Annie, so glad you liked it! My friend had people over last Saturday and we scarfed down another big pot. As I tripped over bodies in the morning (I think our ages were all divided in half that night!) I took note that there were only two meatballs left. Thanks for the feedback; let me know what the lovebirds think. Alexa - While gingersnaps seem to be in most Sauerbraten recipes, I know my mom doesn't use them. Come to think of it, I'm wondering if she uses any sweetener at all. She must, right? Gotta ask her. Regardless, I can assure you her Sauerbraten is wonderful! Aside from that... Ladies, you're on your own.

I think on the surface any Italian-style meatball recipe is going to be pretty much the same thing. One or more types of ground meat, some herbs and spices, a binder, probably some cheese, maybe a surprise ingredient or two. Yet I've eaten many more bad or "just ok" meatballs than great, stand-out meatballs. That tells me the subtle differences in the recipes really make a difference. I'm not sure that I've seen a recipe with buttermilk before, and I know I've never added prosciutto. Both sound good to me. Here's the ingredients list of meatballs from a Gourmet recipe that I made a while back. Nothing "different" here except perhaps the lemon zest. But I'll tell you that they were hands down the best meatballs I've ever made and among the best I've ever eaten. Don't know why, but they were. 2 medium onions, finely chopped 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 10 garlic cloves, finely chopped 3 cups torn day-old Italian bread 3 cups whole milk 6 large eggs 2 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1/4 pound) 1/3 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley 1/4 cup finely chopped oregano or 1 teaspoon dried, crumbled 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest 1 1/2 pounds ground veal 1 1/2 pounds ground pork 1 1/2 pounds ground beef (not lean)

funny you should ask that question, gail. i have made a meatloaf recipe that daisy posted and the first time i made it, my immediate thought was that it would make great meatballs and i'd put them into a crockpot with the sauce for an office pot luck dish. i haven't done it yet but i'm sure it would work really well! (NOTE: the first time i made it i didn't have any instant coffee and the sauce was very good. i just made it again the other night and the next time i think i'll increase the coffee a little bit more.) Sauce: 1 onion, chopped very fine (optional) 1/4 cup water 1/2 cup tomato sauce 1/4 cup dry red wine or beef stock 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoons vinegar 1 teaspoon instant coffee 1/4 cup brown sugar 30g butter 2 teaspoons lemon juice Saute onions until golden and add all other ingredients. Bring slowly to the boil, lower heat and simmer about 5 minutes. After loaf has cooked for 30 minutes, pour the sauce over the meat, return to oven and bake 45 minutes more, basting often. The sauce goes well with ribs or chicken.

Two things come immediately to mind, but they weren't really ugly at all?? Dad was a big fan of early TV cooking shows, when they were on public TV... Julia, Graham K, Frugal Gourmet, etc. One time he decided "we" would make won-ton soup from scratch. The broth came out very nice. Won-ton noodles looked great but were so TOUGH you could barely chew them. What I thought was rolled thin enough... well, it wasn't. Another time he decide "we" would make Beef Wellington... BIG $$$ hunka tenderloin. Hauled out a cookbook for a recipe for the pastry dough to wrap beef in. It looked MAAHVELOUS going into oven and even better coming out... if I do say so myself. Well, you LITERALLY could not cut through the crust. We pretty much had to break up and pry off the crust. Luckily, that expensive hunka meat was cooked to a perfect medium rare and was eaten without any crust on it.