWAYS use both ground pork and ground beef. If you don’t believe me, make two batches and do a taste test — you’ll never skip the pork again. Pork is much sweeter, meatballs need that sweetness to partner with the tomato favor.

I buy the ground beef, pork, and veal mixture. I find plain ground beef to a little bland.

Just the one, dear.

Ground beef and Italian sausage. Just made a batch last Sunday, and my sister wouldn't stop sneaking some while I was busy making the sauce.

I HATE how she does that.

Equal amounts of beef, veal, and pork.

R3 took the words right out of my mouth.

Heard he will do anything for love, but he won't do that!

Made both with just beef and with meatloaf mix. The all beef results were denser and less flavorful. Meatloaf mix is the way to go, especially if you combine your own beef, pork and veal.

All beef. However, I am not against these mixtures. They sound good.

This thread will end in tears.

I really feel that the amount of bread crumbs (fresh please) that you use control the density but using a mixture gives a more full umami profile.

I really want to like veal but it's not for me. But I love gyros. Just beef in my meatloaf and balls.

I mix fly, cockroach and ant.

Used ground beef? Sounds like a treat!

[quote] Ground beef and Italian sausage. Just made a batch last Sunday, and my sister wouldn't stop sneaking some while I was busy making the sauce. I HATE how she does that.

Why are you having your sister over in the middle of a pandemic?

At least beef and pork, if not beef-pork-veal.

And try substituting cocktail sauce for ketchup. That improves things 100%.

combo

I like the Maetball Shop's recipe because the addition of ricotta keeps the meatballs from being too dense.

Has anyone every tried Mama Lucia's meatballs? Their commercial always caught my attention.

What do you mean ground beef? Chuck or round?

Good question, R23.

Meatloaf I just make with beef, breadcrumbs, onions and eggs; meatballs I use ground beef mixed with Italian sausage.

My meatloaf is half ground beef and half spicy pork sausage, usually Owens brand, just like my stepmother used to make. It's ridiculously tasty, held together with a couple of eggs. I add chopped parsley if I have it. The leftovers make great sandwiches.

"The all beef results were denser and less flavorful."

Did you forget to add the eggs, dear?

I prefer beef+pork+veal but ground veal is difficult to find, so sometimes just beef & pork.

This had the potential of being a great "Fat Whores Rejoice" type thread.

[quote]What do you mean ground beef? Chuck or round?

It's hard to find ground meat from specific cuts of beef -- most stores just have the option for the fat/lean ratio. I've seen it from 73% up to 90% lean.

I see Ground Sirloin and Ground Chuck. I prefer Laura's Lean 4%.

R30, I must be much older than you to know this: 80% is chuck, 85% is round and 90% is sirloin. I am from the A&P School of Shopping Arts.

[quote][R30], I must be much older than you to know this: 80% is chuck, 85% is round and 90% is sirloin. I am from the A&P School of Shopping Arts.

But that's not true. It can't be called chuck, or sirloin, or round unless it came from that part of the animal. That's why butchers get away with mixing all different cuts and scraps, and it's how we ended up with e. coli.

But check the label because if you're buying pre-ground beef (ugh) some chains/butchers cut fat into it, no matter what the original cut of beef (allegedly) going into the chop.

I grind my own, but I do come from a long line of sausage stuffers.

R28, my local Shop Rite sells the 3 meats in one package. I can occasionally buy the mix with McCormick's Seasoning sprinkled on top.

I use ground beef and ground turkey, but using Townhouse Crackers or Club Crackers instead of bread crumbs makes the meat loaf much better because of their buttery taste..

I sneak horseradish into the mix of Ground beef and pork. It treats them differently, but the combo stands up against tomato.

In both meatballs and meatloaf I use a combination of ground beef (preferably 90% lean, which I haven't been able to get since coronavirus got underway) and Owens Hot Sausage.

With the meatballs I use canned dried breadcrumbs as a filler, along with grated Parmesan or Romano, salt, black pepper, granulated garlic and dried basil as seasonings, a couple of eggs, and some tomato paste.

Meatloaf gets oats as filler, along with minced garlic, diced onion and bell pepper. Eggs, ketchup, Worcestershire, black pepper, ground celery powder, and Knorr's 𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑑𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛 𝑆𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑠 (beef broth powder) instead of salt, with Heinz 57 sauce on the tops of the individual loaves.

