Mule Deer Meatballs

By: Nathan Scott Camp

Description:

There are as many styles of meatball as there are types of cuisine. They are called many names around the world; keftedes, köttbullar, polpettes, tsukune, albondigas, frikadelle, Bún chả, and MANY other names.  What they are being called can tell you what flavors and ingredients to expect. Knowing the technique for a satisfying meatball is all it takes to make one from any style of cuisine you want to try your hand in at home.

At the most basic, meatball recipes combine ground or chopped meats, functional ingredients and flavoring components. Bread crumbs, crackers, or a cooked grain are for body. They prevent the toughness that happens when muscle fibers shrink as they cook.  Adding specific flavoring components from seasonings, spices or aromatics is what defines your dish. Onions, garlic, lemon grass, citrus and fresh herbs transform your functional ingredients.

What is it?

The following recipe is for an Italian style meatball. One that uses components found in almost any kitchen or pantry and certainly in any grocery store. A great starting recipe to learn, simple enough to be committed to memory after you make it a few times.  I have used some form of this recipe many times in different applications, from food manufacturing to fine dining.

The hardest part of this recipe should be having the ground meat thawed beforehand.  Use crushed whole wheat crackers instead of bread crumbs. This complements the wild flavors and that your hard-earned game meats bring to the table.

(This recipe is based on 1lb of meat and will yield approximately 30 bite sized meatballs.  The ingredients have been listed in the order they will be used.)

Preheat your oven to 450˚F

Ingredients:

• 15        Whole Wheat Crackers (Breton Originals or similar) 
• 2 Tbsp  Parmesan or Romano Cheese, grated (any hard cheese can add its own unique flavor)
• 1 tsp     Kosher Salt
• 1 tsp     Onion Powder
• 1 tsp     Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp     Dried Oregano
• 1 tsp     Dried Basil
• 1 tsp     Paprika (Hot, Sweet or Smoked, any of these is a good choice)
• ½ tsp    Black Pepper
• ½ tsp    Crushed Hot Red Pepper (or to taste) 
• 1 each  Large Egg
• 2 Tbsp  Milk or Stock (Chicken or Beef Bone Broth works well for this)
• 1 lb.      Ground Lean Meat (Venison, Bison, Poultry, Pork, Beef, or even Fish)

Instructions:

PREP

1. In a large mixing bowl, crush the crackers into a very fine crumb. Then mix your dry spices and cheese into the crumbs.
2. Add your wet ingredients, mixing until it forms a smooth paste like consistency. 
3. Using your hands, mix the ground meat with the paste from the previous steps.  This process should not take more than a minute for an even distribution in this sized batch. Avoiding an overworked mix is important to ensure a tender bite.
4. Either using a scoop or some sort of measure to ensure even pieces, divide your mix into 30 portions. Using the palms of your hands for rolling, quickly roll out even balls. This step is only to smooth the surface of the meatballs.

Cook it!

The cooking step depends on your preferences, with simply baking. Ensure meatballs are evenly spaced on a parchment paper lined baking sheet being the easiest/quickest. 

Alternately, searing one side in a cast iron, then individually flipping them all with a small spoon. Then finishing in the oven isn’t that much harder and it gives a nice crust on the meatballs.  Allow your pan to preheat with the oven to ensure that it will be at an appropriate temperature to sea.

For 30 meatballs, baking time can range from 10-20 minutes by themselves in the oven. This time is affected by whether or not you seared them.  Evenly sized meatballs ensure that the all cook at the same rate. Checking a single meatball will reflect the doneness of the entire batch. Be sure that they are either all evenly spaced uniformly, this will affect the cooking process. They can touch each other, but if they do they ALL have to be touching similarly.

Cocktail Pairing:

Chianti is the classic choice of wine for these meatballs. Chianti, a red wine from Tuscany, Italy, is a classic choice for tomato-based spaghetti sauces. The medium body and acidity cut through the richness of the sauce.

Get Cooking!

Good luck this fall. Send any success pictures or stories from the field to Web@muledeer.org . If this article helps you become a better hunter become a member of MDF for only $35 dollars a year. Click here to join: https://muledeer.org/product-category/membership/

Nathan Scott Camp

https://www.instagram.com/camp_made

Nate Camp is a New England based outdoorsman, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers volunteer, Connecticut Liaison for its Armed Forces Initiative, a Marine Corps Veteran, Chef, and Tenkara ambassador.

Often found exploring rocky waterways, wild areas, and trails wherever he may be, enthusiastically practicing his outdoor skills and constantly striving to learn new ones.Eager for all to have the opportunity to find a joy and love of the outdoors; Nate works to foster that love of adventure in wild places with others and especially his young daughter.  Food, photography, and writing are his some of his methods of investing in the development of new outdoors lovers from all backgrounds.