Feels like some old fart just didn't feel like rolling 30 balls, so makes 4 instead and calls it marketing. And probably Gordon Ramsay restaurant show levels of delusion about how "everyone loves it".
This isn't necessarily true. Italian meatballs are usually small, but polpette alla Napoletana are often on the larger side. You just need to be discerning. (The one pictured looks pretty mid and still too big.)
The question is whether it’s actually cooked. I don’t even know how long that meatball would need to sit, cooking in sauce. Small meatballs require 15 minutes to drink in the flavor but only 10 to cook completely through. This monster needs at least an hour on medium-low for a pink center. Is that even safe? How long can you let bacteria live in pleasant warmth and multiply before turning dangerous? Not to mention the lack of char, meaning this is just a boiled meatball with the texture of boiled meatball.
I mean, the outside looks pretty close to what I'd expect for unsauced meatloaf--there are clearly some darker brown areas. I do personally like to bake them at a bit higher temp to get some of those browned bits, but for a larger meatball, you may need to stay a little cooler to let it cook evenly without nuking the outside.
Are we looking at the same meatball because I don't see any darker areas? I see some flecks of spice, but that looks like an unseared ball of meat to me. There are some tinges of red, but those are from the sauce poured over it, not from cooking. You can see the remnants of the sauce at the base of the meatball mixing with another completely different sauce. Pretty sure that meatball is just unseared boiled meat.
My nan got a recipe from this Italian lady, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The recipe says to cook the sauce for one hour and then you add the meatballs and cook them for 1.5 hrs.
It was actually a black and white stone carving. We had to do a pencil rubbing, imprinted that on another piece of paper and sent it off to be digitally enhanced and then printed in the colour you see before you.
What a random measurement! Does that mean just half the shell, full of water, twice? I realize precision here is probably unnecessary, but my brain is just really struggling!
You've got to work out the surface area of the interior and exterior of the egg and then extract the volumetric square footage in metric imperial flombles.
The difficulty my aunt had when writing down my nan's recipes is that, in a lot of cases, she had the measurements in her head. So, there was a lot of guess work and estimation.
My guess was always that it would be half of an eggshell, previously used, twice. So, maybe it would technically be 1 egg worth of water. Never really considered that before...
You’ve got to work out the surface area of the interior and exterior of the egg and then extract the volumetric square footage in metric imperial flombles.
I personally can’t stand overcooking meat. Searing the exterior to trap the juices and then letting the meatball split or the sauce overcook just pisses me off. Why go to the effort of sealing in the juices if they’re just going to render out? My parents had many recipes involving overcooked ground beef, and all of them bother me. They might have been what spurred me into becoming a vegetarian. I honestly can’t remember, but there was a straw, camel, and a back to break
Fair enough. There's a video I watched by Mythical Kitchen not too long ago and they go through the different techniques used when making spaghetti and meatballs. I think they went for a sear type thing, but mostly because cooking it in the sauce for so long made the meatball really soft and fall apart easily and they preferred a tougher meatball. I don't really remember though, so don't take my word for it. Was an interesting watch regardless.
I have nostalgia tied with that way of making meatballs. So, it may not be the best way to cook them, but they're still delicious and reminds me of my nan.
Never heard of this program before. I can’t say that I like them as hosts but their information was decently high quality and accessible.
To recap, mix the meat longer to produce a crunchier meatball (if you want), sear the ball to produce umami flavor (if you want) and cook in sauce to impart flavor into the sauce and (over)cook the meatball (if you want). Though there was a dark horse, boiling raw meatballs in sauce for a sort of soup meatball texture.
Nothing inherently wrong with your baking method, but I have overriding trauma that would leave me stink eying you if I witnessed it. Caring about others’ food preferences beyond the improved expression of your own desired flavors and textures doesn’t make sense to me, for the most part. Almost always, really. I’m glad you found a food that produces such fond feelings for you and wish you many pleasant dinners.
I remember learning that searing actually doesn't trap in juices. its only value is in the maillard reaction and is best done at the end of cooking as a reverse sear
I would guarantee this thing is overcooked to hell, dry as a paper towel in the center. It probably swam in day-old red sauce in a pot for 90 minutes to prevent lawsuits, then cooled off, cooking another 20 holdover minutes. Then into the fridge to be microwaved when anon orders it.
