Meat – Why add breadcrumbs to meatballs

You might consider a different approach - don't fry them. Drop them (carefully) into a pot of boiling sauce instead. They come out perfectly even, very tender, and more flavourful than frying. Usually the sauce we're talking about is a sweet tomato-based sauce, but it could be anything that's reasonably thick (so that the meatballs don't just fall straight to the bottom).

This sounds counterintuitive to a lot of people - you might think it would be more likely to fall apart this way, but in practice it sets almost immediately because it's suspended and has a much more even heat distribution. When frying, all of the heat comes from the bottom; it's the combination of pressure and weight (gravity) that makes it fall apart.

Perhaps you want the rougher, browned texture of pan-fried meatballs, and that's fine; but I thought I would mention this anyway because I can distinctly remember dozens of guests having come to the family home (this is a family recipe, after all) asking "how are you able to make the meatballs like that?" So if you have a chance, just give it a try; you might be pleasantly surprised.

20 or so minutes cooking the meatballs in the sauce has always done the job for me. You want to cook them sufficiently long so that they absorb the moisture and flavour of the sauce, but not too long such that they lose their firm texture. The reverse process of the meat flavouring the sauce is also an important one.

As a side note, it is more advisable to simmer the sauce, rather than boil it, or it will likely become too thick and may even burn.

In general, the combination of initially cooking the meatballs in the oven, and then simmering in the pan is the right way to do things. This ensures that the meatballs are sufficiently cooked, do not fall apart, and have the right firmness. Worth noting is that you should pad off the grease on the meatballs before putting them in the sauce.