In this edition of Epicurious 101, professional chef and culinary instructor Frank Proto demonstrates how to make the best spaghetti and meatballs at home.
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00:00I'm Frank Proto, professional chef and culinary instructor,
00:03and today I'm gonna show you the best way
00:04to make spaghetti and meatballs, Frank style.
00:08We're talking tender and flavorful meatballs,
00:11a deep, rich tomato sauce, perfectly cooked pasta
00:15that will put a smile on anyone's face.
00:17This is Spaghetti and Meatballs 101.
00:20I prefer my meatballs fairly small, like golf ball size.
00:24The outside is browned off first,
00:26the inside is super juicy and tender.
00:29This is a close approximation of my grandmother's recipe.
00:32I think it makes a nice, consistent, delicious meatball.
00:38If you go to Italy and ask for spaghetti and meatballs,
00:40they'll look at you like you have three heads.
00:42It's not really served together.
00:43This is actually a classic Italian-American dish.
00:46I have some ground beef, I have my ground pork.
00:50I know that my grandmother would put ground veal in this.
00:52I'm just trying to simplify a little.
00:54Make sure your ground beef is at least 80-20.
00:56That means 80% meat, 20% fat.
00:59If they're too lean, they tend to be a little
01:00on the dry side.
01:02I'm hitting this with some fresh garlic.
01:03I have Pecorino Romano cheese.
01:06Pecorino's sharp, it has a lot of flavor to it
01:09in a small amount of cheese.
01:10You can use Parmesan if you want.
01:12I'm using plain breadcrumbs, not seasoned.
01:14I wanna control the seasoning.
01:16For this recipe, it's about a cup and a half.
01:17The breadcrumbs make your meatballs more tender.
01:20Sometimes people will add milk to this, right?
01:22And that's kind of a classic Italian-American thing
01:24as well.
01:25I don't think that it needs the milk.
01:27I like to use just eggs, and I use a fair amount of eggs.
01:30I have four here for this amount of meat.
01:32Back when my grandmother was a kid,
01:34meat was a little harder to come by.
01:36Meatballs were a way of them taking that little bit of meat
01:39and extending that.
01:40You add breadcrumbs that are cheaper, you add cheese,
01:42you add eggs that are cheaper than the meat,
01:44and you're making this really nice thing
01:46that instead of just feeding one or two people,
01:48you can feed five or six.
01:49Don't forget the seasoning.
01:51Lots of fresh cracked black pepper,
01:53and then a fair amount of salt.
01:54The breadcrumbs, the eggs, and the cheese here
01:57make your meatballs more tender.
01:58They actually grab onto a lot of those juices.
02:00If you just use a little bit of breadcrumbs
02:03and not a lot of eggs or cheese,
02:05you're gonna get a really meaty meatball
02:07that actually tends to be a lot drier, a lot more crumbly.
02:11And what I like to do is just break up my yolks
02:14and start to mix some of the dry ingredients together
02:16on top, and then I bring my meat in,
02:18and I'm gonna start to work this.
02:20A lot of people say, oh, don't work the meat.
02:22It's gonna be tough.
02:23No, no, no, no.
02:24You wanna work this so it's really mixed well.
02:27People tend to think you can overwork meatballs.
02:29We're not gonna harm this from working it.
02:31This feels like it's a little wet to me, so what do I do?
02:34I get my breadcrumbs, and I just add a little more.
02:37If you look at the side of the bowl, it's kinda wet.
02:40I want the side of the bowl for the meat
02:42to pull away from it and not to be sticky.
02:44If I pick a piece up now, it's super sticky,
02:47so I want this to firm up a little more,
02:49so let's mix those other breadcrumbs in.
02:51It's starting to look a little drier.
02:53It's forming one big, nice mass,
02:55almost like kneading it like a bread.
02:57This is the texture I'm looking for.
02:58It's slightly sticky, but when I roll my meatball,
03:01it holds its form.
03:03That is a nice mixture.
03:05So I'm gonna cook a little taster
03:06before I actually ball up my meatballs,
03:09and this is just to ensure that I have the seasoning
03:11and the texture right.
