It’s been more than a decade since my Halmuni (grandmother in Korean) passed away and I’ve been with her for more than 20 years. Still I hear her voice often, especially when I cook. She lived with us and spent most of her days in her garden and kitchen, where I often lay down.
“Shut up Gochujang With a foil seal so it doesn’t oxidize. Always squeeze out the juice from kimchi before refrigerating. A light drizzle of sesame oil will liven up any banchan.” I’m a better cook because of it. And I make the juiciest meatballs — of all kinds, really — for one thing. She used to tell me whenever she made it. Mando (Korean dumpling): “It is important to grind the onion.”
Although I suspect Mary Halmouni has never made a meatball in her life, she has likely made tens of thousands of dumplings—the filling is basically wrapped meatballs. And they were always juicy and very flavorful. Her trick was to grate raw onions into the meat mixture, and it’s the same trick I use to make meatballs.
How to Upgrade Your Meatballs by Grinding Onions
A good meatball recipe calls for onions — or at least fresh garlic — for flavor, texture and moisture. You can chop the onion, but if the pieces are too big, the meatballs may fall apart as they cook. Or if you have knife skills, you can finely chop the onion.
My parents taught me Grate the onion through the second smallest holes of a four-sided box grater.. (If you don’t have a box grater or are afraid of scraping your fingers, pulse the onion in a food processor until you can see large chunks and it’s mostly liquid and pulp.)
Before you add the ground beef or any other ingredient to the mixing bowl, grate the onion first, setting a box grater inside to catch the pulp and juice. You don’t need to drain the liquid – it will add moisture and flavor to the meatballs. The ground beef will absorb the liquid, spreading and lightening the mixture.
It’s an easy and smart way to add flavor and moisture, and a trick I use when making all kinds of meatballs. When a meatball recipe doesn’t call for onions in the meat mixture, I still add halved yellow or white onions.
My trick for making meatballs lightning fast
I stole a trick from him. My baking days To shape meatballs quickly: Use The cookie scoop. To speed things up, use a scoop to divide the meat mixture onto a large plate. Then, once you’ve scooped out all of the meat mixture, roll each meatball between your hands. This is much more efficient than scooping and rolling them one at a time. As my mentor said, “If you don’t work efficiently, you will become a slave to your kitchen.”