Ingredients

  • 34 lb lean ground beef
  • 12 lb lean ground veal
  • 14 lb ground lean pork
  • 1 12 cups soft breadcrumbs (1-2 large stale roll freshly ground up)
  • 1 cup light cream or 1 cup half-and-half
  • 12 cup onion, finely chopped
  • 2 teaspoons unsalted butter
  • 1 large egg
  • 14 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • 1 14 teaspoons salt
  • 1 dash black pepper, to taste
  • 1 dash ground ginger, to taste
  • 1 dash ground nutmeg, to taste
  • 1 -2 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoonst unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 beef bouillon cube
  • 1 14 cups boiling water
  • 12 teaspoon instant coffee powder

Method

  • Soak breadcrumbs in cream 5 minutes,or until very soggy.
  • Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt 2 tsp butter and saute onion until soft and tender.
  • Combine meats well (if you can't get each type, that's ok- just end up with 1 1/2 pounds ground meat total).
  • Add soaked bread crumbs mixture, sauteed onion, egg, parsley, salt, pepper, and spices to taste to the meat mixture.
  • Mix well until combined.
  • Cover and chill meat mixture for 30 minutes to firm up.
  • Form about thirty 1 1/2" size meatballs (using a meatball scoop).
  • Brown meatballs in 1-2 Tbsp butter in a very large deep sided skillet until browned on all sides, but not cooked all the way through yet; then remove from skillet using a slotted spoon and set aside in a covered dish to keep warm.
  • Combine boiling water,coffee powder and crumbled bouillon cube together until blended.
  • In the hot drippings from the pan, add 2 Tbsp butter and stir until melted.
  • Whisk in 2 Tbsp flour, sprinkling in the flour gradually so it doesn't clump and whisking vigorously until blended.
  • Whisk in the coffee mixture and cook and stir until gravy thickens and bubbles, over medium or medium-high heat.
  • Add meatballs to the pan, cover,lower heat to medium low, and let meatballs cook in the gravy until fully cooked (approx 30-40 minutes), stirring occasionally.