OMG, those are beautiful! And I'm sure they taste fantastic.
Okay Bobbie, the gauntlet has been thrown down.

I've got to think of a challenge for you.

That's very pretty, dcarch. But for a family of say, 4 or 5, I'd need about a dozen meatball makers, and they're not THAT cheap. Or else, I'd have to start the meatball making after breakfast, LOL.

I do get a kick out of some of your solutions, though. And nobody plates as prettily as you do. Except maybe AnnT.

I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable blowing on food I was going to serve to other people!

dcarch - you and my husband would get along so well - you obviously have the mind of an engineer. Are you an engineer? My DH, while not an engineer (although a master of anything electrical) is one of those rare individuals who can pretty much do anything he sets his mind to. We bought my parents house, tore it down to the floorboards and built our dream home on the existing footprint. He did it all - never having worked in construction, plumbing, architecture, etc. He has no fear and I suspect that you are much the same! My Dad loves to brag: My son-in-law can do anything!

Jane

I have ti agree with Bobby. I wouldn't want food that someone had blown on, but this is still a clever idea. What is on the plate with the meatballs? Looks like roasted tomatoes, a sauce and something else -- what it is it?

Pam - I guessed the mystery side dish was a spring roll wrapper rolled up and cut into noodles.

Turns out it's gluten-free rice lasagna - rolled up and cut into noodles.

I have to agree with Bobby and Dedtired.
Please don't blow on my food!
Nor would I want to blow on someone else's.

But it's really a clever idea.
They sure are good looking meatballs!
And I'm sure I would enjoy them immensely,
As long as I didn't know you blew on them!

:>)

Rusty

I'm not sure that "completely spherical" justifies buying multiple useless gadgets or the time spent cooking them individually. I always portion meatballs with a disher, so that's not an issue. And then there's the blowing aspect. If this is the best you could come up with I think you just proved they're a waste of money! ;)

FOAS, I only spent 50 cents on mine and if I can find it again I'm going to throw it straight in the trash :o)

I too thought that cooking them individually might be a bother that I wouldn't want to fool with... I get impatient when I have to stuff ravioli or peel shrimp, so I don't think I'd be willing to cook a whole batch of meatballs one at a time! When I do meatballs on the stove top, they become shapes for which there is no geometric title because of all the turning to get them cooked evenly, but it adds to the homemade rustic feeling that I think is appropriate for such food.

I'm weird about germs and food... knowing someone has rolled each meatball with their hands is bad enough, but hopefully the hands were clean or gloved... blowing is a whole 'nother thing altogether. I don't even like to eat birthday cake where someone has blown out the candles! I just made my grandmother her last birthday cake and I'm about to take it to her.... there will be NO candles :o)

Well, I will eat birthday cake that had candles. I suppose I could scrape off the top icing, but I don't like icing anyway. If I make meatballs, I take a glob of ground meat with a tablespoon and roll it in my hands. They end up more or less the same size and more or less round.

Gluten free rice lasagna. Boy does that sound aw --er, yummy. To be fair, I have never tried them. They may be quite good. At first I thought they were raw chicken breasts!

I'll eat it too, but it bothers me :o) I've never understood people who don't like the icing... I know people who actually scrape off the best part and throw it away!

Your guess was better than mine, I thought they were lunch meat :)

Been away for a bit. Just getting caught up and read Bobby's meat baller thread.

Dcarch, I think you've just spent a considerable amount of time proving that Bobby's gadget is worthless. :) What an amazing process you took yourself through!

/tricia (another who doesn't want somebody blowing on my food)

Ummm no for me on the blowing tube! A meatball doesn't have to be spherical, just moist and tender. Yours look pretty dense, do you use a lot of bread in the filling? My guess on your side dish was some type of souvided seafood, which I couldn't comprehend! Noodles are a nice accompaniment. My DH loves broad noodles topped with meatloaf and his mother's recipe of tomato/mustard/brown sugar sauce. (ugh..)

Thanks for the idea, but I'll stick with smaller, hand rolled, (gloves work well), uneven meatballs. .

This post was edited by compumom on Sat, Jun 8, 13 at 14:49

Ellen - my first guess was baby squid!

I don't know if this would work but, I thought I'd throw it out there....What about partially freezing the meat mixture first. Maybe the partially frozen mixture would be easier to work with.

Like others, that's way too much work for a meatball. I think they're kind of a PIA anyway, so I make several dozen at a time, bake them on a big sheet pan and freeze them so I don't have to mess with them more than once.

I also don't want anyone else blowing on my food. I spent too many years in law enforcement, hearing the stories of how criminals, parolees and teenagers with too much time on their hands spit onto your food, urinate in your fountain drinks and purpose stick their hands where ever then make their salad. That doesn't even include the coughs, sneezes and butt scratching.....

For the record, I use a cookie scoop so the meatballs are about the same size, and I wear gloves to form the meatballs. I keep a box of the disposable latex gloves in my kitchen for things like meatballs and chopping hot peppers.

As has been said, I think dcarch just proved that the device is just another unnecessary and pretty much useless gadget.

Annie

I also have to agree with the others about this useless gadget.

