Meatballs in tomato sauce: breadcrumbs soaked in milk, never dry
Tough, dense meatballs usually come from one mistake: dry breadcrumbs stirred straight into the meat. Italian cooks do it differently — bread or crumbs are soaked in milk first, and only the wet paste, known as a panade, is mixed into the meat. The soaked bread holds moisture inside the meatball and stops the meat proteins from binding into a tight mass, so the meatballs stay tender even after a long simmer.
Your own work in that: 45 min.
- Mixture 20 min
- Chilling the balls 15 min
- Browning and sauce 25 min
- Simmering 40 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneSoak the breadcrumbs in milk
Cover the breadcrumbs with the milk and leave 10 minutes, until they absorb it all and become a soft paste. This is the panade — without it the meatballs will be dense however many eggs you add.
Ingredients: 300 g minced beef · 300 g minced pork · 60 g breadcrumbs · 120 ml milk · 1 pcs egg · 50 g parmesan · 2 cloves garlic · ½ bunch parsley · 1½ tsp salt · ½ tsp pepper · 3 tbsp oil
TipInstead of crumbs you can soak <b>two slices of stale bread, crusts removed</b>, then mash them with a fork. The result is better still, since the crumb holds more water.
Ten minutes and the crumbs become a pasteMix by hand
In a bowl combine both meats, the panade, egg, parmesan, crushed garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix with your hand for about 60 seconds, until even. Don't beat or work it long: overworked meat turns rubbery.
TipThe <b>half beef, half pork</b> mixture is not a cost compromise. Beef brings flavour, pork brings fat and juiciness; beef alone comes out dry, pork alone bland.
A minute by hand, no long workingShape with wet hands
Wet your hands in cold water and roll balls the size of a ping-pong ball, about 35 g each (you will get about 25). Wet hands don't stick to the meat and the balls come out smooth. Line them up on a board and chill 15 minutes to firm up.
Wet hands, 35 gram ballsBrown them, don't cook them through
Heat the oil in a wide, deep frying pan and brown the meatballs in batches, 4 minutes each, turning, until dark on all sides (three batches take about 12 minutes in all). The centres should stay raw — they finish in the sauce. Crowded into the pan they release their juices and stew instead of browning.
TipA crust does not "seal in the juices" (that is a myth), but it creates flavour that stewing never produces. Which is why browning is worth the extra quarter of an hour.
Brown outside, raw in the middleMake a quick sauce
In the same pan fry the chopped onion in olive oil 6 minutes, add the garlic for a minute. Pour in the passata, add the oregano, sugar and salt and bring to the boil (about 3 minutes). Scrape the base of the pan with a wooden spoon — those browned scraps are the best ingredient in this sauce.
Ingredients: 700 ml tomato passata · 1 pcs onion · 3 cloves garlic · 3 tbsp olive oil · 1 tsp dried oregano · 1 tsp sugar · 1 tsp salt
Simmer forty minutes
Return the meatballs to the sauce so they are two thirds submerged, cover and simmer gently 40 minutes, turning once. The sauce thickens and the meatballs absorb it from the outside. Serve with basil and parmesan, over pasta or with bread.
Ingredients: 15 pcs fresh basil · 40 g parmesan
Two thirds submerged, forty minutes
Before you start
Better the next day
Like most braised dishes, these are noticeably better on day two — the sauce has time to penetrate the meat. Reheat slowly, covered, with a splash of water.
Freezing
Freeze the raw shaped balls on a tray, then bag them. Fry from frozen, adding 2 minutes to the browning and 10 to the simmering.
Without pork
Turkey or chicken alone needs extra fat: add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the mixture. Without it poultry meatballs come out dry, as lean poultry has far less fat than pork.
What to serve with them
Classically spaghetti, but equally good with mash, grains or simply bread for mopping the sauce. In a roll with cheese it becomes an American meatball sub.
