Frank Sinatra Meatballs
I tried many meatball recipes, and this one is a winner. The meatballs have a perfect texture and taste. Dolly Sinatra (Frank's mother) created this recipe; she was an excellent cook, and he loved her cooking! Whenever I make this, my family is ecstatic; we always have a smashing meal.
I tried many meatball recipes, and this one is a winner. The meatballs have a perfect texture and taste. Dolly Sinatra (Frank's mother) created this recipe; she was an excellent cook, and he loved her cooking! Whenever I make this, my family is ecstatic; we always have a smashing meal.
- 2 eggs
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- meatballs:
- 450 g ground beef
- 300 g ground veal (or pork)
- 100 g freshly grated romano cheese
- 6 g chopped italian flat leaf parsley
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 90 g stale italian bread crumbled
- 100 ml lukewarm water
- sauce:
- 80 ml olive oil
- 1 chopped onion
- 3 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 1 can tomatoes (chopped or crushed with a crusher)
- 1 tbps tomato concentrated purã©e
- 1 tsp oregano
- handful chopped basil
- half a glass of red wine
- Carbohydrate 18.20975 g
- Cholesterol 782.24 mg
- Fat 121.93927226835 g
- Fiber 2.29400003910065 g
- Protein 128.4264 g
- Saturated Fat 48.8676367388138 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Recipe (1274g)
- Sodium 1858.46107457957 mg
- Sugar 15.9157499608994 g
- Trans Fat 13.0788954670269 g
- Calories 1705 calories
Step-by-step
- Combine the minced beef and veal in a large bowl. Add the crushed garlic, eggs, cheese, parsley, salt and pepper.
- Blend bread crumbs into meat mixture. Slowly add the water. The mixture should be moist but firm enough to make meatballs. Shape into meatballs.
- Heat olive oil in a large frying pan. Fry 5-6 meatballs at a time until browned and cooked. Place on a paper towel to drain off excess oil.
- Serve with spaghetti and Dolly;s marinara sauce. I like to add a few spoons of marinara sauce and sprinkle some pecorino or parmesan cheese on the meatballs; it makes them extra succulent.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the onion until tender. Add the garlic for 2 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, herbs and purée. Simmer for 30 minutes. In the original recipe there is no wine, but I like the extra taste it gives to the sauce. Instead of putting a lid I cover the saucepan with a sheet of parchment paper; I find this trick makes the sauce perfect in texture.
Deeply browned exterior crusts give way to an exceptionally tender, yielding interior bound by a carefully hydrated matrix of stale bread and proteins. Achieving this specific consistency requires balancing the fat ratios of ground beef and veal while introducing moisture gradually. Water softens the crumbled bread before it binds with the meat proteins, ensuring the mixture retains hydration during high-heat frying. When multiplying quantities for a larger gathering, home cooks often mistakenly double the salt proportionally without tasting, which can over-cure the proteins and yield a dense, sausage-like density.
Scaling recipes up or down involves distinct chemical considerations that affect both cooking times and moisture retention. Doubling the sauce recipe requires a wider pan or a longer simmer to achieve the necessary reduction, because excess liquid cannot evaporate efficiently from a crowded surface area. Conversely, halving the meat mixture means reducing the added water incrementally by eye rather than strict math, because smaller batches absorb liquid differently depending on the ambient humidity of the kitchen. Monitoring the reduction visually through viscosity changes matters more than strictly adhering to the initial thirty-minute simmer time.
Meatball texture depends entirely on gentle handling and proper fat rendering during the browning phase. Overworking the ground meats develops excessive myosin cross-linking, transforming a light, airy structure into a tough, rubbery sphere. Crowding the frying pan drops the oil temperature below 180 degrees Celsius instantly, causing the meat to steam rather than develop the essential Maillard reactions needed for deep savoriness. Frying in small batches of five or six maintains the oil thermal mass and guarantees consistent crispness.
Proper storage extends the shelf life of both components significantly when cooled and sealed below four degrees Celsius within two hours of cooking. Sauces containing fresh herbs and red wine actually improve in depth after twenty-four hours as the alcohol compounds fully integrate with the tomato acidity. Freezing uncooked meatballs on a sheet tray before bagging prevents them from sticking together or losing their spherical shape under pressure.
