Years ago WVIA Radio had a running gag during their (many) fund drives about “Pennsylvania Roadkill Scrapple.” I’ll leave the ingredients to your imagination, but as an adult the name of one of my favorite recipes from mom’s cooking compendium invariably invokes the joke.
“Porcupine meatballs,” of course, require no de-quilled critters. I always assumed — and some folks on the web agree — the moniker derives from the bits of rice jutting out of the finished dish, à la porcupine needles.
This spin of the venerable meatball tasted so good as a child I gobbled them up any time they appeared as the entree. The notion never occurred that mom reached for the recipe because the rice served as cheap filler to make the more expensive ground meat go further in feeding nine ravenous kids on a single, modest income.
Yet unlike some of mom’s other concoctions that captured long-term appeal to my palate (her pierogies, in particular), I never asked for the recipe, nor asked to help make them so I’d master the dish. Despite decades of cooking on my own, I made these for the first time in my life this past St. Valentine’s Day as one of many offerings plated for MT and her mom.
Though I don’t recall anyone outside the family talking of porcupine meatballs, they pop up ubiquitously in a web search, and a quick check showed directions similar to the ones below. This rendition comes directly from mom via my brother’s collection of “Uncle Jake’s Favorite Recipes.”
It’s simple, relatively quick and, if you cook regularly, most ingredients already sit in your pantry. I baked them, but the instructions include other options. My only suggestion: Consider making some extra sauce. They taste great as is, but a little more can help, especially if you have leftovers you hope to reheat without drying out the meat.
How did MT and Nanner like them? Suffice it to say I made a double recipe as a requested encore the following weekend.
Dobru Chut!
Porcupine Meatballs
1 pound ground beef
1 egg, beaten
⅓ cup rice
1 tablespoon parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1-⅓ cup tomato soup (1 can)
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
Dash of pepper
Cook the rice in ½ cup boiling water, stirring until water is absorbed. (Few minutes, though cooking more thoroughly doesn’t hurt)
Combine egg with ¼ cup of tomato soup. Mix with rice, garlic, onion, salt, mustard, pepper and parsley. Add to ground meat and mix thoroughly.
Roll meat into 12-14 balls, and place in 2-quart casserole. Mix remaining tomato soup with ½ cup water and Worcestershire sauce, and pour over meatballs. Cover and bake at 350° F for 1-1/2 hours.
Stove top method: Place meatballs in large skillet. Pour in sauce. Bring to boil and simmer 35-40 minutes, stirring frequently.
Pressure cooker method: Heat sauce in pressure cooker before adding meatballs. Cook under pressure for 15 minutes and cool by running water over cooker before opening.