Grimpuppy glad you are having success with your new equipment. Sounds like a good investment
Meatball forming
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So kids made spaghetti with meatballs last weekend, and that got me thinking. Anyone have a faster method than balling up meat by hand? How can I put my stuffer to use making meat balls?
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I prefer a nice airy meatball and not a packed ball of meat, something to think about.
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HerbcoFood said in Meatball forming:
I prefer a nice airy meatball and not a packed ball of meat, something to think about.
thats an excellent point, it should be somewhat crumbly rather than a dense wad of meat
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I’m thinking we could just extrude meat through a large stuffer horn, pinch off chunks, and set them on sheet pan for a light freeze so they can be vac packed without smashing them.
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Dave in AZ Military Veterans Sous Vide Canning Traeger Power User Arizona Dry Cured Sausage Dry-Cured Expert last edited by Dave in AZ
Ridley Acres I’m with HerbcoFood too. For meatballs, for 2 lbs of ground meat (usually 1 lb venison and 1 lb hamburger), I add 2 eggs, maybe half cup milk, and about 3/4c breadcrumbs. Or cooked rice if making greek style. Plus whatever spices. Then I just grab a handful and “squeech” it out of the top of my fist in globs. After 10,000 meatballs, I have come to conclusion that after a couple tosses in pan, they ALL end up the same roundness no matter how much effort or lack of effort you put into forming them! In any case, they are fairly light and fluffy when good, to me?
I end up tossing them and turning with tongs to ensure 3 or 4 browned sides on all meatballs, so everything has some flats on it anyways.
But… here is a device I bought to scoop out meatballs or cookies or whatever. It works ok, but I rarely use.
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My grocer actually makes meatballs which seem to be made by a machine, they are dense. I have decided that it’s just italian sausage just rolled into balls.
Then they also make a more traditional style meatball, on the shelf these look more hand rolled as each one isn’t always the same size.
Lastly, I have watched pretty much every known episode of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, not once has any Italian place used a machine to make meatballs.
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Dave in AZ Military Veterans Sous Vide Canning Traeger Power User Arizona Dry Cured Sausage Dry-Cured Expert last edited by
P.s. saw your reply about freezing, I always cook first before freezing. They they are super ready for fast use, a quick microwave in bag or toss into spaghetti sauce. No reason to go partway I see, I don’t think cooked from raw is any better than reheated on meatballs?
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Dave in AZ HerbcoFood I suppose my thoughts are the next time I am processing a hog, I would take some of the seasoned grind and make a large batch of meatballs while I am filling meat bags. But having them precooked would be a great idea too.
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Ridley Acres Worse case scenario you will just end up with ground meat if it doesn’t work out like you want.
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bocephus Team Orange Power User Canning Masterbuilt Regular Contributors Veteran New Mexico Sous Vide Gardening last edited by
Ridley Acres When I make a large batch to freeze, I always bake them on a rack over a cake pan.
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Tex_77 Team Blue Power User Traeger Primo Grills PK Grills Canning Sous Vide Community Moderator Kansas last edited by
Like Dave in AZ suggested an ice cream scoop should work well, there are various sizes of scoops available.
Isaiah 5:22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks
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Tex_77 Ice cream scoop was the only way I think mashed potatoes should be served!
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bocephus Team Orange Power User Canning Masterbuilt Regular Contributors Veteran New Mexico Sous Vide Gardening last edited by
Tex_77 they make a cookie scoop that I think would work pretty well, my wife has one but she won’t let me use it for meatballs, might have to get my own.
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Ridley Acres I just made 80 cabbage rolls and used my stuffer and it worked great. I thoroughly mixed all ingredients and put the meat in my stuffer with a large tube and I would squeeze out a 4 finger length aprox 3.2 oz. I think a 2 finger length and give it a role on the table and you would have a beautiful nice round compact meatball in a second. Dave
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mrobisr Team Blue Cast Iron Sous Vide Canning Dry Cured Sausage Masterbuilt Military Veterans Power User Regular Contributors last edited by
bocephus said in Meatball forming:
Tex_77 they make a cookie scoop that I think would work pretty well, my wife has one but she won’t let me use it for meatballs, might have to get my own.
Yep, and it does work perfectly!
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bocephus Team Orange Power User Canning Masterbuilt Regular Contributors Veteran New Mexico Sous Vide Gardening last edited by
mrobisr That is it!
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I got one that is identical. I use it for meatballs just to portion then lightly roll into a round ball. Also works great to quickly dole out cookie dough.
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Mcjagger Texas (TX) Team Blue PK100 Sous Vide Dry Cured Sausage Canning Masterbuilt Veteran Regular Contributors Cast Iron Yearling last edited by
mrobisr that’s exactly what I use and they come in different sizes
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mrobisr this seems like a great job for the little helpers actually
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mrobisr
Yep. That is perfect for making meatballs.
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