Temperature. Granted, liquids more quickly convey energy to solids than gas, but a low simmering pot of sauce should be below pot roast temps. Which is fine for a tiny seared meatball, but for a half kilo beef sphere? That meatball is like 5 cm thick. It would take a while to heat up the center unless you’re upping the temp, but then you’re interfering with the sauce. In short, it’s a major recipe change.
Meatballs like that are a common dish in the Netherlands (gehaktbal). But mostly served with potatoes and vegetables. Or as a snack, cut in slices with onion slices in between and with peanut sause (bere bal or bere hap, bear ball or bear snack).
I ate dinner at a friend's house way back when I was in middle school (not like overtly Italian, pretty WASP-y), and his parents made spaghetti and meatballs, and the meatballs were about this size. I remember the meal being pretty delicious though.
Right, my point is that it's not a sign of a healthy org. Closing stores just stops the bleeding, and if that was sufficient, they wouldn't file for bankruptcy.
dude there's a... you know i always thought it was a chinese place but now i'm not so sure. at very least it was a southeast asian restaurant i used to live down the street from, and they had this meatball over rice they'd serve. i eyeballed it lustfully every time someone would order it but never worked up the courage. maybe in two weeks i'll ask the wife
76 Comments
0ops@piefed.zip · 108 pts · 354d
Wow. That looks violently delicious.
tetris11@lemmy.ml · 25 pts · 354d
It looks practically pregnant with murderous potential
LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 354d
That looks very unhealthy. I want it.
Empricorn@feddit.nl · 7 pts · 354d
Have you seen what most of us Americans eat!?
LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 354d
Hey, everything in moderation, including moderation
Empricorn@feddit.nl · 6 pts · 354d
Please don't moderate my moderation!
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 354d
Just balance it out with some AG1
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 354d
I have never tasted a meatball that size that wasn't poorly cooked.
and the ones that I haven't tasted but have seen looked dry as fuck
I am skeptical
Dasus@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 352d
Feels like some old fart just didn't feel like rolling 30 balls, so makes 4 instead and calls it marketing. And probably Gordon Ramsay restaurant show levels of delusion about how "everyone loves it".
BleatingZombie@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 354d
I don't want to imagine that cereal mascot
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 354d
I do
danc4498@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 354d
They should put a popsicle stick in it and sell it at food trucks.
Etterra@discuss.online · 2 pts · 354d
Deep fried.
danc4498@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 354d
Billion dollar idea here.
Jackusflackus@lemmy.world · 54 pts · 354d
Aaah, giant meatball. The hallmark of a D grade Italian restaurant.
TheTechnician27@lemmy.world · 43 pts · 354d
This isn't necessarily true. Italian meatballs are usually small, but polpette alla Napoletana are often on the larger side. You just need to be discerning. (The one pictured looks pretty mid and still too big.)
wabasso@lemmy.ca · 34 pts · 354d
Fake: No. Anon went with their parents. Gay: No. Less than two balls present.
coffee_tacos@mander.xyz · 15 pts · 353d
Fake: anon left the house. Gay: anon wanted more balls
AfroMustache@lemmynsfw.com · 4 pts · 354d
Your assessment is wrong. Everything on 4chan is fake and gay
steeznson@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 353d
Gay: Anon is dissatisfied when he sees a ball that doesn't look like the balls he imagined
NaibofTabr@infosec.pub · 28 pts · 354d
Did it roll right out the door?
idunnololz@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 354d
I always thought that song was so sad until recently when i looked up the full lyrics to the song and realized it had a happy ending.
The song was a parody of "On top of old smoky" and it was popularized by Tom Glazer who sang the song in 1963.
The lyrics he sang was
xspurnx@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 354d
First thought this was a Aqua Teen Hunger Force reference - but this is much better. Thanks!
chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 354d
That looks like the meatball they didn't expect anyone to order.
sangriaferret@sh.itjust.works · 21 pts · 354d
That's just a round meatloaf.
OrteilGenou@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 354d
No, a meatloaf is early Borg protein, this is advanced Borg protein.
We are fed.
