Exactly! Take two pipe halves and inject meat inside, let freeze, find someone who’s willing to have meat all over their lathe, use your frozen meat cylinder ( ;) ) to make a ball, profit! Bonus: don’t make the ball spherical, but a bit oblong so when it sits on a tray it becomes round.
A tip from falafel cooking technique: Discharge directly into hot oil for deep frying. That way the meatballs will be instantaneously surrounded by hot oil from all sides which should prevent their flattening by gravity and keep them spherical during cooking.
I'm sure you've already had the same idea, but if you form those meatballs directly into the deepfryer they'll firm up quickly and then you can scoop them up and finish them in the oven or in your sauce.
equal and opposite with liquid N2... Or maybe some sorta steam shot tower where you drop meat like 40 meters through steam and heat in a tower and preserve the shape perfectly in a fryer in the basement.
My solution: 1. Make small meatballs. 2-3 cm diameter. It means that the internal strength is relatively stronger compared to the gravity. Also a smaller meatball will have much more surface that is fried, so it will taste better. More maillard reaction. 2. Cool the meat mixture to slightly below freezing before attempting to form the meatball. The fat will solidify and greatly strengthen the meatball. The salt will keep the mixture from freezing. 3. Use a spoon to measure the amount of meat consistently. Form the meatball with two wet hands to a perfect sphere. 4. Drop the formed meatball carefully into a large pot of salted simmering water. That way there is a minimal deforming impact. Let the meatball simmer until it rises to the surface. Then the proteins will have denaturated and become much firmer. Then pick up the meatball and fry it so it gets a nice browned surface. Then put the meatball into the oven at around 175C for a while. 10-15 minutes at least. Move it around now and then. This develops the taste further. If possible, use a bed of caramelized yellow onions. Serve or cool for storage and later serving. In practice it is best to be four persons working on making meatballs. Person A forms meatballs and drops them into the simmering pot. Person B adjusts the heat for the simmering pot and takes up the meatballs as they float up. And place in one of several colanders to dry off a bit. Person C manages two or three frying pans to fry the meatballs, one colander at a time. Nice browning all over. Person D handles the final finishing rest in the oven, using two or three pans. Also packs in plastic bags, preferably together with some caramelized onion, and cool the plastic bags of meatballs down in cold water. Or prepare the serving vessels. A, B, C and D can be combined and rotated as needed. E, F and G can help in the rotation as well, especially if there is to be potatoes and carrots boiled and served, a sauce to be made and a table to set.
He could also use the raw meatball's elasticity against it by forming an upside-down egg shape that when placed on a tray, its own weight rounds it out. Might not work as well, but doesn't mean it shouldn't be tried.
Conclusion: Perfectly round meatball (Rm) is an unstable element with a very short decay time. I guess tossing them into a liquid or suspended cloth could preserve some of the shape, but they wouldn't stay this way on the pan... BUT! What if you calculate the gravitational disfigurement, so you can make a NOT PERFECTLY ROUND meatball, more like an egg shape, a bit slender, that AFTER placing it on flat surface would collapse into an (almost) PERFECT BALL? :D
Everyone: "No way you defy gravity and the effect of the meatballs own weight while cooking it in the pan or oven!" Next episode: Alex is enjoying perfectly round meatballs on the ISS in space.
But if you cook them in an oil of the right density deep fat fry style it supports their slumping so they will be pretty damn close. Even better would be straight into liquid nitrogen - flash freezing an outer shell so when cooking the insides cook and should become less fluid while the outside is still frozen. Either it way it comes down to if the meat then has the strength to take its own weight on the tiny contact point on to the plate (which I doubt) - so either serving in something they float on or some sort of additive to the usual meatball recipies.
FoldiOne Papyrus But do you even want a fried meatball just to have it round ? We are still aiming for the greatest meatball in history, can‘t be deepfried in my opinion
@@armandobaumgart5582 Oh I agree, but if roundness needs to be perfect its probably the simple way. Though I've had another thought - that rolling device could made as a frying pan.. If you have a rotating base looping round a central shaft the rolling action can be kept up while cooking. Constantly correctly the slump as they cook.
Stumbled upon this channel during the quarantine while attempting to make croissants and pain au chocolat at home. Now here I am... watching a meatball series lol. Magnifique Alex. I’m definitely subscribed!
You have to get colder with your meatballs. Almost like making sausages - everything has to be very cold. Shape your meatballs, put them in the FREEZER for 30 min. and reshape them before frying.
this editing is superb! i have never been invested in meatball shapes but here i am, on the edge of my seat hoping and wishing you round out the perfect meatball lol
I've definitely figured it out! 1. Preshape meatball into roughly round shape using predetermined mass of meat based upon its composite density of ingredients and the known internal volume of your meatball deathstar mold as calculated in your CAD file 2. Place quasi-spherical meatball into oiled cellophane 3. Press wrapped meatball into half the meatball deathstar mold to allow half of it to take on spherical shape 4. Carefully apply other half of mold. 5. disassemble and marvel at perfectly spherical meatball. By the way, love how OCD, analytical, and creative you've gotten here Alex!
My suggestion: use smaller amounts of meat mixture, use the sliding gadget to make perfectly round balls and exit them immediately into the meatball maker tray. This way the bottom stays round. Then freeze them in the tray. This will lock the shape in place. Bake them in the oven and you should have very round (if not perfectly round) meatballs! Love your channel, Alex! Thanks for the great content!
Yes! This has to be the best way. edit: Okay now I've watched more of the video and I really hope Alex sees this. All these tools are nothing compared to a takoyaki pan, haha
Wouldn't this also cause to freeze the water on the meatballs surface? Which actually would, may this happen, cause the oil to be splashing a lot whilst deepfrying.
Just use your system, but use metal instead of pvc and add a heating/cooking system to it. The idea being that you cook the outer edge while rolling it and thus making it all the way rount whilst cooking...
ROUNT! Rounted ... excellent idea! I mean nobody really cares about perfectly round, including Alex (he's acting for effect and entertainment) but you've come up with the solution.
Alex I would recommend trying to cook the meatballs in a “æbleskive pande” Its a pan designed to make small Danish doughy desserts, good luck on the journey
Look Into Japanese “Takoyaki”. They cook the mixture into a round steel mold and flip it half way through the cook. You could use that mold to flip the mixture during the cooking process, thus keeping the shape!
