home made meat balls / burgars

[fairydust]

what do i use to make the meat stick together???

sometimes i don't use anything, other times a beaten egg. add a dash of worcestershire sauce though, it's lovely!

breadcrumbs?

shape them and sprinkle with flour, let them rest a bit in the fridge (between clingfilm if necessary) which helps stop them crumbling.

bread soaked in water then squeezed out

get a burger maker - fantastic invention

I don't use anything, but dust them in flour afterwards.

mince, an apple, onion, red pepper, roll in flour
fry, eat!

thomcat's reminded me about apples - they're great in chicken ones too - just process chicken, onions, apple, garlic and shape into balls..mm

what type of flour

thomcat - sounds lush

plain, with a bit of added seasoning if you wish

thank you

sorry to jump on but this is making my mouth water - what would you serve them with????

Lotie loves 'em.
I made a load with lamb mince and some with beef.
Serve them with either tiny diced roast potaoes, or pasta and a freah tomato sauce, or cold as finger food, or with rice, or a jacket potato with lots of butter melted on, or in a pitte pocket with some salad.

I make burgers with onion, mince, seasoning, a splash of worstershire sauce and an egg. For anyone on slimming world they are free on a red day !

I have a burger maker from Lakeland which makes them all same shape and size - brilliant.

snap

Meatball wise, I do them covered in a tomato based sauce and cooked in the oven, then with spaghetti or rice.

I use organic beef mince, a softly fried onion, big handful breadcrumbs, an egg, some herbs then squash them into little balls and dust in flour. dd1 likes to do that bit! I fry them a bit then chuck in half/3 quarters of a jar of Loyd Grossmans tomato and basil sauce and a tin of plum tomatoes and cook gently for about 45 mins (half an hour lid on, 15 mins lid off). We all love them, me and dh with spaghetti and the girls like them with rice and veg. I make a load every two or three weeks, they freeze very well.

I often don't use anything at all. Infact DD helps me make them and she prefers hers to be just mice scrunched together with some herbs. DD gets onions and spices added. If the meat seems dry I use a beaten egg.

Jamie Oliver does a lovely (so I'm told - I don't eat meat!) home made burger in one of his books - a Botham Burger. Huge things, but DH thinks they're great.

Try these: 1lb turkey mince, 1 egg, 4 spring onions finely chopped, 50g wholemeal breadcrumbs & cranberry sauce (I do put a lot of this in)
Mix it all together and grill, fat free and fantastic

They sound lovely oooggs i'll have to try them, thanks

Hula "DD helps me make them and she prefers hers to be just mice scrunched together " Mice?? You feed your DD mice?? Snort! Great typo

Do any of you freeze your meatballs? If so, do you freeze them cooked or raw? I've been meaning to make some but my mince is all frozen so obviously can't freeze them without cooking them first.

Soupdragon. I asked the same question on here the first time I did burgers and a lovely mumsnetter recommended freezing them raw. Same would apply to meatballs. I then cook from frozen or defrost first if I remember. That way you are only cooking them once, so no reheating which is more likely to cause food poisoning.

Another tip i received which was great is to put your burgers on a large tupperware like lid to freeze. Then when frozen, bend the lid, the burgers pop off easily and you can put them in a freezer bag. Then they aren't all stuck together and you can use one at a time if you need to without having to hack at the whole lot.

soupy don't think you should freeze twice. Eg use frozen mince to cook meatballs then freeze the meatballs. Same as you should never freeze something that has already defrosted. Think that's right.

You can use frozen mince, make meatballs and cook them and then freeze the cooked meatballs. You can't use frozen mince, make meatballs and then freeeze them without cooking.

At least you can make shepherd's pie like that without poisoning the whole family!