Meatball

For other uses, see Meatball (disambiguation).

Meatballs served Swedish style. with mashed potatoes, brown-sauce, lingonberry-jam and pickled gherkins

A meatball is a ball of ground meat where the meat is rolled into a ball along with other ingredients, such as bread or breadcrumbs, minced onion, various spices, and possibly eggs, rolled together by hand, and cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce.

There are many kinds of meatball recipes using different kinds of meats and spices. While some meatballs are mostly made of meat and ingredients to cement the ball, others may include other ingredients. How one makes meatballs depends as much on one's cultural background as on individual taste. There are even meatless 'meatballs' to satisfy vegetarian palates.

From the Balkans to India, there is a large variety of meatballs in the kofta family.

The ancient Roman cookbook Apicius included many meatball-type recipes.

Meatballs across various cultures

A variety of Chinese meatballs and fishballs

A freshly made batch of Danish meatballs (frikadeller)

Indonesian bakso noodle soup

Albondigas

Pulpety from Poland

Bulgarian big meatball, named "Tatarsko kufte".

• In Afghanistan, meatballs are used as a traditional dish with homemade soups and now meatballs are grilled on top of pizza.
• Albanian fried meatballs (Qofte të fërguara) include feta cheese.
• In Austria, fried meatballs are called Fleischlaibchen or Fleischlaberl.
• In Belgium, meatballs are called ballekes or bouletten in Flanders and Brussels and boulettes or boulets in Wallonia. They are typically prepared with tomato sauce or a gravy and served with french fries, potato croquettes or steamed potatoes. Small meat balls are often added as a garnish to tomato soup.
• In Bulgaria, meatballs are called 'kyufte' and are usually made of a mixture of beef and pork with breadcrumbs and sliced onions. Many other variations exist including different kinds of meat and chopped vegetables.
• Chinese meatballs (specifically, a dish common in Shanghai cuisine) are most often made of pork and are usually steamed or boiled, either as-is, or with the addition of soy sauce. There are meatballs called Lion's heads. These can range in size from about 5 cm in diameter to about 10 cm. Smaller varieties, called pork balls, are used in soups. A Cantonese variant, the steamed meatball, is made of beef and served as a dim sum dish. A similar dish is called the beef ball and the fish ball is yet another variety made from pulverized fish.
• Danish meatballs are known as frikadeller and are typically fried, and they are usually made out of ground pork, veal, onions, eggs, salt and pepper, these are formed into balls and flattened somewhat, so they are pan ready.
• In Finland meatballs (lihapullat) are made with ground beef or a mix of ground beef and pork, or even with ground reindeer meat, mixed with breadcrumbs soaked in milk and finely chopped onions. They are seasoned with white pepper and salt. Meatballs are traditionally served with whopper gravy, boiled potatoes (or mashed potatoes), lingonberry jam, and sometimes pickled cucumber.
• In Germany, meatballs are mostly known as Frikadelle, Boulette or Klopse. A very famous variant of meatballs are Königsberger Klopse which contain anchovy or salted herring and are eaten with caper sauce.
• In Greece, fried meatballs are called 'keftedes' (κεφτέδες) and usually include within the mix bread, onions and mint leaf. Stewed meatballs are called 'yuvarlakia' (γιουβαρλάκια) and usually include small quantities of rice.
• In Hungary, as well as territories from neighbouring countries where Hungarian is spoken, a meatball goes by the name 'fasirt' or 'fasirozott' ([ˈfɒʃirt] or [ˈfɒʃirozotː]) probably coming from Austrian German 'faschierte Laibchen'. Also the 'májgombóc' (liver dumpling) is popular in soups.
• In Iran, several types of meatball are consumed. If they are cooked in a stew, they are called "kufteh" (Persian for minced). If they are fried (typically small meatballs), they are called "kal-e gonjeshki" (literally "sparrow's head"). Both types are consumed with either bread or rice. Typically herbs are added, and in kufteh's case, usually the meatball is filled with hard boiled eggs or dried fruits. There are several (at least 10) types of kufteh. The most famous is "kufteh tabrizi", traditionally from Tabriz in north western Iran.
• In Indonesia and Malaysia, meatballs are called "bakso" which are usually served in a bowl, like soup, with noodles, beancurds (tofu), eggs, 'siomay'/steamed meat dumpling, and crispy wonton. It has a consistent homogeneous texture, and spices to it.
• In Italy, meatballs are known as polpette and are generally eaten as a main course or in a soup. The main ingredients of an Italian meatball are: beef and or pork and sometimes turkey, salt, black pepper, chopped garlic, olive oil, romano cheese, eggs, bread crumbs and parsley, mixed and rolled by hand to a golf ball size. In the Abruzzo Region of Italy, especially in the Province of Teramo the meatballs are typically the size of marbles and are called polpettine.
• The Japanese hamburger steak hanbāgu is based on similar ingredients.
• In the Netherlands, a meatball goes by the name 'gehaktbal' ("ball of minced meat") and is often served with boiled potatoes and vegetables. This combination has been the most common dish in Dutch households for many years.
• In Norway, meatballs are called kjøttkaker ("meat cakes") and resemble Danish frikadeller, but they are usually made from ground beef. This dish is traditionally served with boiled potatoes, gravy, lingonberry jam and/or stewed green peas. Some people also like to add fried/caramelized onion on the side.
• In the Philippines, meatballs are called albondigas or bola-bola and usually served in a soup with rice vermicelli called misua, toasted garlic, squash and pork cracklings.
• In Poland they are called "pulpety" (singular "pulpet") or "pulpeciki" ("little pulpety") and are usually served cooked and drowned in variety of sauces (such as tomato or a kind of gravy thickened with flour as well as forest mushroom sauce) with potatoes, rice or all sorts of "kasha" (a kind of porridge popular in Slavic countries). "Pulpety" are usually made from seasoned ground meat with onion and mixed with eggs and breadcrumbs or wheat flour roll soaked in milk or water. Fried "pulpety" are larger than typical cooked ones. They can be round or flat in their shape. The latter in many countries would be considered a cross between a meatball and a hamburger. The fried variety is called "mielony" (short for "kotlet mielony" - lit. "minced cutlet") and its mass-produced version (as well as the one served in bars etc.) is a subject of many jokes and urban legends explaining what is used to produce it.
• In Portugal and Brazil, meatballs are called 'almôndegas'. These are usually fried and served with spaghetti.
• The "chiftele" and "pârjoale" from Romania are usually deep fried and made with pork or poultry, moistened bread and garlic. "Chiftele" are smaller and with more meat. A crude, plain meat variant is used for sour soup, making "ciorbă de perişoare".
• In Spain and Latin America, meatballs are called "albóndigas", derived from the Arabic 'al-bunduq' (meaning 'hazelnut,' or, by extension, a small round object). Albóndigas are thought to have originated as a Berber or Arab dish imported to Spain during the period of Muslim rule. Spanish albóndigas can be served as an appetizer or main course, often in a tomato sauce, while Mexican albóndigas are commonly served in a soup with a light broth and vegetables.

