meatballs not sticking

[pawre]

Hi Mums,

I attempted at making meatballs for my DD last night.

They didn't stick well though.  Does anyone have a tip for me?  I tried adding some mash potato to the minced beef.  That made the balls but when it came to frying them up they fell apart.

thanks!

[LucyA]

Adding some beaten egg can help bind them together.

How big were they? Did you add anything else? How fatty was the meat - that can probably make a difference, although I don't know if more or less fat would be better?

[Freya'sMum]

I find the best way to make meatballs is to puree the raw meat, some onion, and some breadcrumbs in the blender, then shape into balls/sausages and shallow fry - the mixture is a nicer, smoother texture once cooked and sticks together much more effectively - you can also add veg to this (carrot, or even apple if you chop this first, squeeze some juice out, and then put the rest of the ingredients in).

Ax

[Shdef]

What I do is soak a slice of white bread in warm water (without crusts). After a while I take it out and add it to the mince. And an egg, salt and pepper, a very finely chopped onion and garlic...

HTH


Steffi

[magda1461]

i use natural european style yoghurt to bind my meatballs together instead of egg.

[Elvira]

Right, the spanish way is: minced meat, add one beaten egg for half a kilo and two for a kilo, salt, very finely minced garlic and finely chopped parsley, and add a small amount of bread (the soft part for european baguettes, in regular american bread without the crust) briefly softened in milk.  Mix it all together, then shape  AND coat with either flour or very fine bread crumbs before frying/cooking. They way we do it is fry them very lightly with olive oil (a little only) and then add water and whatever else you are going to use and cook slowly for 40 minutes.  We normally add potatoes, onion or leek, sometimes carrots, peas or string beans.

[Shdef]

sounds yummy Elvira

Doesn't it soak up all the oil right away if you use breadcrumbs? I'm gonny try that!

[Elvira]

The flour or breadcrumbs prevent the meatballs from desintegrating when frying, it does soak and form a crust, but it is something you do briefly, a sautée in french or stir fry, then you pass them to the pan where you are going to boil them unless it is a small quantity when you could even do it by lightly frying in the pan you are going to use for cooking (if quantity is big, you have to do it in a different pan to avoid overcrowding, as the whole idea is to create the crust that will soften later in the boiling, and not be noticed, but helps to keep their shape).

Go light on the softened bread, some people here use dry crumbs for the mixing but that gives you a definitely "drier" texture and my meatballs are very popular with children in general because they are soft, but not too soft.  The secret is the old spanish way, the briefly soaked bread.

Good luck!

[Hunter & Sithia's mom]

Here's how I do mine

About 1 lb of ground meat ... your choice
1 egg
bread crumbs ... dunno how much, till it's not wet
salt and pepper
whatever other spices/herbs you like

mix the above in, bread crumbs last, then keep adding the crumbs till you get a mix you like.  Sometimes I make them a bit more "wet", other times, more dry.

Roll them into balls, place on baking pan.  Put in preheated 350 degree F oven for 20 minutes for small ones, longer for larger ones.  They don't fall apart.  If you use a rack under them, you have less fat in them too.

HTH
Beth