Favorite Meal Essay
From a young age, my brother and I would stop whatever we were doing and race to the kitchen to eat my grandmother’s famous meatballs as she called us down for dinner. As much as we enjoyed playing in her backyard and watching Disney Channel together, in that moment, the most important thing to us was sitting down as a family and eating my grandmother’s famous dish. Now what about these meatballs are so special? My answer is honestly everything. From their perfect size to their phenomenal texture to their amazing flavor, my family and I obsess over them. My grandmother even presents her meatballs in an impressive way, my plate always has the perfect amount of food along with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and fresh basil. I can be in basically any mood and her meatballs will somehow always hit the spot. While her meatballs themselves are incredibly tasty, I personally think it is more than just the dish itself that makes this meal so special.
In my family, meatballs sort of bring us together. It is the one meal no one will ever say no to and we all enjoy. We typically eat our dinner outside on my grandmother’s porch watching the sunset and telling each other how our days went. As I interviewed my grandmother, I asked her what her thoughts were on what makes this meal so special to our family and she replied, “I’m realizing making a pot of meatballs has become an expression of love for my family”. This line really stuck out to me because it is something I have never really thought about, but is honestly so true. While we all do enjoy the taste of her meatballs, they have so much more meaning than just that. Meatballs resemble love to our family. After long and busy days, we love getting together and enjoying a comfort meal while laughing and catching up. Once a year my cousins come to visit and it has become tradition to all have meatballs together. I have vivid childhood memories of my cousins and I all fighting, while shivering in our bathing suits after surfing, over who could take the first shower because we all wanted to eat the meatballs my grandmother had waiting for us. Once we finally all showered we then all eat as a family. This became a yearly summer tradition that takes place after surfing. Something about eating my grandmother’s meatballs with not only my parents and brother, but also my cousins makes them taste even better. This tradition became something my whole family looks forward to every year.
While eating my grandmother’s meatballs is one of my family’s favorite traditions, it was not always a tradition in my family. Mainly because it has taken my grandmother years to finally perfect her recipe. She first made meatballs for my uncle and his friends on snowy, winter days after they finished shoveling. Then once my uncle went to college he could always count on a pot of warm meatballs simmering on the stove when he got home. My grandmother tried out new techniques and ingredients every time he got home from school until they finally became what they are today. My grandmother now has a set recipe, however, it is a recipe that really only she can make the “right” way. This is mainly do to the fact that she eye balls the amount of each ingredient added until it is the consistency she is looking for. My mom has tried to make it the same way, but her meatballs do not come out the same way. One of the only things my grandmother hates about her meatballs is the fact that she does not have a set recipe which reminds her of one of her grandmothers, making her feel old. When I interviewed her, she said, “My older sisters told me stories about what a phenomenal cook and baker she was and how she never used a recipe. Can you guess why? She never learned to read”. Who knew that interviewing my grandmother on her meatballs could tie back to her grandmother and her cooking. My grandmother has always been an independent woman, who was one of the only working mothers in my mom’s class. So I think the fact she shares something in common with her grandmother that never learned how to read bothers her because she worked hard her whole life to not be like the stereotypical, stay at home mom. Regardless of not having a recipe, my grandmother has her own way of making meatballs that my whole family loves, creating a summertime tradition.
As if creating her recipe was not challenging enough, more obstacles stood in her way. When I was in seventh grade I was diagnosed with celiac disease. This meant that I could no longer have gluten. My grandmother’s meatballs have bread crumbs in them that have wheat. This did not stop me from having her meatballs, instead this motivated my grandmother to perfect not just her regular meatballs, but also gluten free meatballs. After much trial and error, my grandmother finally found the best gluten free bread crumbs for her recipe. Not only did I fall in love with this recipe, but so did my family. When interviewing my grandmother she said, “The challenge came along when you went gluten-free. That wasn’t going to stop the tradition though and we all discovered that the gluten-free bread crumbs worked just as well. Although your family liked the gluten-free meatballs, I couldn’t fool your Uncle Drew!” All was well until my uncle came to visit and knew something was different with his meatballs. After refusing to eat the gluten free meatballs, my grandmother finally got in the system of making two batches of meatballs, one with gluten and one without it.
Overall, my grandmother’s famous meatballs are something my family raves about. While taste plays a big role in this, the meatballs association with family plays an even bigger role. Meatballs slowly became more and more important to our family until it was finally a yearly tradition. My grandmother has a whole history making these meatballs and it certainly was not easy. This is especially due to the fact that once she finally mastered her recipe she had to learn how to make a complete new one. Now our family has officially grasped our family tradition and we all look forward to it.
My grandmother’s recipe:
- 3 pounds of ground beef, 85% lean
- 3 eggs
- Italian Salad dressing , about 3 tablespoons
- Italian Seasoning
- Minced onion (optional)
- Bread Crumbs
- Grated Parmesan Cheese
- Water
- Milk
For the sauce:
- 2 jars of Spaghetti Sauce. I use Barilla tomato and basil. Barilla is gluten-free too.
- 1 medium onion
- minced garlic to taste (1 – 2 cloves)
I bake the meatballs at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or so. That helps them firm up a bit and get rid of much of the fat in the beef and oil in the salad dressing. Good to know that those fats keep the meatballs moist and add flavor. To bake the meatballs, I line cookie sheets with aluminum foil and spray them with Pam so they won’t stick to the foil.
While the meatballs are baking, I heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot. Next sauté sliced onion and some minced garlic in the oil till they get nice and brown (adds flavor). Stir and keep an eye on them. Once they are nicely browned, move the pot off the heat and add a glass of water to the onions and garlic. That cools the pot off a bit so the spaghetti sauce won’t spit all over the place when you add it to the pot.
So now you have the spaghetti sauce simmering in the pot and you can just add the meatballs.
Once you have the meatballs simmering pretty well in the sauce, you can turn the heat down to a low simmer. Just keep an eye on them and give the pot a stir every now and then. You don’t want the sauce sticking to the bottom of the pot.