I also thought sous vide would be great here! There are plenty of examples of making roulade with plastic wrap, but a sphere should be possible. Then sous vide it to make it keep its shape, and sear by rolling it in a non stick pan
Yeah i was thinking about deep fry. How about the loader launch the meatball to a pan filled with liquid fat or oil? Hot lard or olive oil, for example. Sure, the density of the oil and the meat ball don't need to be 100% similar just enought to maintain the ball level without reach the botton. AND if the pan is hot, you could make deep fried meatballs right from the launcher! A realy hot mess and dangerous. But it's fun to think of it.
Your shaping method seems to work well, but another way to do it would be to place a chunk of meat between two spinning disks, kind of like a record player. Since the tangential velocity is greater at the outer edge than the inner edge, the meatball should spin about its own axis while also being rolled along the disks' surfaces, creating a sphere. The centrifugal effect should also cause the balls to move to the outside edge of the disks. Imagine something like an old fashioned flour mill, but with smooth plates. If designed correctly, you could feed meatball mixture into the center in discrete chunks and have fully formed meatballs come out the outer edge. If you could find a way to heat them gradually as they are formed, then you could have partially seared spherical meatballs coming out the side of the device (similar to how a pizza oven cooks a pizza as it passes from one end to the other). Another way you could try cooking them is on one of those hotdog rollers like you see at convenience stores. The only problem is that they may end up more cylindrical than spherical, which is what made me think of using heated disks. Good luck however you decide to do it.
Finally an ad I watched fully! The first relevant ad to my wants and needs. I've been thinking about getting a synology NAS for years, just haven't done it yet because of the cost.
I've been binge watching many of these series videos. Alex is way more interesting and entertaining than some of the crap they provide us on mainstream "prepackaged" cooking shows. They all have a formula and just run with it and it gets very boring...very fast. Loving this channel. Aside from being entertained, I'm actually learning cooking techniques and recipes. This is why I love TH-cam. Cook on everyone!
You could do this via an induction heated stainless steel tray with hollow ball shapes. It would be awesome, tho it's probably extremly time consuming to work out all the variables. This is unless you prefer burning your meat faster than it cooks.
Alex: I wish to find the best meatball recipe. New York: Welcome my friend Sweden: Welcome my friend Turkey: Welcome my friend Alex back home: So let’s play with shapes...
Your very clever Alix, you show us one episode and it doesn't finish. You force us to watch the next and the next until we get to the end. Genius of you to do that.
As an engineer, your show really gets my creative juices flowing. If you could jerry rig a shaped roller (or better yet, 2 rollers with a fitted belt) with a motor on it you can keep shooting out meatballs
@Ibn Muhammad yeah, those in Association Football generally are a truncated icosahedron as well, but I'd still call those infinitely more spherical than those used in American Football. ;)
@@christophspielmann316 there is only one issue I see with cooking it right out of the meatball canon; it currently takes him some time to reload said canon, so it may be a very slow, one-at-a-time process.
Yes, straight into hot oil. And can you build some sort of long "indoor waterslide pipe" spiral thing, so that the meatball can roll like a snowball, getting rounder and rounder until it plunges into the oil? You might need to add breadcrumbs or something to the "slope".
I'm a swede and have the perfect solution for you my friend! First af all, i usually do my meatballs in the oven, they get mutch more juicer that way. And then you make the outside crust in a pan. So just make a two sided mold out of metal. Kind of the red Italian molding gadget you had there but out of metal. Then put everything in the oven.... Tadaaa! Thank me later❤
Anton.s silicone should withstand high temperatures too. I do metal casting up to 400 degree C in Silicone. Food save variants should be able to withstand 250 degree C.
Dear Alex! You are a smart guy and have already figured it out. To keep the perfect spherical shape. Make a new gadget like the one you had in this video but make the diameter between 4 and 5 cm. A smaller meatball will have a better structural strength. Make sure to have eggs in the mixture. The protein will harden quickly when exposed to heat. When you“shoot” out the meatballs, do it into deep, really hot oil or molten butter. Hopefully the mixture will be hard before it hits the bottom of the pan. Let it simmer in the oil or butter for a short while before frying it in a pan as you usually do. The process is actually not far off from the manufacturing process of the meatballs sold in IKEA. Good luck! Looking forward to see if you picked up some of the tips in your next video.
I must say that i've never commented on anything like now, but i must. I'm total fan of you - your'e the most passionate guy i've ever seen, more target oriented and more solution finding i've ever seen ;) you'd be a perfect R&D solution engineer. and i know what i'm writing because i run myself r&d center - it's just amazing how resourceful you are ;)
Hey Alex, my wifes grandfather was a true swedish meatball master. His technique has been passed down two generations to me. They are actually very round. The trick is to use a searing hot cast iron pan with rough surfice and when you put the meatballs in the pan you move the pan in the air, constantly, in circles and back and forth utill they get firm enough to sit in the pan without getting a side. For this method to work, you need to limit the amoumt of meatballs in the pan. The roughness is important to keep the balls moving and cast iron also keeps the heat well wich is crutial 🧆🎱🤗
Just my thought, and freeze it lightly. Peel off the skin and do final shaping and maybe roll them while frying in a pan in the oven. I am looking at the comments here asking if there is ANY woman commenting here :-)
I love this! The only way to preserve a spherical shape is to firm the mixture up. Either you have to shape them and freeze them immediately, or you have to cook the outer layer fast. If you can preserve your shape in an encasing, then you'll have some more time. Actually, I think the spherical enclosing you made could be blanched with meatball fillings to set the shape.
Bravo Alex! Seeing you make a well formed sphere was awesome. I see you heading in two directions. First is a trip to the blue frig to see if you can build a better structured meatball that will hold its shape better. This migh include looking at the recipe, but also working at a colder temperature to form the balls, but releasing fat for moisture when it is cooked. I can see a whole episode just in this... but without a solution you'll like. While there might be some if this in the final solution, it doesn't make sense until the second direction is tackled. This second direction is a realization of the problem that if you cook on a flat surface (grills included here) two things will happen. 1) Your meatball will be subjected to gravity and will flatten as a result. 2) there will be some flattening because you are cooking on a flat surface. But what about a curved one? I know Alex has a wok. That is worth a try to see if that works. If it doesn't, then we know we'll need something more curved like a sphere... something like a cake pop pan. I just don't know if any exist that are metal. So this might have to be fabricated.... but we know that Alex has people he could turn to if he can't do this himself. Silicone might work, but just not sure it would give the outcomes we want in terms of texture. With a metal pan, it becomes a question of recipe & cooking technique (i.e. bake vs pan fry, rotating as it cooks) Regardless what happens, I am looking forward to what happen to achieve the perfect round meatball.
