Like it's a whole different food
A kind reader reached out yesterday after my acceptable but boring and greasy meatballs. His suggestion: try actually put something interesting in them. Who would have thought? I can be so uncreative, still. He gave specifics based on my "On-hand" section. Instead of meatballs made of
- ground beef and
- egg,
I combined
- ground beef
- egg
- breadcrumbs (I just chopped/tore some bread up... seemed to work)
- diced/minced onion
- minced garlic
- spoon of yoghurt
- salt
- pepper, and
- some chili powder.
I could tell they were going to be way better even as I was making them. They balled up more nicely, and smelled good even raw (probably in no small part thanks to the garlic).
On the advice I received, I not only seared them in butter, but afterwards simmered them in chicken stock mixed with a little more yoghurt. In between, I took the meatballs out of the pan and poured the fat out, then returned the meatballs to the pan before pouring in the stock.
I took a bite of one as it was finishing up, and said "oh my gosh!" out loud... it was a totally different food than yesterday! It was actually delicious on its own! I can tell that it would be better if I used leaner ground beef (why is ground beef fat so gross while non-ground beef fat is so delicious?), but I have no complaints. I gobbled them right down, and enjoyed the meal, even though I am out of soy sauce for my rice.
What an amazing comeback!
Thank you for the intervention, reader!