03:12This is one of those steps that a lot of home cooks
03:14will skip that I find is super important.
03:16Just put a little olive oil in your pot.
03:19We're gonna get a little piece of meat, flatten it out.
03:22It goes right in the pan.
03:23This is what makes restaurant chefs different
03:26from home cooks, is we're constantly tasting.
03:28We're seasoning, we're adjusting,
03:31and that's what you do here with meatballs.
03:32All right, let's taste this
03:33to make sure the seasoning is good,
03:38but I think I need a little more salt.
03:39Don't go too crazy.
03:41A little more pepper.
03:42Don't be afraid to take the two minutes
03:43and make a tester, okay?
03:45Get in there, remix, and we'll be good to go.
03:48["Sweet Child O' Mine"]
03:50One of the other things I do as a chef
03:52that makes my meatballs super consistent
03:55and the right size is I use an ice cream scoop.
03:57This ice cream scoop is definitely smaller
03:59than your average ice cream scoop.
04:00This is actually called a disher.
04:02It's a portion scoop that they use in restaurants.
04:05This is a good trick to make sure
04:06that your meatballs are uniform.
04:07I just line up my meatballs like soldiers here.
04:10I take the scoop, I get the meat in there,
04:14I push it against the side, and then scrape it,
04:16basically packing it into the scoop,
04:18and all my meatballs are uniform.
04:21I think meatballs that are really huge
04:22are a little offensive.
04:24I like a two-bite meatball.
04:25If you want them bigger, go for it.
04:27If you don't wanna use a scoop and don't have a scoop,
04:30usually what I'll do is this.
04:31So I'll take a meatball, and I'll kinda just put it
04:34into the cup of my hand, and then you pretty much
04:37use your hand as the guide.
04:39The meatballs are kinda rough,
04:40so just take a few seconds, roll them between your hands.
04:44So this is just for looks.
04:45You can easily just drop them into your saute pan.
04:48A little bit better for presentation.
04:51Meatballs are rolled out, let's brown them.
04:53Browning your meatballs is a key step.
04:57We're sealing the outside of the meatballs,
04:59sealing that moisture and juiciness in.
05:01We're also getting some browning in the bottom of the pan,
05:03and some fat from the meatballs.
05:05So I feel it's really important just to give you
05:07a full-flavored sauce, as well as a really
05:09nicely cooked meatball.
05:11Some people will take the meatballs raw
05:13and just throw it into tomato sauce.
05:14I think that they fall apart, and you'll have more
05:16of a meat sauce than a meatball sauce.
05:18This is the way my grandmother did it,
05:20and I think it makes a better-flavored sauce.
05:22So I have some olive oil.
05:24We're not frying the meatballs,
05:25but I want some fat in the pan.
05:27It's starting to get a little bit glistening.
05:29We're starting to see ripples and a little bit of smoke,
05:31so I'm at a medium-high heat.
05:33And all we really have to do is start
05:34putting our meatballs in.
05:36And I'm only gonna put them in on one layer.
05:37This point is really just concerned with browning,
05:41getting a nice crust on the outside of these meatballs,
05:44creating layers of flavor.
05:46I'm using a pot that's actually called a braiser.
05:48It's a shallow sauce pot that's wide.
05:51I love this pot.
05:52We can put a lot of meatballs in.
05:53It's heavy cast iron with enamel on it.
05:56It holds the heat.
05:57And I'm not too worried about cooking
05:58all the way through right now.
06:00If things are a little raw here, it's not a big deal,
06:03because these are going back in the sauce,
06:05and they're gonna cook for a good 30 to 40 minutes
06:08in the sauce.
06:08It's actually better if they're a little raw in the middle,
06:11because if you cook them too long in the fat,
06:13you're actually gonna dry them out
06:14and get a crust on the outside that gets way too firm.
06:17So don't go too crazy with browning them.
06:19Just roll them around,
06:20and they stay nice and juicy and tender.
06:22Notice how I'm using tongs.
06:23I'm not squeezing them too hard.
06:25I'm just kind of delicately moving them around.