C'est malin ! A cause de toi, j'ai commencé à faire des meatballs à la maison, quand j'ai dit que c'était parce que je regardais "la série d'un gars un peu fou sur TH-cam", on m'a fait comprendre que je l'étais un peu aussi .. Donc Merci Alex !!!
Make the pipe longer and load it with three meatballs at a time. Drop the balls directly from the pipe into hot oil, instead of some hard surface. This might work and get you your Tasty Perfectly Rounded MeatBalls.
I saw several people with the idea of both frying and the liquid nitrogen. I think in both you're going to get the liquid affecting the shape (imagine a teardrop through air) before it can freeze or fry. however I can think of 2 ways of improving either. 1.) have a way to keep moving the meatball back and forth while you dip the whole pipe in liquid nitrogen. This will allow it to freeze while it's still in motion. could also do this with a freezer and just have it work automatically. might be better that way as the pipes themselves won't freeze shut due to the nitrogen. 2.) similarly, make the pipe out of metal or ceramic and then - once again - keep it rolling while it bakes in an oven. In general i think what you need is to keep it confined in the pipe until it sets with a crust - be it a frozen crust or a fried crust, but it needs some external reinforcement. Personally I think option 1 is the way to go, and you just really need to figure out a way to keep moving it around in the pipe while it's freezing. Hope i didn't confuse you too much! love the content!
I think the best way to get a perfect round shape even during frying in a pan would be to use a sausage casing. Pressing it firmly inside just take a page out of the German cuisine where we transformed boring ol meatballs into sausages, basically the same. And when you want a Meatball texture in the end remove the casing before serving and sear the surface again. Otherwise you could even consider cooking the sausageballs beforehand. Hope this seams plausible to you. I am sure though even without my suggestion you will come up with a great solution. Always loving the content! Cheers
"But at least, I can shape a perfectly round meatball now." I feel like I am the only one in this comments section with a very important question: Yes, but why?
Yes, you are clearly the only one. Why would you need to ask why? Besides, if we are on a quest with Alex to discover the perfect meatBALL, it needs to be a ball. We don't question things like this or sanity in here.
Alex, you can shape them as best you can into a ball, then using a deep fryer, "sear" them on the outside with the fryer so they hold their shape. You can finish cooking them in the oven, or in your sauce of choice. Just make sure the fryer is clean with clean, new oil and doesn't taste like burnt chips or fried chicken, and your meatballs will be delicious!
There are two types of videos that make me laugh. Cat's hitting stuff from the table and your videos. You Sir, are just incredible. Thanks for content and keep going. Greetings from Germany ✌️😄
Hey Alex, love your content, watch every video even though I'm not a meat eater. Since "meatballs" are a sum of their parts and not really about the meat, maybe you could you do a little episode about vegetarian/vegan balls?
just form the ball with the tube apparatus you have made, but do not launch them, keep them tight and cold before setting it up, and as soon as you roll them all the way to the edge, put the pipe in the freezer, when it comes out, it should be frozen, but in a perfect round ball
1. Find the diameter of your meat ball round maker. 2. Press sheet metal (steel) to the diameter of your meat ball. 3. Cook the meat ball in the stamped/pressed self made perfectly round meat ball cooking tray (For best result maybe freezing the meat ball like stated earlier will help) If you'd like to know how you can press it. You can always get a round hammer dye (use your meat diameter) and hammer it your self! Or hard ware shops might be kind enough to do it for you! :) wish you the best
Okay, firstly, Awesome, loved it, the over attention to detail :D So I assume moving to a metal machined part, in order to reduce the friction. Then dropping the "ball" into a large energy displacing mixture, like water, oil for immediate cooking/sealing of the surface area in order to form a "skin" that can retain the desired shape. That or liquid nitrogen cooling which would retain the shape but would be massacred with any thawing action.
Partially freeze the meat mixture (very stiff, but still can be shaped). Flash deep-fry to set the shape, then finish cooking with whatever method you prefer (braise, sauce, pan fry, whatever).
what if you opened up the mold so that you could cook the meatballs while still in the mold? obviously the mold would have to be a different material that doesnt melt. but even better maybe the mold would leave grill marks. lol
Throw a ball into some sausage casing and twist the ends if you get the right amount so the length is the same as the max diameter of the casing it should form a sphere from pressure and allow it to keep its form when cooking. Just ramove the casing when done.
Two things, Alex: 1) the obsession with the perfectly spherical meatball is silly. Funny, but silly. I recommend dropping it. But if you actually care (do you?) then consider dropping it into boiling water, to "set" the shape. 2) Remember what you learned about the Swedish one: what you serve it with is just as important as the meatball itself. Have fun!
I must admit that I haven't seen all of your meatball videos - but did you ever try Danish meatballs (frikadeller)? They have an oblong shape (sort of like a rugby ball or an american football) and are made with seven simple ingredients: ground pork (typically 80/20), finely chopped onions, egg, milk, flour, salt and pepper. If you want to be fancy about it, you can add a minced clove of garlic plus a dash of ground nutmeg per 500 g of meat. Two important things are 1) let the thoroughly combined ingredients rest at least a half hour before frying, and 2) when frying, make sure to use liberal amounts of butter and baste the little rascals regularly. Frikadeller are typically served with boiled potatoes and pork stock gravy, occasionally with a bit of pickled red cabbage or beetroot on the side. An older Danish tradition is adding a blob of lingonberry or other preserve either to the gravy or on the plate. Oh, and frikadeller only have two sides, i.e. they're not supposed to be charred "in the middle". Why? Because you make plenty, so you have some leftovers for your frikdellesandwich the next day, and if your frikadeller have a soft spot in the middle, they're very easy to cut in halves! Hope you'll try it... :-j
You should check "how it's made: marbles", "dough ball shaper" and "meatball machine" for actually working ideas on how to make consistent round shaped objects. Also, your meatballs should be way smaller, otherwise you will also have a lot of problem cooking them.
