If I Could Turn Back Time…..What Was the Secret to My Grandmother’s Meatballs?

My paternal grandmother made the best meatballs ever. Before she passed away, I tried to get the recipe from her several times, but unlike my maternal grandmother, she really wasn’t into taking the time to teach me. She had no recipe written down that I could use as a guide. She just had it in her head and did her thing when it came time to making meatballs. The only thing I knew was that pork and veal were definitely in her meatballs.

Everyone assumed that because I was Italian that I made really good meatballs. They’d ask, “So, how do you make your meatballs”? I couldn’t really answer because I didn’t have what I thought was a really, really good meatball recipe, it was basically hit or miss on the taste.

Over the years, I’ve tried all kinds of meatball recipes to try and match the taste of my grandmothers. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything that matched the taste exactly; however, I did find a recipe in Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Family Style Cookbook that was pretty darn close. I’ve been using it ever since.


I haven’t given up on mastering the recipe my grandmother might have used. I do continually tweak even Ina's recipe to try and get the exact taste of how I remember my grandmother's meatballs. If I could only turn back time and have gotten that recipe from her.

Source: Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa Family Style Cookbook, 2002, page 103-104



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