The wonders of social media. An innocent Facebook posting by a woman I’ve befriended yet never met, led to the creation and enjoyment of something I’d not heard of until this week.
FB friend’s post: “Porcupine meatballs are in the pressure cooker and smelling good. I added parsley and extra rice. I live on the edge.”
Porcupine meatballs? I’m sorry. They sound horrid.
And then the comments from others flooded the feed.
“Mmmmm I miss them.”
“OMG!! My mom used to make those all the time when I was a kid. I haven’t even thought about them in decades!! I’m going to have to find some organic pasture fed hamburger and make a batch of these.”
“I make mine with an Italian spin, oregano and garlic in the meatballs and my in-laws tomato sauce instead of tomato soup.”
Yes, major relief here upon reading the hamburger reference. It’s not porcupine. After kindly elaborating that the dish was made using ground beef and rice, my fb friend unwittingly threw down the gauntlet with the following observations.
“I am so sorry that you were deprived meatballs with rice as a child, you obviously come from a deranged family. This is some deep soul work you are going to have to dig through with a qualified therapist. But the good news is, I feel that there is enough room in your heart to start incorporating these little balls of yum into your life right now. It is NEVER too late to become a porcupiner, I promise.”
She was right. I was deprived. Meatballs of any sort never made it to the table in my house. Our mom, bless her, isn’t fond of cooking.
Was my fb friend right? Was it NEVER too late to become a porcupiner? I had to find out. My heart was pounding as I consulted my favourite online recipe resource allrecipes.com. Worries over whether or not there would be even one listing were silly; there were nine. I chose the very first one.
A quick perusal revealed I had all but the ground beef, onion, white rice (fb friend quickly alerted me to fact it must be white rice), and the tomato sauce.
I followed the recipe to the letter and soon had these puppies mixed, rolled and baking in the oven,
60 minutes later and I was sitting down to eat.
The verdict? It’s not too late.
Mind you, I should have browned them first and drained the fat as per the recipe. However, I’d bowed to time and several online comments that this step was unnecessary. Otherwise, they were delicious. Yes, I’ll add them to the McKenzie repertoire with a bit of tweaking. Next time I’ll explore making them in the crock pot and when the troops come home for Christmas, I’ll swap out the beef for ground turkey for my poultry loving daughter.
Thank you C.I. my Facebook pal. Looking forward to the day we actually meet in person. Naturally it should be over a plate of porcupine meatballs.
Am I alone in not knowing about these delights? Please enlighten me. Better yet, should you care to share your favourite recipe versions of porcupine meatballs, I’d be more than thrilled to receive them. You could link them via the wonder that is social media.
22 Responses
Woooooo hooooooo! We have converted another one to the dark side, if the dark side consists of meatballs with rice, which does seem doubtful. I look forward to hearing how you tweak the recipe, and I hope your kids become second generations porcupiners. My grandma would be thrilled to know her food had a cross country impact. I can’t wait until we meet over that plate of meatballs. This post made my heart smile so widely.
Oh Christie I am so glad. I can’t thank you enough for ushering me over to the dark side! I’ll certainly keep you posted on any tweaks and look forward to reading more of your posts and updates!
I have never, ever heard of these, but lemme tell you, they sound amazing and like something my family would love! I’m totally gonna try them! I too am glad it’s not too late….
Love how social media can keep us learning, connecting, and evolving (yes, even in the kitchen!)
Yes – I’m not the only one! They are delicious. Who knew? Here’s to porcupine meatballs, learning, connecting and evolving !!!
Well done Kelly ! I must confess that I have never made porcupine meatballs, but I will definitely try them, they look delicious ! So glad they weren’t made with real porcupines !!
Hahahaha! Me, too Jane. Me too. I truly don’t think I could bring myself to sample porcupine …
Kelly, I cannot tell you how much I look forward to your posts. I have fun here. I love sitting with your openness to curiosity and attraction to f-u-n. I’m vegan, but you know what, Kelly, I almost considered a dark side move to try your new found “puppies.”
I LOVE being with you!
Susan, thank you. I really appreciate hearing from you and, as I’ve said, find such peace when visiting you on your site.
Kelly, this isn’t about porcupine balls. It’s about finding more fun with you. I just scrolled down to catch up on your last two posts and I can’t see how to find your other posts here. Am I missing something? Or is a “you snooze, you lose” thing?
Yikes – that’s an interesting phenomenon. Not sure why I’m vanishing from view for you. Hopefully I resurface. Will have a boo at my site as if I was a viewer and check it out. Thanks for the heads up.
I too wondered why anyone would want to eat porcupines. Clicked over and to my relief read hamburger meat. I make meatballs and use breadcrumbs never thought to use rice. I am relieved to hear it is not too late to be a porcupiner as I plan to join in.
Yes another porcupiner recruit! They are delicious Karen. Sounds like they are easy to tweak too which is what I love. Nice to play with a porcupine and not get impaled…
I used to make them a lot way back when, but I have not made them in what feels like forever. I do not use a lot of beef, nor white rice anymore so that recipe made it to the do not use pile.
Me too! That’s why I had to buy the beef and the white rice. I really did find them delicious though. My daughter doesn’t eat beef so I am thinking of making them with ground turkey when she comes home for Christmas.
I thought I would give them a try using chicken and wild rice or brown rice. 🙂
Ok let me know how that goes – my “contact” warned me against brown however I’ve no idea why.
Welll, Kel. I may not have given you porcupine thingies, but you did have a lot of hockey pucks – and I bet your friends don’t know how to cook those babies! Love, Mum
Hahaha – True Mum. I bet they don’t!
You’re making me hungry! I believe that I HAVE had these but not quite that way. They sound very tasty!
Give ’em another whirl!
YUM! They sound DELICIOUS!! I am totally trying this recipe…probably like tomorrow night! :)-Ashley
Do! They are really good. Check out the “suggestions” others have made if you do go with an allrecipes.com version.