Mom's german meatballs

12 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
2 pounds Ground beef
2 Egg
2 teaspoons Salt
1 tablespoon Mustard seed
1 teaspoon Celery seed; whole
½ teaspoon Pepper
1 quart Water
1 cup Catsup
1 tablespoon Flour
4 tablespoons Cornstartch
1 tablespoon Vinegar
3 tablespoons Catsup
2 Garlic cloves; sliced
½ Onion; Med./small dice
Boiling water
Flour; for dredging
Fat; for cooking
1 tablespoon Sugar
1 teaspoon Salt
Pepper; to taste
Water; to make thin cream

Directions

FOR SAUCE

This is the recipe I promised to send. It is a bit of a task to prepare, but well worth the effort. The recipe was passed down for many generations in my husbands family who immigrated here from Russia (being Russian Jews) so, I have no idea why they called it 'German' meatballs, but a meatball by any other name...I guess! Put the garlic into a water glass and pour 2 T boiling water over it. Mash the garlic well, then add 2 T. more boiling water. Strain through a kitchen towel, saving the liquid only. Mix together all the ingredients, including garlic liquid then shape into balls about the size of a large egg. Roll the balls in the flour until well coated.

Melt enough fat to make about ½" in a heavy skillet or cast iron cooking pot. Brown the meat balls in the fat. Remove the meatballs and pour off all but 4 T. of the fat. Ingredients: SAUCE: Add the qt. of water to the reserved fat along with thecatsup. Make a paste of the sauce ingredients, stirring in the water to get a consistency of a thin cream. After the water-catsup mixture is warm, slowly add this mixture, stirring constantly to avoid lumping, until the mixture has been well absorbed into the liquid.

Cook gently until the sauce is slightly thickened. Place meatball in the pan, or in an oven-proof roaster and make sure they are covered with the sauce. Cover pan and bake in hot oven for 1 hour. Serve with mashed potatoes. (My friends also love it with pasta or rice!) Enjoy! Barb

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