• In Sweden köttbullar (meatballs) are made with ground beef or a mix of ground beef and pork, mixed with breadcrumbs soaked in milk and finely chopped onions. They are seasoned with white pepper or allspice and salt. Swedish meatballs are traditionally served with gravy, boiled potatoes, lingonberry jam, and sometimes fresh pickled cucumber. In the United States, there are a number of variations, based on the assimilation of Swedes in the Midwest.
• Turkish cuisine features more than 80 types of meatballs (köfte), most being regionally made. In addition, Turkish-style meatballs are made throughout Middle Eastern cooking, often with a localized form of the Turkish name attached.
• In the United Kingdom, faggots are a type of spicy pork meatball. A faggot is traditionally made from pig heart, liver and fatty belly meat or bacon minced together, with herbs added for flavouring and sometimes breadcrumbs.
• In the United States meatballs are commonly served with spaghetti as in spaghetti and meatballs, a dish in Italian American cuisine, assimilated alongside Italian immigrants coming from southern Italy in the early 19th century. Over time, the dish in both cultures has drifted away from each other in similarity.

See also

• Frikandel - A Dutch and Belgian snack, similar in texture to meatballs, but more like hot dog or sausage rather than ball shaped.
• Charlie Nagreen Claimant to the invention of the hamburger by placing a meatball between two pieces of bread at a fair in Wisconsin in 1885 .