Meatballs - breadcrumbs on outside?

corblimey

Making meatballs this weekend and always follow a tried and true Jamie Oliver recipe (from Ministry of Food). However, during the week, I watched a food show where after rolling up the balls, the host dumped them into more breadcrumbs (to go with the ones he'd mixed up inside) to give the meatball a crunchy skin.

I use crackers for my filler, so
a) would this work just as well with crackers? Would they be as tasty as breadcrumbs on the outside?
b) he baked his balls (ouch!), but the Jamie recipe calls for frying - I suspect that any frying would burn the outside crackers (or breadcrumbs) long before the meat was completely cooked?

Anyone do this or similar and have tips?

The Sweeper

No tips. I think cracker crumbs might over-bake if baked.

However the marvellous thing about meatballs is they're so small, you don't have to commit the entire dish to one methodology! Roll some of them in cracker crumbs. Leave some of them the way you would. You can also try panko breadcrumbs (you can buy them in packs) and even cooked rice. If you were to steam some of them you could try raw rice... (I have a recollection of a recipe called 'pearl balls' which is pork meatballs rolled in glutinous rice and steamed, then served with plum sauce...)

the beer revolu

The Sweeper wrote: »

(I have a recollection of a recipe called 'pearl balls' which is pork meatballs rolled in glutinous rice and steamed, then served with plum sauce...)

Wow!!!
Gotta try that!!