Anthony Bourdain’s Meatballs

So what do I think about them?

Having made a few more Bourdain recipes since I made these meatballs, I can confirm that this follows some patterns that are typical of his recipes. A bit tedious, requiring a lot of chopping, calling for proper technique that you question the necessity of the entire time. Delicious, classic, reliable.

The original recipe for the meatballs and tomato sauce was intended to go into a massive sandwich, but I chose to mix it into fresh pasta. Do you really need to concassé (blanch, shock, and peel and de-seed) the tomatoes? Not necessarily. You could easily use all canned San Marzano tomatoes and skip the step and dishes. But the beauty of Bourdain recipes, at least for me, is that I don’t want to do anything different from the way he says to. I want to experience exactly what he wanted us to experience. Especially the most specific, minor things, like stirring with a wooden spoon. The only thing I couldn’t follow was using ground veal for the meatballs, because apparently it’s not sold in California anymore, at least at Whole Foods.

If you want to feel like the cross between a trained cook and Carmella Soprano, this is the recipe to make. For legal reasons, I won’t list the ingredient quantities here, but they are what you’d expect for tomato sauce and meatballs. Onions, garlic, parsley, etc. Take the afternoon for yourself and make some meatballs. And don’t be impatient.