I have one idea for you. Build something like a forge that is insulated, runs on propane and can reach extremely high temperatures inside. Make it cylindrical with an open top and bottom so you can basically drop a raw meatball through and cook it enough on the outside to at least maintain its shape. Then have some sort of soft landing catch at the bottom. Get it!
Heres a low fat meatball recipie; Better cut low fat beef _Eggwhite_ Cottage Cheese Minced Onion and Garlic Seasoning to taste. You can add fat as you wish, change the cheese to a fattier one, and include the yolk aswell, but the egg is neccessary for a firm ball, it is a pastry. No egg meatballs all contain starch of some sorts, usually breadcrums to hold in the liquids. Use your hand as a 3d ladle, and if you dont use eggyolk in the mix to get it firmer, then you can coat the balls in a eggwash so they keep their form better. Also using plastic wrap when forming the balls makes the balls actually round, if you twist your hand like a 3d lathe. And finally to add firmness, you should place the firm balls to the freezer as cold as you can get, to freeze only the most outer layer of the ball. Cooking a meatball requires a cast iron skillet that is seasoned with oil. You firm the frozen layer with caramelization of the egg, and thereafter put the hot skillet to a preheated oven, and thereafterwards you incorporate the meatballs to a tomatobased sauce. Meatballs require eggs, otherwise you call it a burger.
But... even if you manage to shape the meatball into a perfect sphere, wouldn't it get smushed or out of shape when you cook it? Alex, maybe you can consider using a takoyaki grill. It has a mould so you can shape the meatballs into spheres, and you can cook it in the mould such that it _holds_ its shape. Not sure if there may be downsides to this method, but still something worth considering. 😄✌️
watching you struggle (im an engineer as well) I was sitting here thinking "I bet some type of rolling extrusion contraption would work" and you did not disappoint, maybe some type of pool to absorb the "splat" maybe a oil?
just freeze a steak and use a lathe to turn it round. easy!
bruh
Whoa ... I can't tell if this is the best idea I have ever seen or the worst but this is why I love the Internet!
Hahahahahaa, hahahahaa, that's awesome. "And now introducing, The Meat Lathe!" Too funny!
Exactly! Take two pipe halves and inject meat inside, let freeze, find someone who’s willing to have meat all over their lathe, use your frozen meat cylinder ( ;) ) to make a ball, profit!
Bonus: don’t make the ball spherical, but a bit oblong so when it sits on a tray it becomes round.
This gives new meaning to round steak :]
A tip from falafel cooking technique: Discharge directly into hot oil for deep frying. That way the meatballs will be instantaneously surrounded by hot oil from all sides which should prevent their flattening by gravity and keep them spherical during cooking.
Yeah a deep pot of broth on a high simmer. But does it still smack on the bottom of the pot? Solution may be smaller meatballs. Blanch and shock.
Watch his new video.
@@intractablemaskvpmGy Definitely smaller balls. Bigger balls don't come out as well IMO
Beef tallow!
Industrially made Swedish meatballs are also deep-fried, probably for this reason. And those also tend to be smaller.
I'm sure you've already had the same idea, but if you form those meatballs directly into the deepfryer they'll firm up quickly and then you can scoop them up and finish them in the oven or in your sauce.
Had the same thought. Just need to be careful to avoid hot oil splashing all over the place.
Alternatively drop them in liquid nitrogen so they freeze almost instantly
equal and opposite with liquid N2... Or maybe some sorta steam shot tower where you drop meat like 40 meters through steam and heat in a tower and preserve the shape perfectly in a fryer in the basement.
We all had the same idea, but I think the liquid nitrogen one is the winner
Or construct the meatball maker out of metal and have them come out cooked just like those commercial toasters that are basically a conveyor belt
"I'm also a cook, I m not JUST a mad person" this should be a t- shirt!
It really summarizes his channel so well!
I would buy that merch, we need t-shirts lol
True but in my oppinion there isnt really a difference
My solution:
1. Make small meatballs. 2-3 cm diameter. It means that the internal strength is relatively stronger compared to the gravity. Also a smaller meatball will have much more surface that is fried, so it will taste better. More maillard reaction.
2. Cool the meat mixture to slightly below freezing before attempting to form the meatball. The fat will solidify and greatly strengthen the meatball. The salt will keep the mixture from freezing.
3. Use a spoon to measure the amount of meat consistently. Form the meatball with two wet hands to a perfect sphere.
4. Drop the formed meatball carefully into a large pot of salted simmering water. That way there is a minimal deforming impact.
Let the meatball simmer until it rises to the surface. Then the proteins will have denaturated and become much firmer.
Then pick up the meatball and fry it so it gets a nice browned surface.
Then put the meatball into the oven at around 175C for a while. 10-15 minutes at least. Move it around now and then. This develops the taste further. If possible, use a bed of caramelized yellow onions.
Serve or cool for storage and later serving.
In practice it is best to be four persons working on making meatballs.
Person A forms meatballs and drops them into the simmering pot.
Person B adjusts the heat for the simmering pot and takes up the meatballs as they float up. And place in one of several colanders to dry off a bit.
Person C manages two or three frying pans to fry the meatballs, one colander at a time. Nice browning all over.
Person D handles the final finishing rest in the oven, using two or three pans. Also packs in plastic bags, preferably together with some caramelized onion, and cool the plastic bags of meatballs down in cold water. Or prepare the serving vessels.
A, B, C and D can be combined and rotated as needed.
E, F and G can help in the rotation as well, especially if there is to be potatoes and carrots boiled and served, a sauce to be made and a table to set.
Alex You have to buy a Takoyaki pan !
Alex si tu me lis achète une poêle a Takoyaki pour les cuire en les laissant ronde !!!!!
And i thought i was reading through what would eventually become tautology or smthg
Alex: In my world, a ball is a perfectly spherical object.
**Rugby ball has left the chat**
I wonder what would happen if you roll them into a pot of oil. I wonder how gravity would effect them when they are suspended in oil.
@@Skump115 it would float...
Use a Takoyaki Pan (or 2 ) and make it like a waffle iron and make you meatball in that.
I agree. Go take a look at how they make takoyaki. I starts a mess but finishes round. It's not how you make the meatballs, it's how you cook it.
