In a Nutshell

Sautéing a portion of the meatball mixture before making the sauce creates a deeply flavorful base, ensuring the sauce captures the essence of the meatballs without overcooking them.

Being Italian-American, my dad is big on meatballs. That said, he often makes chicken meatballs for cholesterol reasons, and we all agree they’re…just fine , but every now and then, he makes real-deal meatballs with beef and a fresh sauce and it is quite the (cholesterol-damning) treat.

He, like many others, knows that The Correct Way to Meatball is to let the meatballs and the sauce hang out together on the stove for hours so their flavors can meld. The only problem is that this leaves his otherwise perfect meatballs a bit dry. Indeed, through the testing required to perfect his popular slow-cooker meatball recipe , Kenji found this method of leaving the meatballs to cook on the stove that so many people swear by isn’t actually a great idea.…