[quote] I sneak horseradish into the mix of Ground beef and pork. It treats them differently, but the combo stands up against tomato.

R37, why do you have to "sneak" horseradish into your meatballs?

R39, it's a harsh flavor to which many object; if they know it's in there, they'll find fault with it.

Whereas, if you don't tell them it's in there, they might not criticize it.

Thanks, R40. I guess it's like anchovy or anchovy paste. People are so silly about trying new foods, esp. when they can't really identify what the hell it is.

I always use a panade...panko bread crumbs softened in milk. All beef meatballs come out great.

R33, you get e-coli because the meat is covered in feces or fell on the feces covered floor.

Ground beef (Chuck or round)

Ground pork

Egg

Italian bread crumbs

Tomato paste or ketchup

Grated parmi reggi

Fresh finely chopped Italian parsley

Finely minced garlic

Salt

Pepper

I’m not giving measurements because it’s all based on eye and texture. I roll them pretty big, put on a rimmed baking sheet, cook at 400 for maybe 20 min.

I have not done veal but I will now!! I’m excited to see how that changes the flavor.

To r34, I want your opinion if you don’t mind? There’s an Italian place by me (just a regional urban chain, but more sophisticated than most). Their meatballs are incredible!!! They are almost dense and light at the same time? The texture is unlike anything I’ve ever been able to replicate, and I came to realize that they must put it through a fine grinder, and maybe grind it twice — but I know zero about grinding. Does my theory hold any water? The consistency is sooooooo, well, consistent lol! Zero lumps, no bumps, no pockets of air or crumbly. Wondering if you agree....you can kind of see how smooth they are even just on the outside in this pic, but I couldn’t find a pic of one sliced in half. So they are suuuuuper dense, but when you cut the meatball in is a perfectly smooth straight cut.

No onion and celery?

I forgot the onion, but I only use it if I’m willing to chop it very very fine — I don’t want to crunch on onion. But I don’t do the onion every time.

I feel like celery would ruin the flavor. Wouldn’t it add a weird green note?

The first definition from MW:1a : food especially : solid food as distinguished from drink. b : the edible part of something as distinguished from its covering (such as a husk or shell).

Many other foods besides animal carcasses can be described as "meat" and thus can be made into a meaty loaf such as nutloaf, or delicious toful Italian Meatballs from the "Book of Tofu."

I precook onion when I put it in meatloaf and, like r46, wouldn't want the flavor of celery. I also use a panade. My favorite meatloaf recipe these days is Frank Bruni's mother Leslie's meatloaf, from Frank Bruni and Jennifer Steinhauer's meatloaf cookbook.

R46, I start onion and celery in bacon fat and they become teeny tiny soft bombs. I let it cool so it doesn’t fuck with the egg and then slip that grease in with other ingredients.

Be warned: I’m the poster pushing for some horseradish. You may not share my sense of meatloaf.

I do not condone addition of fucked up shit like yam, mushrooms (ok, only 🎼ev-er-y once-in-awhile)or olive paste. I’ve seen that one in person and did NOT slap the cook’s face because I am a coward.

What's the "bad taste" version of Oh, Dear? I award it to r47.

I use all three and add a few cigarette butts.

I make muttloaf. You guess.

pre-ground beef (ugh)

I grind my own

Well smell you bitch, do you also slaughter your own animals too. I can't fathom why you would deign to honor us with your presence.

Meatloaf: a combo of 50% beef (chuck) and 25% lamb, and 25% turkey.

Has anyone made pork balls (gong wan)? How do you get that tight texture? Gelatin?

R53, somebody somewhere is calling your mother to tell her you’re a whore and I love ya.

ground pork and ground beef for meatballs.

ground pork, veal, and beef for meatloaf.