Gullible@sh.itjust.works · 17 pts · 354d
The question is whether it’s actually cooked. I don’t even know how long that meatball would need to sit, cooking in sauce. Small meatballs require 15 minutes to drink in the flavor but only 10 to cook completely through. This monster needs at least an hour on medium-low for a pink center. Is that even safe? How long can you let bacteria live in pleasant warmth and multiply before turning dangerous? Not to mention the lack of char, meaning this is just a boiled meatball with the texture of boiled meatball.
dmention7@midwest.social · 11 pts · 354d
Whenever I've made homemade meatballs, we just bake them in the oven to cook, then either add to the sauce or serve separately.
I guess you'd just cook this monster like a lil meatloaf.
Gullible@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 354d
If it had been baked, there’d surely be some dark bits, right?
dmention7@midwest.social · 6 pts · 354d
I mean, the outside looks pretty close to what I'd expect for unsauced meatloaf--there are clearly some darker brown areas. I do personally like to bake them at a bit higher temp to get some of those browned bits, but for a larger meatball, you may need to stay a little cooler to let it cook evenly without nuking the outside.
Knightfox@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 354d
Are we looking at the same meatball because I don't see any darker areas? I see some flecks of spice, but that looks like an unseared ball of meat to me. There are some tinges of red, but those are from the sauce poured over it, not from cooking. You can see the remnants of the sauce at the base of the meatball mixing with another completely different sauce. Pretty sure that meatball is just unseared boiled meat.
nuggsy@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 354d
My nan got a recipe from this Italian lady, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The recipe says to cook the sauce for one hour and then you add the meatballs and cook them for 1.5 hrs.
LOLseas@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 353d
You must giveth the recipeth hereth noweth.
nuggsy@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 353d
Sure! As requested
It says to roll into small balls, but small could be anything depending on context.
lessthanluigi@lemmy.sdf.org · 3 pts · 353d
Who knew dinosaurs had color image printing!
nuggsy@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 352d
It was actually a black and white stone carving. We had to do a pencil rubbing, imprinted that on another piece of paper and sent it off to be digitally enhanced and then printed in the colour you see before you.
QualifiedKitten@discuss.online · 2 pts · 352d
What a random measurement! Does that mean just half the shell, full of water, twice? I realize precision here is probably unnecessary, but my brain is just really struggling!
nuggsy@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 351d
You've got to work out the surface area of the interior and exterior of the egg and then extract the volumetric square footage in metric imperial flombles.
The difficulty my aunt had when writing down my nan's recipes is that, in a lot of cases, she had the measurements in her head. So, there was a lot of guess work and estimation.
My guess was always that it would be half of an eggshell, previously used, twice. So, maybe it would technically be 1 egg worth of water. Never really considered that before...
UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 350d
I will not have an egg during these trying times.
LOLseas@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 353d
You're awesome. We thank you!
nuggsy@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 352d
No problems! If you end up making them, let me know :)
Gullible@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 353d
I personally can’t stand overcooking meat. Searing the exterior to trap the juices and then letting the meatball split or the sauce overcook just pisses me off. Why go to the effort of sealing in the juices if they’re just going to render out? My parents had many recipes involving overcooked ground beef, and all of them bother me. They might have been what spurred me into becoming a vegetarian. I honestly can’t remember, but there was a straw, camel, and a back to break
nuggsy@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 352d
Fair enough. There's a video I watched by Mythical Kitchen not too long ago and they go through the different techniques used when making spaghetti and meatballs. I think they went for a sear type thing, but mostly because cooking it in the sauce for so long made the meatball really soft and fall apart easily and they preferred a tougher meatball. I don't really remember though, so don't take my word for it. Was an interesting watch regardless.
I have nostalgia tied with that way of making meatballs. So, it may not be the best way to cook them, but they're still delicious and reminds me of my nan.
Gullible@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 352d
Never heard of this program before. I can’t say that I like them as hosts but their information was decently high quality and accessible.
To recap, mix the meat longer to produce a crunchier meatball (if you want), sear the ball to produce umami flavor (if you want) and cook in sauce to impart flavor into the sauce and (over)cook the meatball (if you want). Though there was a dark horse, boiling raw meatballs in sauce for a sort of soup meatball texture.
