Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Sweet and sour meatballs simmeering in pot

Presenting our family recipe for European (Jewish?) style sweet and sour meatballs. Makes a great party hors d'oeuvres, or mainstay. Quick and easy to prepare.

Here are the ingredients for one to one and a half pounds of ground beef. Just double it for two or three pounds, or do the simple math.

For approximately one pound of beef (or slightly more), you start with one bottle of Heinz 57 Chille Sauce. Empty the bottle into a deep pot, followed by an equal amount of water. In other words, refill the original bottle with water, shake to get any remaining sauce, and add that to your pot.

Mix ¼ cup of brown sugar to the pot.

Stir, cover the pot with a lid (to reduce spatter) and then bring to a soft boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer.

For the meatballs, add basic seasonings to the ground beef. Salt, pepper, garlic powder, some dry herbs. Add some ketchup and dijon mustard, freshly diced onion, and breadcrumbs. Hand mix thoroughly to integrate the seasonings. Form into small meatballs, maybe an inch to inch and a half diameter.

Place the meatballs onto a baking pan and bake them at 350 for around 10-15 minutes, until a brown crust appears. It is not a matter of cooking the meat so much as it is about firming up the outsides so they don’t crumble apart in the sauce.

Add the meatballs to the simmering sauce and let them cook for at least 20-30 minutes. Internal temp of finished meatballs need to be 160 or more to insure they are fully cooked inside.

Serve them on toothpicks at parties, or ladle a portion (with lots of sauce) as a mainstay. Good over rice, or with potatoes.