Porcupine Meatballs

Yesterday I felt like cooking. I haven’t really made a homecooked meal in awhile and needed to feed that fever. So I pulled out the cook book that Theresa put together for me a few years back and decided to make my Nana’s famous Porcupine Meatballs.

Meatballs... formed.

What’s fun about these little guys is that you put uncooked rice into the meat. After forming the meat into balls you pour some tomato soup over them, cover with aluminum foil, and bake for an hour at 350.

Meatballs... cooked.

The rice cooks and expands so that the meatballs look like little porcupines. The tomato soup adds a wonderful flavor and the surplus soup can be used as a sauce for the meatballs afterwards.

This recipe is very fulfilling. I would recommend trying it out.

Nana Folger’s Porcupine Meatballs

Pre-heat the oven to 350

Mix in large bowl:
1.5 lbs ground beef
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup rice
1 small onion, diced
healthy dose of freshly ground pepper

Form the meat into balls and put in a 9×13 pan. Mix a can of condensed tomato soup with the required amount of water* and pour over the meatballs.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees F.

*Presumably you could also just use 2 cups of rich creamy tomato soup. I trust you’ll do what needs to be done.

Enjoy!

31 thoughts on “Porcupine Meatballs

  • 12/4/2006 at 9:56 am
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    Hell yes! My mom made these all the time when I was a kid, the EXACT SAME recipe! I didn’t think anybody on the east coast knew what these were. They are the jam.

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  • 12/4/2006 at 10:06 am
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    I’m a little disappointed that they aren’t made of actual porcupine…

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  • 12/4/2006 at 12:59 pm
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    So tasty!

    I think it might be a Polish recipe. Is your mom polish?

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  • 12/4/2006 at 1:00 pm
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    I encourage you to try this. Porcupine Porcupine Meatballs might be really really awesome.

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  • 12/4/2006 at 2:14 pm
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    German. There’s a joke in there somewhere.

    It can’t be that old if one of the primary ingredients is condensed tomato soup. I think it might be a 50’s recipe, or a hippie recipe. Was your mom a hippie?

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  • 12/4/2006 at 2:21 pm
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    According to Campbellsoupcompany.com condensed soup was invented in 1897. And reached a huge level of popularity in the early 1920’s.

    Clearly, the Poles and Germans shared delicious porcupine meatballs throughout the 1900’s.

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  • 12/4/2006 at 5:32 pm
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    What the heck? I keep looking for 5.x ratings on difficulty and deliciousness of this food, but find nothing!

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  • 12/4/2006 at 7:11 pm
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    I don’t think porcupine are native to the British Isles. Plus my porcupine-hunting harpoons are all packed away in the loft anyway.

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  • 12/5/2006 at 1:10 pm
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    Do you eat them just by themselves? Or do you serve them with something?

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  • 12/5/2006 at 3:39 pm
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    We always had them by themselves. With a sides of baked potatoes and vegetables (I think I consumed over 5,000 baked potatoes in my youth).

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  • 12/5/2006 at 6:48 pm
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    Meatballs in general are pretty awesome. The porcupine variety are new to me though; I’m definitely going to have to try them!!

    I’ve grown up eating Swedish meatballs and Italian-style meatballs. The italian ones in particular, tossed into a light pasta with red/yellow/orange peppers and lots of herbs, and covered with fresh parmesan….mmmm.

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  • 12/8/2006 at 4:22 pm
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    Alas! I have failed you.

    Deliciousness: 5.9+
    Difficulty: 5.9-

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  • 12/8/2006 at 4:23 pm
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    If you have a receipe for Swedish Meatballs, I would be very interested.

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  • 12/8/2006 at 4:24 pm
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    With this particular meal we had some broccoli and carrots on the side and served the meatballs on rice.

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  • 12/8/2006 at 4:40 pm
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    I can get it from the mama next time I talk to her! (they are yummy, ask patrick, he had some @ my cousin’s wedding)

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  • 12/8/2006 at 4:48 pm
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    “Hey (the) mama, can I get your Swedish meatball recipe?”

    “Sure. What do you need it for?”

    “Some guy I know from the internet, who, by the way, wants me to move to Connecticut, wants to know.”

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  • 12/8/2006 at 4:53 pm
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    Wait, those were Swedish meatballs?

