What is it About a Meatball Sandwich? – Dr. Ed Iannuccilli

What is it About a Meatball Sandwich? – Dr. Ed Iannuccilli

“Never eat a meatball sandwich outside your home,” is what the old Italians used to say. And their further refrains were “You never know what they put in it,” and “Mine are the best anyway, so why would you try another? You can trust my meatballs.” I paused to ponder their philosophy.

Was it their pride in believing they were the only ones who could make the most flavorful and most perfect meatball?  Or was it simply that the old-timers did not trust anyone other than family. My guess is that it was a bit of both.

Those immigrants were a group that emphasized caution in their want and need to survive and succeed in a new country and a different society, so family and trust were emphasized.

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Southern Italian traditions kept families wary and united for a long time. You can get a taste of that family trust (or lack thereof) in Banfield’s book, “The Moral Basis of a Backward Society,” though I believe he carries the lack of trust outside the family a bit too far.

One of my early disobedient ventures outside the meatball home was with my college friends to Meatball Mike’s, a Cranston iconic destination since 1938. The sandwiches were awesome and to be trusted.

Ya gotta love a meatball sandwich. Though there is a place for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (Americans eat 3000 in a lifetime) and a hot dog on a bun (mustard, relish. Really?), they just don’t capture the emotion of the meatball.

How did tiny, marble-sized polpettes become the hefty meatballs loved across America? The answer starts between 1880 and 1920 when approximately four million Italian immigrants arrived at Ellis Island. The food that the immigrants had access to differed greatly from what they were accustomed to in Italy. In America, rather than a luxury, meat was plentiful. Thus, families were able to integrate more beef into their diets, and the meatball became king.

An Italian American meatball is made with ground beef or a mixture of beef and pork, along with seasonings such as breadcrumbs and eggs, then rolled into balls and baked or fried. Then, to make them special, they must be soaked in a red sauce or ‘gravy’. The bread for the sandwich is critical.

For me it must be a soft torpedo roll that allows the meatballs to indent the bread just enough, so they stay put. The best torpedo can handle meatballs and a sauce which marries the inside of the roll and keeps the meatball moist. The wrong one may turn into a soggy mess.

The meatball must stay put with the first bite. A meatball that escapes the bread is . . . well . . . unacceptable. Oh, it’s OK if a little sauce spills out onto your shirt. It becomes a badge of honor as in, ‘Ya had a meatball sandwich, eh?”

The meatball sandwich is easy to make, easy to carry, easy to eat, easy to enjoy and oh, so good.

Dr. Ed Iannuccilli is the author of three popular memoirs, “Growing up Italian; Grandfather’s Fig Tree and Other Stories”, “What Ever Happened to Sunday Dinner” and “My Story Continues: From Neighborhood to Junior High.”  Learn more here.