From DN Recipes by David Nagy · Food & Beverage

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Dave's Juicy and Tender Italian-American Meatballs in Red Sauce Recipe
YIELD: about 20 2-ounce meatballs  ACTIVE TIME: 1 hour  TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 30 minutes

Next test 10-20-18
  • Tomato paste
  • Gelatin (see Kenji recipe down below) rather than baking soda-water
  • Mix by hand, not mixer
  • 2 tsp soy sauce 
  • No onion, raw grated garlic

Ingredients
  1. 1-1/2 pounds ground beef* (best quality 80-20)
  2. 1/2 pound fresh ground pork (at least 25% fat)
  3. 4 oz high quality fresh white bread, crusts removed and bread cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 2 unpacked cups)
  4. 1/2 cup of 80% buttermilk and 20% tomato paste, plus more as needed
  5. 1 medium onion, finely minced
  6. 8 cloves garlic, finely minced or microplaned
  7. 4 ounces Pecorino Romano, grated, plus more for serving
  8. 1/2 cup fresh minced loosely packed parsley leaves
  9. 4 teaspoons kosher salt
  10. Freshly ground black pepper
  11. 1 teaspoon baking soda + 8 teaspoons water*
  12. 2 large eggs
  13. 2 tsp soy sauce
  14. 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 
  15. 1 teaspoon dried basil
  16. 3/4 teaspoon paprika
  17. 3/4 teaspoon fennel seeds, lightly toasted and finely ground
  18. 2 anchovy fillets, very finely chopped/crushed
  19. Fresh basil, chiffonaded


Directions
  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine bread with buttermilk+paste, tossing to coat. Let stand, tossing occasionally, until bread is completely moist, about 10 minutes. Squeeze bread between your fingers or mash with a spoon to make sure there are no dry spots.
  2. Saute onion and garlic and let cool. Add onion, garlic, Pecorino Romano, parsley, salt, pepper, soy sauce, oregano, basil, paprika,, fennel, anchovies and eggs, to buttermilk mixture.  
  3. Set mixer bowl in stand mixer and attach paddle. Starting at low speed and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, beat bread mixture until thoroughly blended, stopping to scrape down sides as necessary.
  4. Blend beef and pork, and mix 1/2 tsp baking soda with 8 tsp water (1/4 tsp baking soda + 2 tsp water per 8 ounces of meat). and lightly salt. Let sit for 15 minutes OR blend 1 TBSP salt into meat and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
  5. Add 1/3 of the beef and pork mixture and beat at medium speed OR by hand until thoroughly blended with bread mixture.
  6. Remove bowl from stand mixer and add remaining beef and pork. Usi    ng a clean hand, gently mix meatball mixture no more than is necessary for even distribution.
  7. Preheat oven to 350. Line a rimmed baking sheet with lightly oiled parchment paper.
  8. Form meatball mixture into handball-sized balls and arrange on prepared baking sheet; you should be able to make about 10. OR use a scale to make 1.5 oz balls.
  9. Bake meatballs until lightly browned, about 10-15 minutes. OR skip this step for tenderpoachedstyle meatballs in pot or slow cooker.
  10. Heat tomato sauce in a medium pot until simmering and add meatballs. Simmer until meatballs are just cooked through and register about 145°F on an instant-read thermometer, about 10 minutes. If poaching, cook for at least 1 hour, or in slow cooker for several hours.  Until balls reach 165 degrees.
  11. Serve meatballs, spooning sauce all over and grating more cheese on top and adding fresh chopped basil. Optional: preheat oven to 550 degrees and roast meatballs until slightly browned, then add sauce and cheese
  12. For better taste and texture, make meatballs 1 day in advance and refrigerate overnight.


*Note: There are a few tricks to help keep ground beef tender and juicy: using meat with a relatively high fat content. Another is to add salt and let the meat sit for about 20 minutes. In addition to seasoning the meat, salt alters the structure of the meat proteins to better allow it to retain moisture. Finally, you can raise the pH of the meat with a little baking soda to help the proteins attract more water and hold on to it.  Incorporating baking soda—¾ teaspoon plus 2 tablespoons of water to help it dissolve—not only kept the meat juicy and made it even more tender, but it also produced an unforeseen benefit: Since the beef now barely shed any moisture during cooking (not even the small amount of water that I added to dissolve the baking soda) and a higher pH significantly speeds up the Maillard reaction, the meat browned much more quickly. 


Tenderizing Meat with a Baking Soda Solution - By Cook's Illustrated Published September 2018
In some of our recipes, meat is treated with baking soda dissolved in water to keep it tender. What happens if you leave the solution on the meat longer than the 15 to 20 minutes we call for?

Briefly soaking meat in a solution of baking soda and water raises the pH on the meat’s surface, making it more difficult for the proteins to bond excessively, which keeps the meat tender and moist when it’s cooked. Our recipes, such as our Vietnamese-Style Caramel Chicken with Broccoli, typically call for a 15- to 20-minute treatment, but what if your dinner prep is interrupted and that time is doubled or even tripled?

