What purpose could baking soda and cream of tartar serve in a meatball recipe?
I came across a recipe for Italian-style meatballs today that includes two ingredients I've never seen used in any meatball recipe before: baking soda and cream of tartar. It also does not include any sort of bread or breadcrumbs, as is generally customary.
What could be the purpose of adding these ingredients? Does it somehow go hand-in-hand with omitting a bread filler?
Recipe ingredients:
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 teaspoons)
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian herb blend (or oregano)
Best Answer
According to Cook's Illustrated's article Tenderizing Meat with Baking Soda (possible paywall):
Briefly soaking meat in a solution of baking soda and water raises the pH on the meat’s surface, making it more difficult for the proteins to bond excessively, which keeps the meat tender and moist when it’s cooked.
This is almost certainly the effect of the baking powder: to help create a more tender product. This is probably especially necessary given the lack of bread products (which provides starch that physically interferes with protein linking, and helps retain moisture in the, thus producing a more tender meatball).
The tartaric acid is probably there because recipe authors are used to pairing it with baking soda which is necessary when it is used to create leavening in baked goods. In the meatballs, it will simply tend to help make them more acidic, although it will also neutralize some of the baking soda.
I have surveyed several recipes on the web which include baking soda in meatball recipes; they variously claim that it helps make the meatballs lighter or more tender.
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What does baking soda do in meatballs?
Adding baking soda to the beef keeps it moist by enhancing its PH levels and stopping the proteins from binding too quickly (which dries out the meat). Use fresh ingredients whenever possible. Avoid low-fat meats Fat helps make the meatballs tender.What does cream of tartar and baking soda do?
Baking powder is a mixture of cream of tartar and baking soda. They are both leavening agents, but cream of tartar results in finer air bubbles when helping your baked goods to rise.What does cream of tartar do to meat?
By preventing the proteins from clustering too close together, cream of tartar keeps egg white foam supple and elastic. The albumen's protein-rich cell walls stretch to their thinnest during baking, resulting in tall, tender-crumbed cakes.What does cream of tartar do baking?
Cream of tartar helps stabilize whipped egg whites, prevents sugar from crystallizing and acts as a leavening agent for baked goods. If you're halfway through a recipe and find that you don't have any cream of tartar on hand, there are plenty of suitable replacements.Vegan Meatballs Recipe - TVP Meatless Balls | Vegan/Vegetarian Recipe
More answers regarding what purpose could baking soda and cream of tartar serve in a meatball recipe?
Answer 2
This morning I made 380 meatballs and for the first time I added 2 tsp of baking powder to 15 lbs of ground beef. I found that the meatballs were much tender and lighter with the baking powder.
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