I was just going to comment that
Same. He is making cooking too complicated, best cooking should be simple but yield good result
He could also use the raw meatball's elasticity against it by forming an upside-down egg shape that when placed on a tray, its own weight rounds it out. Might not work as well, but doesn't mean it shouldn't be tried.
Mmmm it won't work, not with meat at least
Conclusion: Perfectly round meatball (Rm) is an unstable element with a very short decay time.
I guess tossing them into a liquid or suspended cloth could preserve some of the shape, but they wouldn't stay this way on the pan... BUT! What if you calculate the gravitational disfigurement, so you can make a NOT PERFECTLY ROUND meatball, more like an egg shape, a bit slender, that AFTER placing it on flat surface would collapse into an (almost) PERFECT BALL? :D
Everyone: "No way you defy gravity and the effect of the meatballs own weight while cooking it in the pan or oven!"
Next episode: Alex is enjoying perfectly round meatballs on the ISS in space.
But if you cook them in an oil of the right density deep fat fry style it supports their slumping so they will be pretty damn close. Even better would be straight into liquid nitrogen - flash freezing an outer shell so when cooking the insides cook and should become less fluid while the outside is still frozen. Either it way it comes down to if the meat then has the strength to take its own weight on the tiny contact point on to the plate (which I doubt) - so either serving in something they float on or some sort of additive to the usual meatball recipies.
FoldiOne Papyrus But do you even want a fried meatball just to have it round ? We are still aiming for the greatest meatball in history, can‘t be deepfried in my opinion
@@armandobaumgart5582 Oh I agree, but if roundness needs to be perfect its probably the simple way.
Though I've had another thought - that rolling device could made as a frying pan.. If you have a rotating base looping round a central shaft the rolling action can be kept up while cooking. Constantly correctly the slump as they cook.
@@foldionepapyrus3441 use a takoyaki pan
Actually you can use a muffin pan to roast meatballs while keeping them perfectly round.
Stumbled upon this channel during the quarantine while attempting to make croissants and pain au chocolat at home. Now here I am... watching a meatball series lol. Magnifique Alex. I’m definitely subscribed!
You have to get colder with your meatballs. Almost like making sausages - everything has to be very cold. Shape your meatballs, put them in the FREEZER for 30 min. and reshape them before frying.
firm up that meat
Make the meatballs inside the freezer. Hypothermia is a small price to pay in search of perfection.
i was thinking maybe freeze them as solid as possible, and have a meatball lathe to make them perfect while still frozen. Vacuum seal, and sous vide.
this editing is superb! i have never been invested in meatball shapes but here i am, on the edge of my seat hoping and wishing you round out the perfect meatball lol
this is the worlds most extra TH-cam video, and i loved every second of it
David!
And the porn hub theme at 8:30 makes it better
I love Alex's videos for the same reason I love James Hoffman's. They are both very extra in their obsession. Alex with food and James with coffee.
Let me just say, I _love_ how you synchronise your videos with the music. It's such a wonderful little touch that makes everything flow so nicely.
Another Frenchman who talks about his ball problems.
I want to clarify that I am French and I know what I am talking about.
Are you referring to yoann barelli?😂
What if you chilled the meat down close to freezing so the ball retains its shape?
I think he is talking about Farod
lol at least he has the balls to do so. 😛
Hey Alex
Maby cook it in a big Takoyaki pan to keep it round? Looking forward to the next episode :)
He could maybe source one in Europe if he looked for a "Poffertjes" pan.
Just beware that not all pans are as deeply rounded.
"I'm also a cook. I'm not just a mad person"
At least he knows he's mad.
He's posing as mad, he doesn't give a flying fig about perfectly spherical meat bawls. When he looses it over flav-our? Then he's for real obsessing.
I've definitely figured it out! 1. Preshape meatball into roughly round shape using predetermined mass of meat based upon its composite density of ingredients and the known internal volume of your meatball deathstar mold as calculated in your CAD file 2. Place quasi-spherical meatball into oiled cellophane 3. Press wrapped meatball into half the meatball deathstar mold to allow half of it to take on spherical shape 4. Carefully apply other half of mold. 5. disassemble and marvel at perfectly spherical meatball. By the way, love how OCD, analytical, and creative you've gotten here Alex!
I know you record in advanced, and it's in the comments already, but I'll echo. A takoyaki pan is going to be how you maintain the shape and cook them
My suggestion: use smaller amounts of meat mixture, use the sliding gadget to make perfectly round balls and exit them immediately into the meatball maker tray. This way the bottom stays round. Then freeze them in the tray. This will lock the shape in place. Bake them in the oven and you should have very round (if not perfectly round) meatballs! Love your channel, Alex! Thanks for the great content!
I’ve always wanted to try using a takoyaki pan to sear the meatballs so they remain round. You should give that a go!
silverskeeter literally my first thought!
Yes! This has to be the best way.
edit: Okay now I've watched more of the video and I really hope Alex sees this. All these tools are nothing compared to a takoyaki pan, haha
"I don'tlike gadgets."
Good one, Alex, hilarious!
Roll it from the pipe straight into liquid nitrogen. Will freeze instantly perfectly round.
Came to say this
Be sure not to let it freeze completely. Just enough to set the shape, but not so much as to alter the texture.
Wouldn't this also cause to freeze the water on the meatballs surface? Which actually would, may this happen, cause the oil to be splashing a lot whilst deepfrying.
Why nit roll it directly into the oil, and make a deep fried, perfectly round meatball? :D
I feel like the leidenfrost effect will keep this idea from working
My first thought was a takoyaki cooker/griller. Edit I see it was everyone’s too. Can’t wait to see when he tries it in the next episode.
Just use your system, but use metal instead of pvc and add a heating/cooking system to it. The idea being that you cook the outer edge while rolling it and thus making it all the way rount whilst cooking...
ROUNT! Rounted ... excellent idea! I mean nobody really cares about perfectly round, including Alex (he's acting for effect and entertainment) but you've come up with the solution.
@@tblbaby ROUNT™ you sir just found the name for the killer product of 2020
@@TheLycanThroope :) I can't take credit. I was just making a little fun of your typo.
@@tblbaby thats true, but you had the vision :D
Alex I would recommend trying to cook the meatballs in a “æbleskive pande” Its a pan designed to make small Danish doughy desserts, good luck on the journey
6:45 "Why are we doing all this?"
