it difficult to follow home-style recipes for
meatballs, and as a result, they became
something different.”
Things have changed in recent years, though,
de Magistris says, and chefs are going back
to traditional, well-thought-out meatball
recipes for their menus. “Diners who were
once bored with the dish are finding out that,
made right, meatballs can be really great.”
Maiale, a pork meatball with mozzarella and sugo di testa, is on the menu at Restaurant
Dante and il Casale.
NOT YOUR MOMMA’S MEATBALLS
In winter, de Magistris adds baccalà, or salt
cod, meatballs to the menu at Dante. “We
get salt cod, soak it for three days, poach it,
and then flake it and mix it with milk-soaked
bread,” he says.
The cooked baccalà is mixed with flour,
capers, garlic, parsley, lemon juice and caper
juice, then pan-fried and stewed in tomato
sauce. When it arrives at the table, it’s served
with pine nuts, raisins and parsley.
“Diners get really excited about our baccalà
meatballs, because they’ve never seen
anything like it before,” de Magistris says.
Meatballs allow for a degree of culinary
innovation. At David Burke’s Primehouse,
Chicago, executive chef Rick Gresh makes
barbecue octopus meatballs by mixing
smoked octopus, roasted chorizo and
green herb purée.
its own character,” says Richard. “The beef
and veal is a traditional meatball, like mom’s
meatballs. The pork meatballs are flavored
with chili flakes, rosemary and garlic, so they
have a little spice, and the chicken is flavored
with sage.”
Richard launched a bar-only menu of
meatball sliders last summer, but they
became so popular so rapidly that they were
quickly added to the appetizer section of the
restaurant menu, too. “Between our slider
meatballs at the bar, our meatball appetizers
in the restaurant and our spaghetti and
meatballs, we easily sell between 4,000 and
5,000 meatballs a month,” he says.
“Not that long ago we only had one meatball
on the menu. Now we feature them in sliders,
meatball sandwiches and with spaghetti,
both on our lunch and dinner menus. In
terms of popularity meatballs really work well
for the dining public.”
fennel seed, chili flakes, chopped parsley,
milk, bread, salt and pepper.”
Redzikowski hand-dices the fat so there are
studs of it throughout the meatball. “When
you cook the meatballs, the fat melts inside,
and they’re super juicy and tender,” he says.
At OAK at Fourteenth, meatballs are stewed
in tomatoes and served with Burrata cheese
as a shared plate.
MEATBALL MECHANICS
There are two key factors to a good
meatball, Richard says. The first is to keep
the recipe simple to highlight the quality
of ingredients. The second is to have the
correct ratio of breadcrumbs to protein. “That
ratio is crucial to getting the right texture.
Most of the meatballs I don’t like have a
textural issue. Getting the texture right can
be tricky, but it’s an eyeball thing. Once you
have it right, hone the recipe from there.”
Other chefs offering a different take on the
meatball include Steven Richard, executive
chef at Portobello, Walt Disney World Resort,
Lake Buena Vista, Fla. There, meatball
sliders are served in three varieties: beef/
veal, pork and chicken. “Each meatball has
Chef/owner Steven Redzikowski says diners
go crazy for the Kurobuta pork meatballs he
menus at OAK at Fourteenth, Boulder, Colo.
“Our meat mixture is half ground Kurobuta
pork and half lean beef, and to enrich it, we
use pork fatback, adding Parmesan cheese,
Redzikowski cautions chefs to mix the
meatballs by hand rather than with a mixer,
which tends to make them tough. “They’re
juicier and moister when they’re mixed by
hand, because with a mixer, it’s easy to over-
mix, resulting in a tough meatball.”