06:27I don't want them to fall apart.
06:29And I'm still over medium-high heat.
06:30If these are getting browned too quickly,
06:32adjust your heat, lower it down.
06:35I'm saving the pan.
06:36I'm saving all the fat in the pan.
06:38Don't be afraid of this fat.
06:39It's actually gonna make our sauce taste better.
06:42["America the Beautiful"]
06:44We saved our pot from browning the meatballs.
06:47We have that beautiful brown bits on the bottom,
06:49that fond.
06:50Our oil is still in the pan.
06:52And what I'm gonna start with is the onions, right?
06:55Onions take a little time to cook.
06:57Onions lend a little sweetness to my sauce.
06:59We're gonna cook our sauce for more than 30 minutes.
07:01That lends sweetness as well.
07:03My oil is all warmed up.
07:04I have it on about medium heat,
07:06and then I can add my onions.
07:07These are just chopped onions, fairly small.
07:10For the most part, these are gonna fall apart
07:12and melt into our sauce.
07:14A little bit of salt.
07:15It draws out the moisture.
07:17It starts the seasoning process.
07:19So while my onions are cooking, I have basil,
07:22and I'm gonna pick the leaves off for later.
07:25I wanna use the leaves to kind of like give my sauce
07:27a little bit of pop, but I'm gonna save the stems.
07:30They have tons of flavor.
07:32I get my bay leaf,
07:33and I'm basically gonna just bundle these together.
07:36I get a little butcher's twine,
07:38and I'm gonna make myself a bouquet garni,
07:40which is basically just a bouquet of spices or herbs.
07:45Tie these together,
07:46and this is just one of those techniques
07:47that I think that as a chef I've done throughout the years,
07:50and it makes my sauce so much better.
07:52As our onions go translucent and start to get soft,
07:56we can add our garlic.
07:57Once my garlic starts to smell a little toasty,
07:59I can add my tomatoes.
08:01This was my grandmother's brand that she used.
08:03It's kitchen-ready.
08:04I do not like skins in my tomato sauce.
08:07I make sure that my tomatoes are always peeled.
08:09So this goes right into your pot.
08:12Get as much out as possible.
08:15Give it a quick stir.
08:17Again, what I do at this point is I'm gonna add some water,
08:21and I used to think this is just my grandmother
08:22being frugal, but believe it or not, this has a purpose.
08:25By adding water to our sauce,
08:28we're actually slowing down the cooking process.
08:30If we don't add water, the tomatoes reduce too quick,
08:33and they're gonna be acidic and not sweet.
08:36If I didn't add the water,
08:37my sauce would be too thick too quick.
08:39I wanna give it time for those flavors to develop
08:42and my sauce to reduce and really kind of meld
08:44with all the other flavors in the pot.
08:46So at this point, you can see it's starting to bubble.
08:49I'm gonna add my sachet, get those herbs in there.
08:52If you look on the side of the pot,
08:54sauce always sticks to the side of the pot.
08:56I am constantly getting my spoon in there
08:59and scraping that down.
09:00A lot of people will just leave it there.
09:02It'll start to burn.
09:03I like to scrape the side of my pot.
09:05That's basically just reduced tomato,
09:07adding more flavor to your sauce.
09:08I'm gonna season up right now.
09:10Salt and black pepper.
09:13I'm gonna go fairly light on the seasoning
09:15because I wanna season throughout.
09:16So you can see that we're starting to get bubbles at top.
09:19We do not want this sauce to boil.
09:21Boiling leads to reduction.
09:23We're gonna reduce it too quickly.
09:24I want this to happily bubble away.
09:26So we want this to go on low heat at this point,
09:29and we can add our meatballs.
09:31So our sauce is bubbling away happily.
09:36I bring it to a simmer, I lower it down,
09:38and then it's time to add the meatballs.
09:40And basically what I do is I just get my meatballs
09:42and I slide them in.
09:43If there's any juices on this pan,
09:46if you see any juices, make sure you scrape that in.
09:48That's flavor.
09:49It's on medium low heat.
09:51I make sure that they're all submerged.