Apparently so you can sleep at night Alex.
LOL haha apparently shaping meatballs is Alex's cure for insomnia 🤣
Look Into Japanese “Takoyaki”. They cook the mixture into a round steel mold and flip it half way through the cook. You could use that mold to flip the mixture during the cooking process, thus keeping the shape!
To cook these and keep the round shape, I'd go with a combo of Takoyaki pan, Searzall, and Sous-vide.
I also thought sous vide would be great here! There are plenty of examples of making roulade with plastic wrap, but a sphere should be possible. Then sous vide it to make it keep its shape, and sear by rolling it in a non stick pan
Deep fryer? The oil would support the meatball while cooking
@@sleepib I agree, but there is some resistance in cooking oil which could oblongate it.
Yeah i was thinking about deep fry.
How about the loader launch the meatball to a pan filled with liquid fat or oil? Hot lard or olive oil, for example.
Sure, the density of the oil and the meat ball don't need to be 100% similar just enought to maintain the ball level without reach the botton.
AND if the pan is hot, you could make deep fried meatballs right from the launcher!
A realy hot mess and dangerous. But it's fun to think of it.
@@stephanjuvik6266 : if so use thinner oil....
Your shaping method seems to work well, but another way to do it would be to place a chunk of meat between two spinning disks, kind of like a record player. Since the tangential velocity is greater at the outer edge than the inner edge, the meatball should spin about its own axis while also being rolled along the disks' surfaces, creating a sphere. The centrifugal effect should also cause the balls to move to the outside edge of the disks. Imagine something like an old fashioned flour mill, but with smooth plates. If designed correctly, you could feed meatball mixture into the center in discrete chunks and have fully formed meatballs come out the outer edge. If you could find a way to heat them gradually as they are formed, then you could have partially seared spherical meatballs coming out the side of the device (similar to how a pizza oven cooks a pizza as it passes from one end to the other).
Another way you could try cooking them is on one of those hotdog rollers like you see at convenience stores. The only problem is that they may end up more cylindrical than spherical, which is what made me think of using heated disks. Good luck however you decide to do it.
I think meatballs that are perfectly round will look too industrial. I love the rough edges and flattened "balls".
But the effort is much appreciated
Finally an ad I watched fully! The first relevant ad to my wants and needs. I've been thinking about getting a synology NAS for years, just haven't done it yet because of the cost.
"You see, I'm also a cook, I'm not just a mad person" big if true.
"I'm also a cook, I'm not just a mad person"
speaking as a cook, there is no difference
Oh but there is.
Cooks (may) produce amazing products.
Mad persons, not so much.
(unless they have other productive talents)
jk..
"Gravity. It Isn't Just a Good Idea. It's the Law." Adam Savage.
Gravity is a harsh mistress - the Tick.
@@recoil53 : but freefall was so relaxing...
I've been binge watching many of these series videos. Alex is way more interesting and entertaining than some of the crap they provide us on mainstream "prepackaged" cooking shows. They all have a formula and just run with it and it gets very boring...very fast. Loving this channel. Aside from being entertained, I'm actually learning cooking techniques and recipes. This is why I love TH-cam. Cook on everyone!
Could you make a heated spherical mould to give it the perfect shape during cooking?
Even an aebleskiver pan might work well.
Like takoyaki
Exactly. Can't Come up with a good design tho
You could do this via an induction heated stainless steel tray with hollow ball shapes. It would be awesome, tho it's probably extremly time consuming to work out all the variables. This is unless you prefer burning your meat faster than it cooks.
You spelled takoyaki pan wrong
Alex: I wish to find the best meatball recipe.
New York: Welcome my friend
Sweden: Welcome my friend
Turkey: Welcome my friend
Alex back home: So let’s play with shapes...
Alex:I made a perfect round meatball
Italian grandmas:pathetic
Your very clever Alix, you show us one episode and it doesn't finish. You force us to watch the next and the next until we get to the end. Genius of you to do that.
I suggest to create or simple use the spherical Metal Net for tea, put inside the meat and cook with it on. So When cooked it stay perfectly round
Yakoyaki pan
As an engineer, your show really gets my creative juices flowing.
If you could jerry rig a shaped roller (or better yet, 2 rollers with a fitted belt) with a motor on it you can keep shooting out meatballs
Alex: "a ball should be perfectly round"
American Football: "hold my handegg"
@Ibn Muhammad yeah, those in Association Football generally are a truncated icosahedron as well, but I'd still call those infinitely more spherical than those used in American Football. ;)
The fact that you do not have 10 million subscribers is amazing. You should! We absolutely love your videos, and we are just now digging in!
Salut!! What about dropping your perfectly rounded meatballs into a fluid instead of onto a hard suface?
Maybe hot oil?
@@christophspielmann316 there is only one issue I see with cooking it right out of the meatball canon; it currently takes him some time to reload said canon, so it may be a very slow, one-at-a-time process.
Archimede !!!
We poaching meat now boys!
Yes, straight into hot oil. And can you build some sort of long "indoor waterslide pipe" spiral thing, so that the meatball can roll like a snowball, getting rounder and rounder until it plunges into the oil? You might need to add breadcrumbs or something to the "slope".
This episode reminded me of "A beautiful mind" - great job as ever Alex! Congratulations on your progress in the culinary world.
Next episode: Alex cooks the meatball in the space in order to avoid gravity :P
Only way to maek a sveer
That was so cool. I was worried when you described your changes for the channel in 2020, but the videos seem like a more concentrated version of you.
I'm a swede and have the perfect solution for you my friend! First af all, i usually do my meatballs in the oven, they get mutch more juicer that way. And then you make the outside crust in a pan. So just make a two sided mold out of metal. Kind of the red Italian molding gadget you had there but out of metal. Then put everything in the oven.... Tadaaa! Thank me later❤
Anton.s silicone should withstand high temperatures too. I do metal casting up to 400 degree C in Silicone. Food save variants should be able to withstand 250 degree C.
Dear Alex!
You are a smart guy and have already figured it out.
To keep the perfect spherical shape. Make a new gadget like the one you had in this video but make the diameter between 4 and 5 cm. A smaller meatball will have a better structural strength.
Make sure to have eggs in the mixture. The protein will harden quickly when exposed to heat.
