Meatballs

Meatballs

The Humble meatball is a type of food that can be found in thousands of variations throughout the globe. One of the earliest recorded recipes – Four Joy Meatballs – originating in China goes back to 2200 years ago. They were a mixture of pork mince, diced onions, ginger, lotus root, Shaoxing rice wine, pepper, soy sauce, eggs, and starch rolled into a ball, then fried before being steamed with more soy sauce and Shaoxing rice wine until perfectly cooked. In the Mediterranean, a vulgar Latin recipe book believed to be a copy of an earlier Roman book included several meatball recipes. Some of the earliest known Persian cookbooks feature seasoned lamb rolled into orange-sized balls and glazed with egg yolk and sometimes saffron. One descendant of these is probably the unusually large kufteh Tabrizi, from Iran’s North-West, requiring skill and patience so that it gets fully cooked and does not dissolve. That’s why, many argue that the Middle Eastern and Central Asian meatball varieties, reach back to ancient Persia, where the word kofta meant “pounded.” From there, it travelled westward through the Ottoman and Persian empires, absorbing local grains, herbs, and rituals.

• Albóndigas/Almôndegas – Spanish/Portuguese meatballs
• Chiftele – Romanian meatcakes
• Çiğ köfte – Armenian, Kurdish or Turkish meatball 
• Armenian Cumin Fingers
• Faggots – English meatballs
• Fleischkiechele – Alsatian meatballs
• Frykadelka – Ukrainian boiled meatballs (фрикаделька)
• Giouvarlákia -Minced meat & rice meatballs (γιουβαρλάκια)
• Kadınbudu köfte – Woman’s thigh meatball (not really) 
• Keftédhes – Greek-style stove-roasted meatballs (Κεφτέδες)
• Keftédhes – Greek fried meatballs (Κεφτέδες) & Qofte të fërguara – Albanian fried meatballs
• Kioftédhes – Cypriot-style meatballs (Kυπριώτικοι κιοφτέδες)
• Königsberger Klopse – Prussian meatballs
• Köttbullar med gräddsås – Swedish meatballs with cream sauce
• Lihapullat – Finnish meatballs
• Melboller – Danish meat dumplings
• Pârjoale – Romanian meatballs
• Polpette – Italian-style meatballs
• Şiş köfte – Turkish skewered minced meat
• Sulu köfte – Turkish rice meatball soup
• Tefteli – Russian fried meatballs (тефтели)