09:53And I just let this bubble away happily,
09:55stirring occasionally, scraping my sides
09:57for about half hour to 45 minutes.
10:00So we've got some reduction.
10:02I can see that it's not as liquidy as it was.
10:04I'm gonna take my sachet out.
10:06This is not edible.
10:07Just get rid of that.
10:09But I do want to taste it before I serve it.
10:13Good.
10:14It does need salt.
10:15It does need pepper, right?
10:17This is a good time to add our basil.
10:18This is gonna add a little pop,
10:20a little freshness to our sauce.
10:21So I just like to tear it.
10:23It's looking good.
10:23I think we're ready to go.
10:24All we need is a little bit of pasta.
10:26We can plate it up and give it a taste.
10:28["Wedding March"]
10:30I'm gonna plate this kind of granny style,
10:32the way my grandmother would have done it.
10:34I'm gonna take some of my sauce,
10:35put it in the bottom of a big bowl.
10:37It's kind of family style.
10:39Grab my cooked spaghetti, right into the bowl.
10:42So my pasta is just a really good quality box pasta.
10:46We cooked it to al dente,
10:48and then we're just gonna toss it in the sauce.
10:50You don't have to go to fresh pasta
10:52with spaghetti and meatballs.
10:54Use your favorite box pasta and you're good to go.
10:57Now I want you to look at what I got going on here.
10:59All the pasta is coated, but it is not drowning in sauce.
11:03This is classic pasta 101.
11:06We don't want it to be swimming in the sauce.
11:08It's easy to add more sauce.
11:10It's near impossible to take any sauce away.
11:13And then I'm gonna add my grated pecorino.
11:16Don't be stingy.
11:17Use good cheese.
11:19This is fresh grated pecorino Romano.
11:21Don't buy the stuff in the can or the shaker.
11:23And then I'm just gonna take some basil leaves
11:25just to accent that basil.
11:27If they're really big, give them a tear.
11:30So I'm gonna plate some meatballs here
11:32just for presentation's sake.
11:34And that is basically my grandma style
11:36spaghetti and meatballs.
11:38Typically, if I was having a Sunday dinner
11:40at my grandmother's house,
11:41this is how the setup would be.
11:42We'd have the nice plated pasta with the sauce
11:46and some meatballs and some garnish.
11:47And then we'd have a bowl of sauce,
11:50a bowl of meatballs and cheese
11:52so that people can dress their plates the way they want it.
11:55Time to plate this baby up and give it a taste.
11:58I grabbed some pasta to get on my plate.
11:59I'm gonna get a meatball because I want to taste.
12:02So I'm gonna taste the pasta by itself first.
12:04Give me a little bite to see how my sauce is.
12:10What I love about this sauce is that it's cooked
12:14but not cooked too long so it's not too dense or deep.
12:17It still has that nice bright tomatoey flavor.
12:20Of course, the pecorino cheese
12:21every single time does it for me.
12:23My meatballs are super tender.
12:26You cut them with the side of your fork.
12:28They're not falling apart.
12:30They're cooked all the way through.
12:31They have great flavor.
12:33We made sure they had great flavor
12:34because we did our little test.
12:36Meatballs are perfect.
12:38You could serve this plate of pasta
12:40to any Italian-American grandma.
12:42You might get a kiss.
12:44You might get a kiss on both cheeks.
12:45Taking the time, putting the effort in
12:47and making this sauce at home is well worth it.
12:50You choose the ingredients.
12:52You choose the seasonings.
12:54You can make it custom to what your family likes.
12:57And you just can't do that with store-bought food.
13:01It's just so much fun.
13:02It's just so much fun.
13:04It's so much fun.
13:04It's so much fun.
13:05It's so much fun.
13:06It's so much fun.
13:07It's so much fun.
13:08It's so much fun.
13:09It's so much fun.
13:09It's so much fun.
13:10It's so much fun.
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13:13It's so much fun.
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13:15It's so much fun.
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13:20It's so much fun.
13:20It's so much fun.
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13:23It's so much fun.
13:24It's so much fun.