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Stuffed Meatballs

Meatballs filled with mozzarella cheese, seasoned with cumin, mixed herbs, garlic, onion, and flour, then fried or baked.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Stuffed Meatballs

Time15 to 20 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Into a bowl, mix all the following ingredients together.

  2. Mince the onion, chop the garlic, and combine with the minced beef, herbs, spices, salt, pepper, and a teaspoon of beaten egg.

Shape the meatballs

  1. Take about an eighth of the mixture and flatten it in your hand.

  2. Place a chunk of mozzarella in the center and bring the mince around it.

  3. Shape into a ball.

  4. Continue until the mixture is finished.

  5. Coat the ball with a little flour.

Cook

  1. Fry or bake for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

930Calories
54 gProtein
28 gFat
110 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Mozzarella Cheese1 oz (28g)85
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Clove + cumintop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,306 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Onion + cumintop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,498 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Minced beef
Provides the main meaty body and structure of each meatball.
Egg
Binds the mince so the meatballs hold their shape while cooking.
Mozzarella cheese
Melts inside the meatball to add a soft, creamy, stretchy center.
Flour
Dries the outer surface slightly so the meatballs brown rather than steam.
Onion
Adds moisture and savoury sweetness to the meat mixture.

The step that matters

Sealing the mozzarella inside the mince. If the mince is not wrapped fully around the cheese, the mozzarella can leak out during cooking. Keeping the mince thick and even around the cheese holds the filling in as the proteins set.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, garlic, cumin, mozzarella cheese, egg, flour):

  1. Oreganofits better
  2. Turmericfits better
  3. Jalapenofits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, garlic, cumin, mozzarella cheese, egg, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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