For both meatballs and meatloaf I usually mix a 50/50 combination of ground pork and ground chuck. Chuck has better flavor that the leaner beef mixes IMO and the extra fat seems to cook off for the most part. Pork not only adds a nice flavor but allows you to mix all of the ingredients together without the ground beef turning pasty and glue-like (which it tends to do if used alone - even when "mixed" even minimally with seasonings). As for the veal, I like it for some recipes (meatloaf but rarely meatball) and not for others. The flavor is very rich and rather specific. I usually make two different types of meatballs using the same meat mixture - Swedish and Italian. Both get a panade (a milk product mixed with either fresh or dry bread crumbs and egg), kosher salt and finely minced garlic. The Swedish mixture then gets ground black pepper, Lea & Perrins, ground allspice and fresh ground nutmeg. I roll them rather small (around 1/4 cup per "ball"). The Italian version gets grated Parmigiano Reggiano, diced Italian parsley, red pepper flakes and Oregano. I roll them larger (about 1/3 cup per "ball"). Both sets are arranged on their own foil-lined cookie sheet and cooked in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes for the Swedish and 25 to 30 minutes for the Italian. Much of the fat cooks off and once they are cooled to room temperature I set them back on the cookie sheet (minus the foil and fat) and place in the freezer uncovered for 30 to 45 minutes. This keeps them from sticking together later when frozen. I usually separate them into groups that I can thaw and use in a sauce later (Swedish get a cream/beef consume sauce and Italian get a tomato sauce). I keep them stored in the freezer until I need them.

I am loving some of the recipes on here and may try them in 2021. I use the meatloaf recipe from the back of the Lipton Beefy Onion Soup mix. I know, I know. It's a cop out but it's easy. Plus its just me and my sister eating it.

I don't like tomato sauce on my meatloaf. I prefer an onion gravy. Thoughts?

[quote]I prefer an onion gravy. Thoughts?

Add some mushrooms to that onion gravy, R59, and you've got something.

I was momentarily startled by your reference to "onion gravy," because one of the things my grandmother made when I was a child was a milk-based cream gravy with onions, which she spooned over torn-up pieces of white bread. It's what I immediately thought of.

But you do mean some brown gravy variant, right?

equal parts goat, venison, lamb.

Poisoned Dragon, you probably already know this, but Miss Joan Crawford also used sausage in her meatloaf mixture.

Ew, she used hard boiled eggs in her meatloaf? I would pull a Christina/Prime Rib scene with that.

r63, unshelled hard boiled eggs!

I do the 3/2/1 ratio in order of beef, veal and pork.

Equally important - DO NOT use breadcrumps. They give the balls a puck-like texture. Instead, moistened bread.

If you don't want to make your own sauce, I find that Lidia's and Rao's are great jar sauces. If you're on a budget the Classico ones ain't half bad either!

turkey and veal - well-seasoned; no regular ground beef

R65, as someone mentioned upthread, make a panade - soak breadcrumbs in milk.

I never thought of combining different meat to make my meals but it sounds interesting. I'll try it the next time I make homemade chilli. I'm sure it will also go well in my drained pasta.

[quote]Poisoned Dragon, you probably already know this, but Miss Joan Crawford also used sausage in her meatloaf mixture.

No, R62, I didn't know! That's funny! :D

I've never been much of a Joan Crawford fan; apart from 'Trog,' Night Gallery's 'Eyes,' and The Sixth Sense episode 'Dear Joan, We're Going to Scare You To Death!', I haven't really watched much of her oeuvre. My grandmother on my mom's side of the family used to put on airs as though she was Crawford, wearing similar makeup and raising one or another of her eyebrows, and generally affecting that kind of bitchiness. At least my mom said that it was Crawford that she was channeling. But the thing with sausage in the meatloaf was just something I decided to start doing in the middle 80s, and I've done it ever since.

R7 here.

R18, 10+ years ago my sister and I moved back into the family home to care for our elderly parents. Mom had Alzheimer's and died at 90 two years ago; I care for my Dad full time now, while my sister works outside the home. Sister works for our state's emergency management, and one of her jobs is managing the state's response to the pandemic. Obviously we both are VERY careful around and for Dad.

Got it?

Wish him a happy 93rd next week (1/5/21); all he wants for his bday is Democratic Senate wins in Georgia!😍

Back to meatballs; I always used panko for time's sake but they never came out as luscious as Mom's, who always used bread, ends cut off and then torn into tiny pieces that she soaked in a beaten egg+milk mixture. That, added to the ground beef+Italian sausage along with 1 cup grated fresh Parmesan, gives the meatballs a luscious texture and mouthfeel.

r70's Mama...she knew how to make meatballs.

Just beef or pork. Not veal though, it's pointless.

Ground beef, ground pork, ground veal is ideal. But as ground veal is hard to find, half and half beef/pork works well enough. Just make sure you soak the breadcrumbs in milk.