Nothing inherently wrong with your baking method, but I have overriding trauma that would leave me stink eying you if I witnessed it. Caring about others’ food preferences beyond the improved expression of your own desired flavors and textures doesn’t make sense to me, for the most part. Almost always, really. I’m glad you found a food that produces such fond feelings for you and wish you many pleasant dinners.
TimewornTraveler@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 353d
I remember learning that searing actually doesn't trap in juices. its only value is in the maillard reaction and is best done at the end of cooking as a reverse sear
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 353d
No.
GreenShimada@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 353d
I would guarantee this thing is overcooked to hell, dry as a paper towel in the center. It probably swam in day-old red sauce in a pot for 90 minutes to prevent lawsuits, then cooled off, cooking another 20 holdover minutes. Then into the fridge to be microwaved when anon orders it.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 354d
i smoke my meatballs/MOINKs for about two hours at 225. they're about 2/3 that size. they typically don't have char marks, but they have smoke ring.
Master@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 354d
God damn it why did I click that link. I knew better but now im hungry!
ngwoo@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 354d
Why would this be unsafe compared to something like a pot roast that cooks in simmering liquid much slower
Gullible@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 353d
Temperature. Granted, liquids more quickly convey energy to solids than gas, but a low simmering pot of sauce should be below pot roast temps. Which is fine for a tiny seared meatball, but for a half kilo beef sphere? That meatball is like 5 cm thick. It would take a while to heat up the center unless you’re upping the temp, but then you’re interfering with the sauce. In short, it’s a major recipe change.
TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 17 pts · 354d
Meatballs like that are a common dish in the Netherlands (gehaktbal). But mostly served with potatoes and vegetables. Or as a snack, cut in slices with onion slices in between and with peanut sause (bere bal or bere hap, bear ball or bear snack).
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 16 pts · 354d
I ate dinner at a friend's house way back when I was in middle school (not like overtly Italian, pretty WASP-y), and his parents made spaghetti and meatballs, and the meatballs were about this size. I remember the meal being pretty delicious though.
Why the fuck do I even remember this bullshit?
cook_pass_babtridge@feddit.uk · 13 pts · 354d
Tablecloth checks out.
blackbeards_bounty@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 10 pts · 354d
Betting this is (was?) Buca di Beppo. God I miss that place
wieson@feddit.org · 9 pts · 353d
Americans only know chain restaurants smh in sadness
TheGreenWizard@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 353d
They were just expressing they have fond memories of eating at a restaurant, calm down lol
wieson@feddit.org · 4 pts · 353d
I am not at all agitated, I truly feel for them. It is not their fault.
Dasus@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 353d
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 353d
Well, I could mention local restaurants, but:
UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 350d
Everyone knows where googoogagagga is
Madison420@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 353d
It's still around unless you mean there's not one near you.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 353d
Are they though?
Madison420@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 353d
That says they only closed a few and filled bankruptcy the local one here is just reduced hours.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 353d
Right, my point is that it's not a sign of a healthy org. Closing stores just stops the bleeding, and if that was sufficient, they wouldn't file for bankruptcy.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 354d
dude there's a... you know i always thought it was a chinese place but now i'm not so sure. at very least it was a southeast asian restaurant i used to live down the street from, and they had this meatball over rice they'd serve. i eyeballed it lustfully every time someone would order it but never worked up the courage. maybe in two weeks i'll ask the wife
levzzz@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 354d
I'm going to Alice.
glitch1985@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 354d
There is some editing fuckery going on unless those are giant rigatoni noodles as well.
remon@ani.social · 19 pts · 354d
Look like normal sized rigatoni to me.
Magnum@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 10 pts · 354d
remon@ani.social · 5 pts · 354d
Ah, those are called "mezzi rigatoni".
Magnum@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 6 pts · 354d
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 354d
i was thinking paccheri but i'm not a pasta expert
Master@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 354d
Brocolli in the back and fork on the left. Looks like a half size plate. Still big but not as massive as it seems.
Ghoelian@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 354d
Looks like a regular size dinner plate to me
TwoBeeSan@lemmy.world · -12 pts · 354d
They want you to sit on it. Duh. It wouldn't be anus shaped otherwise
TootSweet@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 354d
Sir, this is a Wendionelli's.
chellomere@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 354d
If you think this is buttplug shaped you may need glasses. Or see a proctologist.