How do I make meatballs, and how do I buy the meat for it? How do you select the meat at the store?!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Get 1 pound of ground beef, add one egg, about 1/4 of bread crumbs, a little parmesan cheese, some fresh chopped basil (OR dry basil if thats all you can get) salt, pepper, finely minced garlic, about 1 clove, and finely minced onion, about 1/4 of a cup. And 2 tablespoons of milk. Mix it all together so everything is well blended, roll into balls, put on a cookie sheet you've sprayed with Pam, place in a 425 F. oven for about 40 minutes and, you have meatballs! (or you can fry them in a frying pan until they are done)

When you go to the store, they either sell ground beef in the meat section, prepackaged, or if your store has a butcher shop you can get it there, and its more fresh. You just ask the butcher for 1 pound of ground beef and he will measure it out and give it to you. Sometimes they have different kinds of ground beef, if you can get one that is like 80/20, that means 80% lean and 20 % fat, you need fat or your meatballs will be really dry and tasteless.

Buy a 1 lb package of lean ground beef, better than 85% fat.
Use about 1 pork sausage for each pound of beef.
Mix together with 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs or oatmeal.
Optionally, mix in a raw egg, as additional binder.
Use a scoop or large spoon to form the meatballs.
These can be 1-2" in diameter according to preference.
Brown them in your frying pan(s) rolling for all sides.
Drain excess fat & transfer meatballs to cookie sheet.
Place in pre-heated 350F oven for 20-30 minutes.
Test with a meat thermometer that centers are cooked.
If you don't have a thermometer, use a sharp knife.
Check that running juices are clear, not pink.
You can also bake them in tomato sauce in casserole dish.
Another option is to cook them in mushroom soup.
This makes Swedish meatballs to serve with rice.

I don't really think you have to stick to one recipe:

I prefer buying 90% ground lean beef, and sauteing them in olive oil but people make them out of turkey.
The professionals will say 1/3 ground chuck , 1/3 pork, 1/3 veal. (I think lamb would work as well). Mix gently add a beaten egg, Italian spices, salt pepper ,minced onion, garlic,and bread crumbs soaked in alittle milk. Form ping pong sized meatballs.
-Fry in pan (dutch oven)or oven roast them until brown. Remove from pan cover with foil.
Have your sauce made, hot, on the stove and pop them in and simmer in sauce like 30 minutes.

For sauce: Use the same pan you fried the meatballs in just drain out grease:

1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 cup chopped onion (1 onion)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup good red dry wine,( Chianti )
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes,
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Done -serve over pasta with Parm cheese.

buttermilk is good to add to the egg mixture.. and sometimes even rice in meatballs is tasty.
but definitely you are going to need a good quality breadcrumbs or homemade.
fresh parsely
dried oregano
eggs
a good amount of salt and pepper
if you've never made them before, don't overload on the herbs
extra virgin olive oil
I like to brown them first in the olive oil and then add them to whatever sauce you are making.. They can be baked as well or slow cooked.

This video clip will def help you out http://www.marthastewart.com/article/coo…

Happy Cooking!

http://www.marthastewart.com/article/coo…

http://recipes.epicurean.com/recipe/829/…

This is a recipe pretty similar to my little italian mother-in-law's who makes an amazing meatball. The real secret to her meatballs which you don't see often revealed is instead of using dry bread crumbs, get some stale bread and soak it in milk. Once it's absorbed the milk and gotten a bit soppy, chop it up good and throw it in with your ground beef and other ingredients. It'll add an amazing moistness to your meatballs.

I always brown mine in a pan and add them right into the sauce and let the sauce simmer for 20-30 mins or so.

With the sauces, since I've been spoiled by her cooking, I have to say from what I can tell she uses really simple ingredients. So the recipes below are probably close.

http://www.helpwithcooking.com/sauces/ma…

As far as meat, just using a lean ground beef should be fine. Here's a good link about selecting fresh meats. http://zestycook.com/fresh-meat-what-to-…

Anything grayish in colour you'll want to avoid. And watch out for bad smelling meat too. I know people used to tell me that and I'd say "But how do I know if it smells bad/off? I don't know what bad meat smells like.." Trust me, once you smell it, you'll just know.