Kids in the Kitchen

Skill Level: Beginning to Intermediate
Cooking Skill Taught: Binding Ingredients Together

I haven’t made to many meatballs throughout my cooking career. Personally I don’t like taking the time to form the meatballs. I’d usually rather have the meat in the sauce. It’s faster, and the chance of getting the meat in every bite is greater.

However, there is something universally appealing about meatballs to kids. After all three kids talked about how much they liked them I decided that we should add them to our menu more often; especially since it’s a great item that the kids seem to enjoy making. It is also the perfect recipe to teach them about “binding ingredients.”

How to Teach Easy Meatballs for Kids

1. Teach the kids to assemble everything they’ll need. That includes both the equipment and ingredients.
2. Once you have explain to the kids that they will be making meatballs with the ingredients shown.
3. Tell them that we need to figure out how to make the meatballs stick together, so the little balls they make don’t fall apart when they are cooked.
4. Ask them which ingredients they think would be able to do that. Tell them that in cooking the ingredients that help things stick together are called “binding ingredients.” (If they need some help ask them what they think the purpose of the egg is.)
5. Explain that eggs have three main purposes in cooking. They add moistness, they bind the ingredients together, or they leaven. Explain that in meatballs, as well as meatloaf, the egg both binds and adds moisture to the meatball. (You could try one batch with the egg and one batch without the egg.)
6. Ask them what they think the other ingredients are for. Discuss the purpose of each of the other ingredients. You can ask things like: Do you think this ingredient is needed to make the meatballs? Could we substitute this with something else? If so, what. Is this ingredient just a matter of preference?

How to Make Easy Meatballs for Kids

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 3/4 cup crushed seasoned croutons
• 1/4 cup chopped sweet onion
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a large bowl, mix the ground beef, croûtons, onion, egg, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard. The kids can easily mix it by hand. Having them wear some disposable kitchen gloves makes for sanitary preparation and makes cleaning up easier. Teach them to gently incorporate all the ingredients without squeezing the juices from the meat.
   
3. Form the mixture by hand into meatballs. Lay the ones that are ready to be cooked out on a cookie sheet lined, or a broiler pan so the juices drop through. Traditionally meatballs are fried, however baking them is nice and safe for kids, and it’s very easy.
4. Bake the meatballs for 20 minutes.
   

Variations:

Mix in cheese, regular bread crumbs you have seasoned with Italian seasoning, ketchup, or anything else the kids would like.

Kitchen Experiments to Expand the Lesson:

• Use the traditional binding ingredient, eggs, in one batch.
• Make one batch without the egg.
• Make 1 batch substituting 2 T cornstarch starch for the egg.
• Compare the taste, texture, visual appeal of each method, and how well the meatballs hold together.

Coming Soon:

Meatball recipes. What to do with them, now that you’ve prepared them.