MEATBALLS WITH SAUCE: WONDERFUL!

 

The smell of fried meatballs is imprinted in my memory, like an imprintig that was given to me from my earliest days. When I used to go on holiday to my paternal grandmother's house in the province of Messina, a small flat in a council house on the first floor. When I arrived there, after the journey, the door of the building was always open, and I remember that the first thing that hit me was the smell of fried food, of meatballs prepared by my grandmother, then, in later years, by my aunt who took over the ritual functions of the kitchen.

My aunt, a great cook, used to say that a Sunday lunch without meatballs could not be done, and especially on holidays. This was because among the diners at the table were all the relatives, I mean all, from those of one year to those of eighty. Faced with dishes that were difficult to handle, chew, both first and second courses would find refuge in a soft meatball in gravy despite having no teeth.

Usually on Sundays the first course was always pasta or macaroni with meat sauce, where the meatball was the perfect complement. The aunt would prepare a sauce with all kinds of meat: cow, castrated pork, pork rinds, 'pettinicchi' (boneless pork ribs with a few pieces of meat), sausages, falsomagro, 'attaccaggheddi' (scraps of meat chosen by the butcher and given away with the purchase of meat) and meatballs.

The 'bomb' sauce was cooked for hours on a low heat, adding all kinds of meat or complements according to the cooking time, and always ended with the addition of fried meatballs in the last minutes of cooking. For the sake of the record, the pasta dish with sauce (meat sauce) was made by adding slices of fried aubergine, salted ricotta and a meatball. These complements to the dish could also be added as the pasta was consumed, depending on the hunger and gluttony level of the diner at the time.

The recipe for meatballs with sauce varies from house to house in Sicily and the Rest of the World. Some basic ingredients are: minced meat (cow or pork or other), breadcrumbs, eggs, cheese, parsley, garlic, pepper and salt to taste. These ingredients are mixed according to the inspiration of the moment and tradition. Be aware that a meatball with little breadcrumbs and eggs, and with second-cut meat, is definitely soft, less compact. I don't like precise recipes because I think that every person who cooks has to experiment and find their own taste to what they prepare.

Once the ingredients are mixed, the meatballs are prepared by wetting the palms of the hand with water, the size varying according to taste and tradition.

Once this is done, they are fried in a frying pan with boiling oil, having mashed them slightly, before throwing them into the oil.

At this point in the preparation process, a debate ensues that has lasted for centuries: overcooked meatballs or meatballs fresh from the frying pan?

My aunt belonged to the overcooked meatballs party, almost black meatballs, my mother in the Palermitan tradition used to cook them and still cooks them light brown, just one turn in the hot oil of a frying pan.

I don't dislike any type of meatball, but I prefer those with sauce more cooked, while fried meatballs, au naturel, without anything, more raw.

For the preparation of the tomato sauce, both my Aunt and Mother always used peeled or fresh or canned tomatoes, pureed with a tomato press; the puree was then added to a fried onion. When it was almost cooked, especially for the tomato-only sauce, a variant of the meat-based one, which was certainly lighter, basil leaves were added, dried with a dishcloth so as not to disperse the aromas, breaking up the leaves with the hands.

According to Palermo tradition, the meatball requires strong, mature cheeses in its composition, pecorino being excellent; it is also customary in some families to add pine nuts and sultanas (passolini and pine nuts) to the mixture.

Finally, the meat can be replaced with seasoned ricotta cheese, using only breadcrumbs, boiled aubergines, cauliflower, chopped boiled pulses and more, there is no limit to the imagination. In this case, when preparing them, care must only be taken to fry the 'differently meatballs' so that they do not crumble. This can be done by breading them with egg and then dipping them in breadcrumbs or flour or both. This was done in the past because meat was a food for the rich, today it is done for ethical reasons related to not consuming animal protein.

To conclude, I think that meatballs with sauce, after spaghetti with sauce, is one of the strongest and most characteristic dishes of traditional Italian cuisine, but not only that, every people has its own meatball, and this is because the meatball brings agreement to all generations, all ages and all peoples of the world, and this has been the case in past centuries, perhaps even without tomatoes, but always with some meatball at the table. (discovery of America and also of the tomato for us Europeans 1492 AD).

I would like to propose meatballs in sauce as a dish of peace and conciliation. Raining down meatballs instead of bombs would be beautiful. The blood red on the clothes would be replaced with meatball red, which happens to me regularly due to too much gluttony when I consume them.... Wonderful!Wonderful!........as a colleague of mine, Roberto G., would say, adjusting a scarf around his neck, imitating a President of years gone by who saw everything Wonderful!

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