Meatballs
My wife is half Italian. Like known mafiosos in the family history Italian. Like grandmas that passed down recipes Italian. My mother-in-law is Italian through marriage. She learned to make spaghetti and meatballs from her grandmother-in-law. The first time I went home to meet the parents, mom-in-law made spaghetti and meatballs to accompany the usual Thanksgiving spread. You may think that I am relating this story to accomplish 1 of 2 things. I am either going to mark this as the moment that I thought, “I am going to marry this woman.” (Not the mother-in-law). That, however, is not what I am doing, nor is it true. You may also see this as me trying to establish the authority to convey my recipes by connecting my knowledge to Old Country mysticism. I am not doing that either. My recipes are ideas from other places and my own experimentation. I am relating this story because it was really cool.
Now, it may have been a moment that accelerated the deterioration of my foundational adherence to the rigidity of holiday traditions but that was already a cartoon snowball rolling down an alpine slope toward the cabin of my perspective. As you can see by that sentence, I’m super deep. Traditions come from what is good. Traditions change. New traditions become traditions because we like them. I like spaghetti and meatballs and with some errant gravy soaked Thanksgiving stuffing? Change can be great. Bring on the curry and mashed potatoes. Peking duck on the plate, yes. Spicy rice and beans with a few cranberries stowing away sounds amazing. I love food. Food is better when it when it drops its keys in the bowl by the door and heads for the bar. Let’s get weird.
So, meatballs are good. And meatballs are easy. So, make some freakin’ meatballs. Meatballs are a ratio thing. 1 pound ground meat*, 1 large egg, ½ cup bread crumbs. It once again comes down to taste. I add a bit more bread crumb. The cool thing about this ratio, is that it creates a base for your creativity. I will share a few recipes that I make but the options are endless. Choose your flavor base and experiment. The more. you make the easier it is to adapt to whatever your purpose.
*You can use any ground meat. They all make meatballs. You can combine ground meats, many do. The world is your oyster. I would hesitate to use oyster meat but I’d sure as hell try one if someone I trusted told me it was good.