When you“shoot” out the meatballs, do it into deep, really hot oil or molten butter.
Hopefully the mixture will be hard before it hits the bottom of the pan.
Let it simmer in the oil or butter for a short while before frying it in a pan as you usually do.
The process is actually not far off from the manufacturing process of the meatballs sold in IKEA.
Good luck!
Looking forward to see if you picked up some of the tips in your next video.
Drop it in boiling oil, fry until it's rigid enough to hold its shape, then cook as you would like. Clever build, man!
I must say that i've never commented on anything like now, but i must. I'm total fan of you - your'e the most passionate guy i've ever seen, more target oriented and more solution finding i've ever seen ;) you'd be a perfect R&D solution engineer. and i know what i'm writing because i run myself r&d center - it's just amazing how resourceful you are ;)
I spent most of this episode yelling "aebelskiver pan!" at the screen. For smaller balls, a takoyaki pan might be worth checking out as well.
Hey Alex, my wifes grandfather was a true swedish meatball master. His technique has been passed down two generations to me. They are actually very round. The trick is to use a searing hot cast iron pan with rough surfice and when you put the meatballs in the pan you move the pan in the air, constantly, in circles and back and forth utill they get firm enough to sit in the pan without getting a side. For this method to work, you need to limit the amoumt of meatballs in the pan. The roughness is important to keep the balls moving and cast iron also keeps the heat well wich is crutial 🧆🎱🤗
The way I would do it is just use a sausage casing and make links so short they are spheres.
Just my thought, and freeze it lightly. Peel off the skin and do final shaping and maybe roll them while frying in a pan in the oven. I am looking at the comments here asking if there is ANY woman commenting here :-)
I love this!
The only way to preserve a spherical shape is to firm the mixture up. Either you have to shape them and freeze them immediately, or you have to cook the outer layer fast. If you can preserve your shape in an encasing, then you'll have some more time. Actually, I think the spherical enclosing you made could be blanched with meatball fillings to set the shape.
Please just use a takoyaki pan
Bravo Alex! Seeing you make a well formed sphere was awesome.
I see you heading in two directions. First is a trip to the blue frig to see if you can build a better structured meatball that will hold its shape better. This migh include looking at the recipe, but also working at a colder temperature to form the balls, but releasing fat for moisture when it is cooked. I can see a whole episode just in this... but without a solution you'll like. While there might be some if this in the final solution, it doesn't make sense until the second direction is tackled.
This second direction is a realization of the problem that if you cook on a flat surface (grills included here) two things will happen. 1) Your meatball will be subjected to gravity and will flatten as a result. 2) there will be some flattening because you are cooking on a flat surface.
But what about a curved one?
I know Alex has a wok. That is worth a try to see if that works. If it doesn't, then we know we'll need something more curved like a sphere... something like a cake pop pan. I just don't know if any exist that are metal. So this might have to be fabricated.... but we know that Alex has people he could turn to if he can't do this himself. Silicone might work, but just not sure it would give the outcomes we want in terms of texture. With a metal pan, it becomes a question of recipe & cooking technique (i.e. bake vs pan fry, rotating as it cooks)
Regardless what happens, I am looking forward to what happen to achieve the perfect round meatball.
I feel like a trip to the International Space Station is coming up...
Gratz on getting Synology as a partner Alex. they make great NAS.
When dropping the meatball, drop it in oil or a liquid so it can float and keeps its shape
You mix everything you learn. I love your approach!
Why don’t you print an oven safe mold for meatballs, then bake it (or sous vide it) and then sear it.
C'est malin ! A cause de toi, j'ai commencé à faire des meatballs à la maison, quand j'ai dit que c'était parce que je regardais "la série d'un gars un peu fou sur TH-cam", on m'a fait comprendre que je l'étais un peu aussi .. Donc Merci Alex !!!
Next episode: "I defy the law of gravity"
Make the pipe longer and load it with three meatballs at a time. Drop the balls directly from the pipe into hot oil, instead of some hard surface. This might work and get you your Tasty Perfectly Rounded MeatBalls.
I'm waiting for the noodle series, from hand-pulled to Italian.
I saw several people with the idea of both frying and the liquid nitrogen. I think in both you're going to get the liquid affecting the shape (imagine a teardrop through air) before it can freeze or fry. however I can think of 2 ways of improving either.
1.) have a way to keep moving the meatball back and forth while you dip the whole pipe in liquid nitrogen. This will allow it to freeze while it's still in motion. could also do this with a freezer and just have it work automatically. might be better that way as the pipes themselves won't freeze shut due to the nitrogen.
2.) similarly, make the pipe out of metal or ceramic and then - once again - keep it rolling while it bakes in an oven.
In general i think what you need is to keep it confined in the pipe until it sets with a crust - be it a frozen crust or a fried crust, but it needs some external reinforcement. Personally I think option 1 is the way to go, and you just really need to figure out a way to keep moving it around in the pipe while it's freezing. Hope i didn't confuse you too much! love the content!
love to see a mad scientist cook live through his ocd.
I think the best way to get a perfect round shape even during frying in a pan would be to use a sausage casing. Pressing it firmly inside just take a page out of the German cuisine where we transformed boring ol meatballs into sausages, basically the same. And when you want a Meatball texture in the end remove the casing before serving and sear the surface again. Otherwise you could even consider cooking the sausageballs beforehand. Hope this seams plausible to you. I am sure though even without my suggestion you will come up with a great solution. Always loving the content! Cheers
"meet bowls"!!
Your videos are always funny and educational. I love the way you feed your curiosity!
"But at least, I can shape a perfectly round meatball now."
I feel like I am the only one in this comments section with a very important question: Yes, but why?
Yes, you are clearly the only one. Why would you need to ask why? Besides, if we are on a quest with Alex to discover the perfect meatBALL, it needs to be a ball. We don't question things like this or sanity in here.
Alex's channel, the only place on the internet where mechanical engineering and cooking are in perfect harmony.
No one: ...
Not a single person ever:...
Alex: Why are meat balls not perfectly round?
Alex, you can shape them as best you can into a ball, then using a deep fryer, "sear" them on the outside with the fryer so they hold their shape. You can finish cooking them in the oven, or in your sauce of choice. Just make sure the fryer is clean with clean, new oil and doesn't taste like burnt chips or fried chicken, and your meatballs will be delicious!
