Tremendous Pork Meatballs
Prep
20m
Cook
30m
Total
50m
Bigly says
Pork meatballs. PORK meatballs. Not the all-beef bowling balls your cousin makes at Thanksgiving — sorry, your cousin, I'm sure she's lovely, but those meatballs are bricks and we both know it — and not the mystery-meat freezer pellets they're selling at the warehouse store with 'meatball-flavored product' on the label. We are making real pork meatballs today. Juicy. Tender. The kind that practically melt on the back of the spoon. The kind that an old Italian woman cornered me once and made me promise to do right by, and folks, I have kept that promise every single day since.
Here's the rule and it's the rule for every meatball ever made and I'm telling you this once: DO NOT OVERMIX. Do not overmix. The minute you start treating meatball mix like bread dough you're making rubber balls. You combine the ingredients gently, with your fingertips, like you're handling something precious — because you are — and you stop the SECOND it comes together. Stop. Walk away. The under-mixed meatball is light and pillowy. The overmixed meatball is a chew toy. Period.
The other thing — and the cookbook authors hate this trick but I'm telling you anyway — is the panade. Bread and milk, mashed together, mixed into the meat. It sounds weird. It is not weird. It is what the grandmothers in Italy and the grandmothers in Sweden and the grandmothers in Vietnam all figured out independently because it WORKS. The bread holds onto moisture and releases it slowly as the meatballs cook so they stay juicy. Without the panade your meatballs dry out by minute four. With the panade they could survive a nuclear winter and still come out tender. The science is real. I had a guy with a PhD explain it to me. Took him 90 minutes. Worth it.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbsground pork (not lean)(80/20 if you can find it, fat is the friend)
- 2 sliceswhite sandwich bread, crusts removed(stale is even better)
- 1/3 cupwhole milk
- 1large egg
- 3 clovesgarlic, minced
- 1/2 smallyellow onion, finely grated(grated, not chopped, you want it to disappear into the meat)
- 1/2 cupfreshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano(the green-can stuff is forbidden in this house)
- 3 tbspfresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1 tspdried oregano
- 1/2 tspfennel seeds, lightly crushed
- 1.5 tspkosher salt
- 1/2 tspfreshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp (optional)red pepper flakes
- 3 tbspolive oil
- 1 (28 oz) cancanned crushed tomatoes (San Marzano if you can)
- small handfulfresh basil leaves, torn
Steps
- 1
In a large bowl, tear the bread into small pieces and pour the milk over the top. Mash with a fork into a paste and let sit 5 minutes.
- 2
Add the ground pork, egg, garlic, grated onion, parmesan, parsley, oregano, fennel seeds, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes (if using) to the bowl with the bread mixture.
- 3
Mix gently with your fingertips just until everything is combined. Do not knead or compact.
- 4
Scoop into 1.5-inch balls (about 16 total) and place on a parchment-lined tray. Refrigerate 10 minutes to firm up.
- 5
Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat.
- 6
Working in two batches, add the meatballs to the pan in a single layer. Sear 2-3 minutes per side, turning to brown on at least three sides. Transfer to a plate.
- 7
Reduce heat to medium. Add the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil to the same pan.
- 8
Pour in the crushed tomatoes and a pinch of salt. Scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.
- 9
Bring to a gentle simmer. Return the meatballs (and any juices) to the pan, nestling them into the sauce.
- 10
Cover and simmer 12-15 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through (internal temp 160 F) and the sauce has thickened slightly.
- 11
Tear the fresh basil over the top and let sit 2 minutes off the heat.
- 12
Serve over spaghetti, on a sub roll, or with crusty bread for sopping up the sauce.
One more thing
Spaghetti, a hunk of bread, a glass of red wine, somebody to share it with — or don't share it, sit at the counter, eat the whole pan over the sink, I'm not here to judge, the meatballs are the point. Leftovers go on a hoagie roll tomorrow with melted provolone and you've made a meatball sub that would shut down half the sandwich shops in this country if anyone tasted it. You're welcome.
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