Wednesday, January 25, 2012

You Lie, Giada!

            I sincerely enjoy the challenges of creating something that I have never cooked before just to see if I can and how well I create it.  The application of touch and go is the mad method I tend to use because I don’t believe that cooking can ever be an exact science. 
I have never made meatballs before.  I don’t think I have ever been in a kitchen while meatballs were being cooked (not just because I’m not Italian).  So when I decided to challenge myself with meatballs I followed the recipe as precisely as I could.
            I had obtained this recipe off of the Food Network website, it’s by Giada.  I was more boastful than nervous as I was chopping the onions and parsley because the recipe was rated as an intermediate level.  I expected the onion to make me tear up like a stood up prom date but the fresh parsley completely took me by surprise!  It is incredibly pungent and I learned I do not enjoy it in such generous proportions.
            I mixed all of the ingredients with my hands, as instructed, and began forming the meatballs.  The main reason I chose this recipe is because they have a mozzarella center!  I create six meatballs out of a pound of hamburger, which I was not immediately perturb by except that I was not sure how long they should be in the oven for and other complications popped into my head.  So I remedied this by cutting them by a third of what they currently were and popped them in the oven.
            When they came out, they were fully cooked and cheese had melted out of them, which was supposed to be a good sign.  They looked good, but not like a typical meatball.  The texture was soft and more meatloaf like in consistency than the deliciousness of a juicy grease explosion from inside, crispy on the outside meatball.  I eagerly took an aggressively large first bite but I think the parsley bit me harder.  I used no more than the recipe called for but I couldn’t stand to finish eating it.
            The interesting thing is that out of the four of us who ate, I was the only one who didn’t like it.  I fully have to believe that everyone’s compliments were sincere because everyone had acquired seconds.   This is exactly why cooking can never be an exact science.  I missed the rough outside texture with the explosion of hot grease carrying 150 different flavors in your mouth.
           
            Last week I was watching the Food Network before I had to go to work and Giada was on cooking her meatballs, the exact same as I attempted.  Immediately I noticed that her meatballs were a lot smaller than I had made mine.  Before she but hers in the oven, she put them in a frying pan to give them the fried crunchiness that mine completely and mostly glaringly lacked.  This move was not on the recipe, but it seems so obvious now!
            There are several things I will change the next time I attempt this meal.  I was so close but missed a few specific taste and texture marks.  Possessing the ability to adapt to your ingredients and proceed with ease makes the touch and go procedure the only one you will use.  I still like my mad method even if I didn’t get it perfect today, now I know what to change and I can’t wait for the challenge.

1 comment:

  1. Spicy and filling, these meatballs packed a punch. Great job cooking Jen!

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