I bake my meatballs at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes.  Then put them in the sauce.  I've never fried them.  I have made soup where I just dropped tiny meatballs into the broth.

I've been tempted to try just doing them directly in the sauce in the IP, but, I'm swearing off the sauce for awhile, lol.

One of the comments in the recipe said they used a tip from Rachel Ray to microwave the meatballs for a couple minutes to get some fat out. I might try that, but I used lean beef and there wasn't that much fat. I skimmed some off and will be able to get more now that it's been refrigerated. I do seem to remember my mom skimming fat off of sauce, though I don't explicitly recall her making meatballs. But maybe it was when she got sauce from my neighbor, who was married to an Italian and made the best sauce. She used to bring us some.

Those are pretty similar to my meatballs, but I don't use milk and I use only 1/3 cup breadcrumbs (roughly).  I also use less cheese because of the salt.

I don't fry them to brown them; I put them on a broiler rack and broil them for a few minutes on each side until they are nice and brown; a lot of fat drips off in the process.

Now I'm in the mood for them, which is too bad since the sauce kills my stomach.  But I might have to give in and make some this week anyway, especially since DS is home.  He loves them!

These were soooo good.

This recipe has you cook the meatballs in the sauce for 3 hours. There were some comments that the meatballs were mushy and it's better to brown them first, but others insisted they aren't mushy--they're authentic. They were definitely soft. Not meatballs you'd use for a sandwich. But omg, soooo good.

I used less salt (because locatelli is very salty and I always use less salt than recipes call for) and less garlic powder because that seemed like a lot.

http://www.food.com/recipe/authentic-italian-meatballs-92095#activity-feed


Ingredients

    1 lb ground beef
    2 eggs
    1⁄4 cup milk
    1⁄2 cup breadcrumbs
    1⁄2 teaspoon salt
    1 tablespoon fresh parsley
    1 teaspoon garlic powder
    1⁄2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
    1⁄2 cup grated locatelli cheese


Directions

    Mix all ingredients in a large bowl by hand.
    Use your bare hands for best results.
    Roll meatballs to about the size of a golf ball. (wet your hands to prevent the meat from sticking to them while rolling the meat balls).
    Drop raw meatballs into large (I use a stock pot) pot of sauce.
    (I have an incredible sauce recipe {#92096} I use for my meatballs).
    Simmer for about 3 hours.