DC, as soon as you said to blow the meatballs out, you lost me. That is just so unsanitary. But, I don't post much here anymore and just lurk and read so didn't want to say anything. But, this time I just felt I needed to along with a few other threads.

Dcarch, I've never had the urge to own a meatball doohickey, but I simply wanted to comment on your pretty plating.

Sol

Thank you very much for all your interesting comments. I appreciate them all. ThatâÂÂs why I post here and share ideas. There is so much to learn from othersâ views.

Mind you, there are two topics to be discussed; one has nothing to do with the other.

First topic, I have to agree that blowing on food is icky. As a matter of fact, there are even laws against blowing on food (Sneeze guards are required for food establishments, for instance). Perhaps I should have been a little more clear, in this method, you are not really blowing on the food like you are blowing on a trumpet. The real mechanic is to pressurize a column of air inside the tube and let the air pressure dislodges the meat ball from the adhesion to the metal casing. The tube isolates the mouth from the food. Very little pressure is used and there is no actual blowing. However, if you feel even that little air movement is not acceptable, the alternative solutions are plenty. You can get a very long large diameter vinyl tubing from Home Depot, it is not expensive. Or you can use a bicycle pump. Or you can use an empty soda bottle, Or you can cut a hole in an old tennis ball and use that to squeeze air ------.

But why spherical meatballs (second topic)?

Why not? Why climb the Mount Everest? You know for making cocktails, there are many people enjoy having spherical ice âÂÂcubesâ in their drinks, not only that, they want the spherical ice to be crystal clear. It is not a very easy thing to make crystal clear ice balls. I understand there is a company that sells them for $5.00 each. For all others, there is nothing wrong with odd shaped and cloudy ice cubes for their mixed drinks.

Surely meatballs can be more than just almost round small bite-size meatloafs. It is not because odd shaped non-uniform meatballs are shameful or bad taste. Perfectly round meatballs are fun to make and there are many recipe possibilities one can try to come up with. They are very nice and impressive for appetizers for a party. Try Google Image âÂÂmeatball appetizersâ and imagine all those recipes with perfectly round meatballs. I wish I could find the pictures I have somewhere on my hard drive of round meatballs I had once made with an egg yolk inside, and round deep fried crab meat meatballs each with a fancy skewer and a thin slice of white truffle.

And I Agree with FOAS, if the end result is not what you want, the tool is a total waste of your money.

dcarch

Here is a link that might be useful: Having a ball

This post was edited by dcarch on Sun, Jun 9, 13 at 11:02

Sheldon, those meatballs are beautiful!

âÂÂOMG, those are beautiful! ----I've got to think of a challenge for you.âÂÂ
Thanks Cathy. That would be fun.

Donna, thanks. Quite an honor to be mentioned in the same breath with Ann_t.

Jane, so your DH is inflicted with the same disorder as I am? If it ainâÂÂt broke, fix it anyway? LOL!

Thanks Dedtired. Those are caramelized carrots. BTW, I always enjoy your very natural sense of humor.

Teresa, you are correct, those are gluten-free rice lasagna. The dish was shared with a friend who is gluten intolerant.

Thanks Rusty. âÂÂAnd I'm sure I would enjoy them immensely, As long as I didn't know you blew on them!âÂÂ
Good philosophy if you ever eat out. Sometime the kitchen staff do sneeze.

Compumom, the meatballs look dense because ground turkey looks that way and gluten free bread crumbs were used.

Janice, I have never try partially freezing. I am wondering if that would change the texture of some of the ingredients.

Annie, I donâÂÂt see scooping the meat into the maker anymore work than rolling balls in you hands.

Thanks Sol. I think you may find it interesting to play with a meatball maker, judging from your incredibly beautiful and precision baking and cooking.

Bumblebeez, thanks. Sheldon Cooper is my favorite character.

To a few of you, cooking each ball separately may not be as involved as you realize. I would think that is just a simple multi-task situation. When you have to boil water for a recipe, I donâÂÂt think you need to stand in front of the stove and watch.

Again, thank you everyone. Cooking is fun!

dcarch

dcarch, if the meatball mixture would come out of the meatball maker, it wouldn't be any more work, but it doesn't, it sticks in there and then I have to dig it out and form it.

At least with the cookie scoop I can click the handle, the meat falls out into my hand and I can roll it, I don't have to dig a gloppy portion of meatball mix out of the meatball maker, which is hinged in the middle. My hands are small and so I have to take my fingers out of the handles, lay the thing down or dangle it by one handle, dig out the meatball mixture which is stuck in one half or the other or both and still roll it into a ball. With the cookie scoop at least I just click the handle, let the scoop rest in the dish full of meat, roll the meatball and repeat.

And no blowing on anything, no tubes or pumps or empty soda bottles.

I will admit that I make a very loose and somewhat wet meatball mixture which makes a very tender meatball, so it may stick more than another/drier mixture but it definitely sticks in that meatball maker which has no way to release.

Annie

On the Leftover Risotto thread, Colleen mentioned arancini.

Using the meatball tool I made a few arancini. It was pretty easy. To prevent the rice from sticking, I just brush some Olive oil inside the tool, and the arancini balls came right out.

dcarch