Dinner party number three

The third dinner party menu:

Spaghetti and meatballs

Garlic bread

Salad with avocado, nuts and seeds

Apple and plum crumble with ice cream

Meatballs cooking away

I have basic methods and ingredient proportions for things like meatballs, garlic bread, and crumbles, but no specifics. So no recipes. But! My own meatballs were recently transformed by one simple tip that I came across on The Kitchn, in a post all about making meatballs.

Previously, in all my extensive meatball-related reading, there seemed to be a consensus to not work the raw meatball mixture too much lest you end up with tough, dense meatballs. Ick. So, I accordingly fluffed my raw mixture lightly with my fingertips. I found that this meant liquid didn’t get incorporated too well, so as a result I ended up cutting my liquid additions (usually milk) quite a lot. But suddenly, in Faith Durand’s post, she mentioned that it was very important to get in there when you mixed up the raw ingredients, making sure it was all thoroughly combined so you don’t end up with pockets of either under-seasoned or over-seasoned mixture.

What?!

I decided to give this a try, although not for this dinner party; just a dinner for me and Andrew alone, an experiment. I combined my usual ingredients, but instead of lightly stirring with my fingertips, I got stuck in. In the process, the mixture quickly soaked up all the liquid I’d added, so I added quite a bit more, hoping the extra liquid would further lighten up the meatballs.

Then I went on with my meatball-making as per usual. I confess I was suspicious and thought they’d be tough and not very nice. But lo! they were tender, perfectly seasoned little balls of deliciousness. And thus I was converted, quickly making them again for the above-mentioned dinner party.

Moral of the story (obviously): mix your meatball mixture well. The end.

Yet another candlelit dinner table scene