You are asking a question that has inflamed several cooking sites for several years with purists INSISTING that ONLY following the exact recipe will allow you to reproduce the "true" Rao meatball. But these will be YOUR riff on Rao's meatballs! I choose to not eat veal and am stepping back from most other red meat, too. When I have made these meatballs in the past with beef and pork, I will sub in ground turkey for the veal. Now I know you are asking about using ALL turkey.... I think you will be missing the umami taste that the beef/pork add. I would think about adding in some finely chopped mushrooms that have been first saute'd to decrease the amount of liquid in them and increase the caramelized fond. Lately too, I have discovered a powdered mushroom umami flavoring at Trader Joe's in the spice section that adds a nice flavor to dishes where I have sub'd in turkey for the ground beef in the recipe. Good luck and let us know how YOUR meatballs turn out!
Other ingredients to add umami: • use some chicken or turkey fat instead of some of the olive oil; • if you can’t get either chicken or turkey fat, use some of the turkey skin when you cook the meat; • msg • powdered dulse (a sea vegetable).
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• use some chicken or turkey fat instead of some of the olive oil;
• if you can’t get either chicken or turkey fat, use some of the turkey skin when you cook the meat;
• msg
• powdered dulse (a sea vegetable).