Alex: „In MY world“
Also Alex: *struggles to erase tiny blob on his board*
There are two types of videos that make me laugh. Cat's hitting stuff from the table and your videos. You Sir, are just incredible. Thanks for content and keep going. Greetings from Germany ✌️😄
Hey Alex, love your content, watch every video even though I'm not a meat eater. Since "meatballs" are a sum of their parts and not really about the meat, maybe you could you do a little episode about vegetarian/vegan balls?
then its not a meatball series anymore
@@arthurlegoat6120 Anyone who wants to can swap out the non-animal protein, just as I do the reverse of with many meat dishes.
@@Cinesimilitudinous yh and today anyone can swap a D with a P
just form the ball with the tube apparatus you have made, but do not launch them, keep them tight and cold before setting it up, and as soon as you roll them all the way to the edge, put the pipe in the freezer, when it comes out, it should be frozen, but in a perfect round ball
Roll the ball straight into oil to fry it. That might lock in the shape
1. Find the diameter of your meat ball round maker.
2. Press sheet metal (steel) to the diameter of your meat ball.
3. Cook the meat ball in the stamped/pressed self made perfectly round meat ball cooking tray
(For best result maybe freezing the meat ball like stated earlier will help)
If you'd like to know how you can press it. You can always get a round hammer dye (use your meat diameter) and hammer it your self! Or hard ware shops might be kind enough to do it for you! :) wish you the best
Okay, firstly,
Awesome, loved it, the over attention to detail :D
So I assume moving to a metal machined part, in order to reduce the friction. Then dropping the "ball" into a large energy displacing mixture, like water, oil for immediate cooking/sealing of the surface area in order to form a "skin" that can retain the desired shape. That or liquid nitrogen cooling which would retain the shape but would be massacred with any thawing action.
Romg
Partially freeze the meat mixture (very stiff, but still can be shaped). Flash deep-fry to set the shape, then finish cooking with whatever method you prefer (braise, sauce, pan fry, whatever).
"It's spherical! SPHERICAL!"
Congrats on getting Synology as a sponsor. I have one and i love it.
OM,G IVE BEEN WAITING SAULTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
You sir are the Adam Savage of the food world. And I love you for that.
what if you opened up the mold so that you could cook the meatballs while still in the mold?
obviously the mold would have to be a different material that doesnt melt. but even better maybe the mold would leave grill marks. lol
the meat will shrink inside the mold anyways! :)
Throw a ball into some sausage casing and twist the ends if you get the right amount so the length is the same as the max diameter of the casing it should form a sphere from pressure and allow it to keep its form when cooking. Just ramove the casing when done.
Two things, Alex:
1) the obsession with the perfectly spherical meatball is silly. Funny, but silly. I recommend dropping it. But if you actually care (do you?) then consider dropping it into boiling water, to "set" the shape.
2) Remember what you learned about the Swedish one: what you serve it with is just as important as the meatball itself.
Have fun!
love your channel and videos. You are a hell of an Engineer, the real kind!
what about cooking them in some sort of takoyaki kind of machine
I must admit that I haven't seen all of your meatball videos - but did you ever try Danish meatballs (frikadeller)? They have an oblong shape (sort of like a rugby ball or an american football) and are made with seven simple ingredients: ground pork (typically 80/20), finely chopped onions, egg, milk, flour, salt and pepper. If you want to be fancy about it, you can add a minced clove of garlic plus a dash of ground nutmeg per 500 g of meat. Two important things are 1) let the thoroughly combined ingredients rest at least a half hour before frying, and 2) when frying, make sure to use liberal amounts of butter and baste the little rascals regularly. Frikadeller are typically served with boiled potatoes and pork stock gravy, occasionally with a bit of pickled red cabbage or beetroot on the side. An older Danish tradition is adding a blob of lingonberry or other preserve either to the gravy or on the plate. Oh, and frikadeller only have two sides, i.e. they're not supposed to be charred "in the middle". Why? Because you make plenty, so you have some leftovers for your frikdellesandwich the next day, and if your frikadeller have a soft spot in the middle, they're very easy to cut in halves! Hope you'll try it... :-j
You should check "how it's made: marbles", "dough ball shaper" and "meatball machine" for actually working ideas on how to make consistent round shaped objects. Also, your meatballs should be way smaller, otherwise you will also have a lot of problem cooking them.
I have one idea for you. Build something like a forge that is insulated, runs on propane and can reach extremely high temperatures inside. Make it cylindrical with an open top and bottom so you can basically drop a raw meatball through and cook it enough on the outside to at least maintain its shape. Then have some sort of soft landing catch at the bottom. Get it!
Heres a low fat meatball recipie;
Better cut low fat beef
_Eggwhite_
Cottage Cheese
Minced Onion and Garlic
Seasoning to taste.
You can add fat as you wish, change the cheese to a fattier one, and include the yolk aswell, but the egg is neccessary for a firm ball, it is a pastry. No egg meatballs all contain starch of some sorts, usually breadcrums to hold in the liquids. Use your hand as a 3d ladle, and if you dont use eggyolk in the mix to get it firmer, then you can coat the balls in a eggwash so they keep their form better. Also using plastic wrap when forming the balls makes the balls actually round, if you twist your hand like a 3d lathe.
And finally to add firmness, you should place the firm balls to the freezer as cold as you can get, to freeze only the most outer layer of the ball.
Cooking a meatball requires a cast iron skillet that is seasoned with oil. You firm the frozen layer with caramelization of the egg, and thereafter put the hot skillet to a preheated oven, and thereafterwards you incorporate the meatballs to a tomatobased sauce.
Meatballs require eggs, otherwise you call it a burger.
But... even if you manage to shape the meatball into a perfect sphere, wouldn't it get smushed or out of shape when you cook it? Alex, maybe you can consider using a takoyaki grill. It has a mould so you can shape the meatballs into spheres, and you can cook it in the mould such that it _holds_ its shape. Not sure if there may be downsides to this method, but still something worth considering. 😄✌️
This Frenchman is insane. Looking forward to the next one.
watching you struggle (im an engineer as well) I was sitting here thinking "I bet some type of rolling extrusion contraption would work" and you did not disappoint, maybe some type of pool to absorb the "splat" maybe a oil?