I grew up in a house of really bland food. The only seasonings my mom ever used were salt and pepper. My dad is picky as hell when it comes to food and is very meat and potatoes…bland meat and potatoes.
Meat and potatoes are not a bad thing. I love me some potatoes of any variety—I can take or leave (usually leave) the meat. I just prefer a little more flavor than salt and pepper.
My mom never quite mastered meatloaf or meatballs. (Meatballs are really just tiny meatloafs…loaves?…minus the hefty layer of ketchup.) There has been a long-running joke in my family regarding my mom’s meatloaf making skills…or lack thereof. Will we need a hammer and chisel to serve? Or a ladle this time? It’s one dish that my dad will actually physically shudder at the mention of.
I’ve gotten considerably more adventurous with food in my old age. I’ve developed a like—or at least a tolerance—for a lot of things I used to hate or refuse to even try. Though there are still some things I won’t touch or just plain don’t like—seafood, raw tomatoes (itchy mouth or not), blueberry goo (see: pie eating contest in Stand By Me…the emetephobe’s waking nightmare), sauerkraut, blue cheese, Greek yogurt.
Anyhoozits…
I’m not in any hurry to experiment with meatloaf—Bob doesn’t like it either—but meatballs on the other hand…are a little more versatile and not so scary.
In all my food blog perusing I stumbled across a recipe for appetizer “buffalo balls”. It involved blue cheese (gag) and an awkward assembly and cooking method, but the idea of buffalo meatballs sounded good. Minus the blue cheese. I don’t care if it’s standard for buffalo flavoring. Blue cheese ain’t fit for human consumption. Even my cheese fiend Robert doesn’t like that stuff.
I’d never made meatballs before, so I did some googling around for methods and picked out the common elements to work with it. Adding my own ideas, I developed a recipe that actually worked on the first try. I did tweak it a bit over a couple of attempts, but it’s one of my most successful experiments.
The meatballs also stand on their own without the buffalo sauce. We’ve since tried them with just gravy. So if you’re not into the spicy stuff, the meatballs still work.
Meatballs with Buffalo Sauce
Ingredients:
For the meatballs:
1 lb ground turkey (or ground beef or chicken) (Note: my ground meat usually comes in 20oz packages, so I actually use more than a pound.)
2 eggs
1 cup cracker crumbs (I used Club, use your favorite)
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dried ground mustard
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp onion powder
black pepper to tasteFor the Buffalo sauce:
4 Tbsp butter
1 cup Frank’s Red Hot sauce
1 Tbsp white vineagar
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 cup waterDirections:
Preheat oven to 380 degrees.
For the sauce:
1.) Put all ingredients into a small sauce pan over medium heat. Heat until butter is melted, stirring occasionally.2.) Bring to a low bubble and simmer for five minutes.
For the meatballs:
1.) In a large bowl combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Kneading with hands works best (disposable kitchen gloves areessentialnice) but it can be mixed with a sturdy spoon.2.) Shape into meatballs, rolling in your hands. (Mine were about the size of a racquet ball and made fifteen.)
3.) Place in a baking dish with sides. (I used a 9×13 Pyrex pan and added about 1/4 cup water to the bottom.)
4.) Cover with foil and bake for twenty minutes. Remove from oven, pour sauce over top and return to the oven for an additional 15–20 minutes uncovered. Cooking time will vary based on your oven and the size of your meatballs. If you’re unsure, cut one open and check the middle to see if it’s cooked through.
Best served with mashed potatoes to temper the heat of the sauce.
Source: original recipe…
I am genuinely surprised (and impressed) that these turned out as well as they did. Usually my results are rather anti-climactic, but this little experiment turned out really quite good. Bob agrees. I don’t know what other people might think about it, but it’s unlikely I’ll be feeding it to anyone else anyway.
You could use fresh onion and garlic—I did the first time I made them—but I’d recommend sauteing it before adding it to the ground meat. When I used fresh the first time, the garlic was way too raw tasting and Bob has a texture aversion to detectable onion pieces in his food. I switched to garlic and onion powder because I’m lazy and I still get the flavor without the texture problems for Bob.
I always make garlic mashed potatoes (because potatoes) to serve with the meatballs and they work well to temper the heat of the buffalo sauce. Also potatoes. This go-round I also roasted some asparagus (with olive oil, black pepper, and garlic powder) to serve on the side.
I ACTUALLY MADE A COMPLETE MEAL AND IT ALL TURNED OUT.
Chalk that one up in the victory column.
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Originally posted on [the now defunct] Computer Generated Housewife.
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