To find out if a soak longer than 15 to 20 minutes would do more harm than good, we treated 12 ounces each of ground beef, sliced chicken breast, and sliced pork with baking soda—¼ teaspoon for the beef and 1 teaspoon for the sliced meats—for different lengths of time before cooking them. We were surprised to find that samples that were treated for 45 minutes were identical to those treated for only 15 minutes.

Here’s why: The acid/base reaction happens very quickly and does not build much over time. In fact, when we weighed the samples of treated ground beef before and after cooking, we found that the sample that had been treated for 45 minutes retained a mere 3 percent more moisture when cooked than meat that was treated for only 15 minutes.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Fifteen minutes is long enough to reap the benefits of a baking soda treatment, but don’t worry if your dinner prep gets interrupted and you have to extend that time a bit. A 15-minute (or slightly longer) stint in a combination of water and baking soda keeps meat tender and moist when it's cooked.

Original Recipe
Juicy and Tender Italian-American Meatballs in Red Sauce Recipe
What is the perfect meatball? For me, it's a plump, juicy ball of highly seasoned meat that's so tender a spoon can pass right through it with almost no resistance. Here's how I make that a reality.
Why this recipe works:
* A panade made from buttermilk-soaked fresh bread adds tons of moisture and flavor.
* Minced pancetta and gelled stock (optional) guarantee extremely juicy meatballs.
* Plenty of onion, garlic, and other flavors deliver a rich, satisfying meatball.

Note: This recipe makes about 10 handball-sized meatballs; you can make them smaller or larger, as you prefer, but cooking times will change. The chicken stock and gelatin help make meatballs that are insanely juicy and tender, but these meatballs will still be incredibly moist even without them. When measuring salt by volume, it is important to use the type of salt specified in the recipe; other salts—such as table salt and fine sea salt—will taste too salty (if you use a different salt, please adjust accordingly). If measured by weight, the saltiness will be consistent regardless of the type of salt used. The pancetta in this recipe adds juiciness and moisture, so the fattier the better; if you use pancetta that is too lean (more than 50% muscle), you won't get the same benefit. Pancetta is easiest to mince when nearly frozen.

YIELD: Serves 4 to 6 (makes about 10 handball-sized meatballs)
ACTIVE TIME: 1 hour
TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 30 minutes
    
Ingredients
* 1 packet unflavored gelatin (optional, see note)
* 1/2 cup homemade chicken stock or low-sodium broth (optional, see note)
* 4 ounces fresh white bread, crusts removed and bread cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 2 unpacked cups)
* 1/3 cup buttermilk, plus more as needed
* 1 medium onion, minced
* 8 cloves garlic, finely minced
* 2 ounces grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated, plus more for serving.
* 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh parsley leaves, minced
* 4 teaspoons kosher salt (18 grams; see note)
* Freshly ground black pepper
* 3 ounces fatty pancetta, finely minced (see note)
* 4 large egg yolks
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1 teaspoon ground fennel seed
* 1 pound ground beef (at least 25% fat)
* 1 pound ground pork (at least 25% fat)
* 5 cups tomato sauce, such as Quick and Easy Italian American Red Sauce, The Best Slow Cooked Tomato Sauce, or The Best Fresh Tomato Sauce

Directions
1. In a heatproof measuring cup, sprinkle gelatin all over surface of stock and let stand for 5 minutes (if not using stock and gelatin, proceed to Step 2). Microwave stock, stirring once or twice, until gelatin completely dissolves, about 2 minutes. Pour stock into a wide heatproof bowl and refrigerate until fully set, about 30 minutes.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine bread with buttermilk, tossing to coat. Let stand, tossing occasionally, until bread is completely moist, about 10 minutes. Squeeze bread between your fingers or mash with a spoon to make sure there are no dry spots; if there are dry spots that refuse to moisten, add more buttermilk 1 tablespoon at a time until bread is moist throughout.
3. Add onion, garlic, Parmigiano-Reggiano, parsley, salt, pepper, pancetta, egg yolks, oregano, and fennel to bread/buttermilk mixture. Finely mince gelled stock, if using, and add.
4. Set mixer bowl in stand mixer and attach paddle. Starting at low speed and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, beat bread mixture until thoroughly blended, stopping to scrape down sides as necessary. Add 1/3 each of the beef and pork and beat at medium-high speed until thoroughly blended with bread mixture.
5. Remove bowl from stand mixer and add remaining beef and pork. Using a clean hand, gently mix meatball mixture, teasing apart ground meat with your fingers, just until ground beef and pork and thoroughly distributed throughout; avoid mixing any more than is necessary for even distribution.
6. Preheat broiler and set oven rack in upper position. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Form meatball mixture into handball-sized balls and arrange on prepared baking sheet; you should be able to make about 10. Broil meatballs until browned on top, about 7 minutes (browning times can vary dramatically, depending on oven broiler strength).
7. Heat tomato sauce in a medium pot until simmering and add meatballs. Simmer until meatballs are just cooked through and register about 145°F on an instant-read thermometer, about 10 minutes.
8. Serve meatballs, spooning sauce all over and grating more cheese on top.