From cocktail appetizers to her go-to midnight snack, Alex Guarnaschelli loves meatballs — and it goes without saying that she knows all the tips and secrets for making the perfect one. Guarnaschelli recently announced that she is collaborating with Hilton Garden Inn’s Garden Grille & Bar in creating a limited-time menu for hungry travelers — and one item on the menu just so happens to be one of Guarnaschelli’s most favorite foods: Italian meatballs. She developed a simply-seasoned all-beef meatball for Hilton, but she told Tasting Table that she also loves “a meatball that is made from a combination of pork, veal, and beef. It’s what one of my grandmothers would do, and my mom also.”
Meatballs can be made of any meat, like a venison meatball with a boozy mushroom gravy, or, like a vegetarian cremini mushroom meatball, without it entirely. Combining meats “not only provides different flavors, but also varied textures and levels of richness,” said Guarnaschelli. However, it’s easy to over-mix the meat mixture in the effort to ensure all the ingredients are blended together, which only makes them tough and chewy. Instead, Guarnaschelli said to “Pan fry a small test patty and taste your meatball mix to adjust the seasoning before forming and cooking your meatballs.” She also encouraged people to get creative with classic Italian meatballs by adding sausage meat to the mix, which adds juiciness and, if you’re using a hot Italian sausage, added heat.
Read more: 10 Foods Gordon Ramsay Doesn’t Touch
Alex Guarnaschelli’s favorite method for cooking meatballs
plate of spaghetti and Italian meatballs – Svariophoto/Getty Images
Alex Guarnaschelli told Tasting Table that she uses olive oil to cook her meatballs, which she believes pairs well with the flavor profile and ingredients. When it comes to cooking them, she said that, “I always laugh because in the movie, ‘Goodfellas,’ they fry the meatballs. In ‘The Godfather,’ they bake them. I’m a fan of pan frying.” But she also recommended cooking meatballs in an air fryer. According to her, meatballs should be cooked medium-rare, like a hamburger, before adding them to the pot of simmering special Italian Sunday sauce. “I love a crunchy brown exterior with a medium-rare tender interior,” she said. However, she went on to explain that it doesn’t always mean the interior is cooked enough.
To know whether your meatballs are cooked through, insert a meat thermometer into the center. It should read somewhere between 130 to 135 degrees Fahrenheit for medium-rare. Or, you can do as Guarnaschelli said and “You can squeeze a meatball, and if it feels tender on the inside, then you know it’s ready for sauce.” Guarnaschelli believes that tomato sauce with pasta and meatballs is a winning combination, so it comes as no surprise that she loves traditional Italian-American spaghetti and meatballs. Sometimes, she tucks mini-meatballs between layers of lasagna, but she also loves rigatoni pasta with meatballs. “It is, quite simply, what my father served me growing up,” she told Tasting Table.
You could also serve plain meatballs with noodles that have been tossed with olive oil and Parmesan or garlic, and you really don’t need anything more — except maybe homemade garlic bread. As Guarnaschelli said, meatballs “just belong on the table.”
Want more food knowledge? Sign up to our free newsletter where we’re helping thousands of foodies, like you, become culinary masters, one email at a time. You can also add us as a preferred search source on Google.
Read the original article on Tasting Table.
Dining and Cooking