    I didn’t get a very good look at them since we had to eat them in the dark after the power went out! They were yummy, though. I know I talked about them a lot.

    I tend to like Swedish things. Orienteering, IKEA, Volvos, Saabs, meatballs, the women’s soccer team…

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  • 12/9/2006 at 12:00 pm
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    I have a recipe somewhere(ok, so I know exactly where it is). They’re alright, but not so good as leftovers. We have them a couple times a year. Maybe UUIG’s got a better one.

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  • 12/11/2006 at 5:31 pm
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    Just a heads up, but my parents went out of town and mom didn’t email me the swedish meatball recipe before they left. I will post it when I get back to Seattle on Thursday (woot! I’ll be done with college then!)

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  • 2/5/2007 at 6:49 pm
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    This now makes sense to me. I grew up with porcupine meatballs- I am 100% Polish- Mom ws a Holewinski/Baranczyk, Dad was a Murawski/Jaskolski. I think in the olden days they used tomatoe sauce or would use canned tomatoes. When I was little I remember they were kinda glumpy…then we switched to canned tomatoe sauce. Never used soup…. this was a kid favorite and we never ate an Italian meatball until we moved out east. The only meatball we had was Porkypine meatballs. We added an egg to help the meat stick together better, and also did some worchestshire sauce in it. But it is pretty much the same recipe.

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  • 4/17/2007 at 3:46 pm
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    You’re a lifesaver! I knew I had this recipe somewhere, but I just couldn’t find it! I’m so glad I logged on to your website!

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  • 4/28/2007 at 1:05 pm
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    I have tried your baked meatbals recipe- Delicious! and easy!

    I was looking for a recipe for these, since I grew up with them as a family dinner favorite.

    My mother made porkupine meatballs for the family since the early sixties. I think she got the recipe from a Women’s Magazine in the late fifties. She made them very similar to this recipe, then in the early sixties she got a high tech item: A Pressure Cooker! She started trying all kinds of recipes in the cooker including Porkupine Meatballs. It was one of our favorite meals, the meatbals were so tender and infused with the tomato sauce. She would mix the ingredients, then put me to work forming the meatballs. It took about 20 minutes to cook in the preassure cooker. She served it over cooked rice with lots of the tomato gravy from the pot, and we usually had a veggy like peas or carrots as a side dish.

    I thought we were the only family to make these, none of my friends had ever heard of them until they ate dinner at our house… I’m glad to see they are enjoyed by others!

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  • 4/28/2007 at 1:17 pm
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    Wow! It was great to hear your Porcupine Meatball story! My grandmother was also Polish. Esther Braczyk was her name. Ahh Nana. I’m glad that her recipe is reaching many people through the internet.

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  • 4/28/2007 at 1:22 pm
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    Wonderful!

    Excellent porcupine meatball story! I’ll have to see if I can find a friend with a Pressure cooker to give this a try. Thanks for the suggestion!

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  • 5/28/2007 at 12:32 pm
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    Hey I think you might be related to me. My great aunt was Esther Braczyk who married Harry Folger who lived in Wakefield Mass. She was my grandfather’s sister. (Julius Braczyk). Please let me know if you are a relative . It would be great to have one of her recipies in my recipie box.

    Thanks!
    Amanda (lightingodess@hotmail.com)

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  • 5/28/2007 at 1:26 pm
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    Hi! yup, those are my grandparents! I spoke to my mom (Catherine Folger) and she said that you must be either Carolyn’s or George’s kid? Is that right?

    We have a ton more of Nana’s recipes, so if you’re interested let me know.

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  • 10/6/2007 at 12:20 am
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    Before cooking stuff the meat and rice mixture into green bell peppers then cook, Its great comfort food.

    Ed

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  • 11/7/2007 at 1:24 pm
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    My family also made porcupine meatballs with tomato sauce poured over them. The difference was they cut up carrots in short french fry style into the sauce and then made gravy with the sauce after they were baked. We served with mashed potatoes with the gravy on them and some sort of green vegetable. Delicious! I believe maybe a little sugar was added to the sauce also. Probably a German recipe.

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  • 4/15/2008 at 7:40 pm
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    my grandma made the meatballs then put them in boiling tomatoe juice them and boiled them on the stove. She always seved them with boiled cabbage and mashed potatoes

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