Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Satisfying meatballs good for the soul
Meatballs begin with ground meat, which is traditionally made from the parts of an animal that aren’t otherwise easy to eat. In other words, the cheaper cuts.
But the glory of peasant food is that cooks developed clever ways to bring tremendous flavor to the foods that wealthier people did not want to eat. And so the world has benefited with a host of wonderful stews, tagines, congees — and meatballs.
As with many foods of humble origins, meatballs have long been co-opted by the rest of the world; they now appear on the menus of the trendiest restaurants, often as an appetizer or a small plate. They aren’t just for spaghetti anymore.
In fact, they never were for spaghetti, at least not in Italy. Although Italians are fond of their home-cooked meatballs called polpettes, they are never served with spaghetti, except to American tourists.
And meatballs aren’t even just Italian. Swedish meatballs are well known, of course, but just about every cuisine has its own variation on the idea.
I decided to make Chinese and French meatballs.
The Chinese meatballs, called Lion’s Heads, are fried first. Then they are steamed until fully cooked, a process that, surprisingly, does little to diminish the crisp exterior.
Mixed in with the pork is essentially all of the ingredients in the larder at any Chinese restaurant: black mushrooms, water chestnuts, ginger, scallions, garlic, sesame oil, dry sherry and soy sauce.
Only one ingredient is unexpected, the grated rind of an orange. It adds a citrus kick and a mysterious allure to the meatballs that is unmistakable. Once you taste it, you won’t want to do without it.
In France, meatballs are typically made as a way to use up leftover cooked beef. The meat is finely chopped — a food processor works wonders here — and mixed with a host of aromatics to give it a most satisfying, well-rounded flavor.
They are quite good on their own, though a bit reminiscent of ordinary meatballs. What makes these ones extraordinary is the sauce.
At fancy French restaurants, a financière sauce is as elegant as its name implies. It involves demiglace and truffles and Madeira wine, or maybe Sauternes. But when French families make it at home, according to Jacques Pepin, it is usually a tomato sauce with mushrooms and olives.
That’s the sauce I made, and it was grand.