#MeatballMonday?
A beef producer I went to high school with was posting beef recipes on Facebook with the tagline “Meatfull Monday”, pushing back against propaganda being fed to Iowa school children. I loved the idea, but the word “Meatfull” hits my eyeballs like fingernails on a chalkboard.
OTOH, I love meatballs. Bouletten. Albóndigas. Köfteler. Frikkadelle. Polpette. Bifteki. Fleischpflanzerl. Kottbullar. Thus #MeatballMonday was born.
Important clarification: Like Taco Tuesday, #MeatballMonday is just a fun gimmick. Meatballs are for every day tjhat you’re not eating tacos.
Ooh. Taco meatballs…
Bouletten/Buletten
Germany has several regional names for meatballs, with endless variations, and eventually I will make them all. Mr. Radish’s family comes from Berlin, so they eat Bouletten (French word origin). It’s often a main meal when the grandchildren come to visit, and leftovers can be eaten cold on bread*.
They are one of the first German foods I learned to make, and the reason I always write down a recipe from the Internets, because the content provider removed it and I couldn’t remember how many eggs go into a kilo of Hackfleisch. (I decided on two, and it has remained so to this day.)
The distinguishing characteristic seems to be Feta cheese crumbled into the meat-bread-egg mixture. This provides salt, moisture, and texture, and also annoys me, because it sticks to the pan and drips water into the hot fat. This is my least favorite meatball while I’m cooking it.
Here is a link to a basic recipe that’s pretty close if you squint. I have not followed a recipe in years; “bread roll” runs a gamut from actual leftover bread to panko crumbs and “parsley” can include three other green things. Often there is a shot of Worcestershire sauce, or chili flakes, but never too much or they lose their stodgy stolid Berlin-ness.
*This is a running theme. Good, bad, new, weird, preparation failure–all leftover food can be eaten cold on bread. Kann man kalt auf Brot essen, oder?
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