Around Ngā Motu
The cult of the meatball
The ubiquitous meaty treat has its very own dedicated festival as part of Hawke’s Bay’s Food and Wine Classic. Sarah Daniell asks participating chef Peter Gordon, what is it about the meatball?
The origin story is hotly contested. Did it start in Persia or do all roads lead to Rome? Whatever its provenance, the meatball has been balling since ancient times, travelling far and wide in sauces, kebab sticks and on platters, and while many nations and cultures stake a claim, the meatball now belongs to the world.
As a kid, in our household, meatballs were typically served on a pile of spaghetti, or with toothpicks on a plate that we’d dutifully pass around while the adults day-drank and asked endless questions about what you, an 8-year-old, wanted to do with your life. Is eating meatballs a legit career path? I was, and still am, weirdly preoccupied with meatballs.
They were the first thing my children, now 19, cooked unsupervised and there have been many iterations in our kitchen. Pork and beef mince, with soy sauce and ginger and a dash of sweet chilli sauce; spicy; or the classic hit – mince, salt, capers, egg, breadcrumbs soaked in milk – fried first and baked in the oven with a rich tomato sauce and covered in cheese. Leftovers would be smashed between bread, the Ace of sandwiches, or reheated and topped with a fried egg.
The Persian version resembles kofta. In Britain they call them faggots, and unbelievably – “farts” – which is a tough sell (ground pig’s heart, liver and fatty pork). But the best name goes to the ancient Chinese Qin dynasty – Four Joy Meatballs.
Meatballs are egalitarian, says Peter Gordon (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tahu), celebrated chef, author and owner of Homeland dining room and cooking school, in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Fitting then that the great leveler is about to take centre stage at the Hastings Meatball Festival, one of the many free-to-roam and pay-as-you-eat events at the Food and Wine Classic (FAWC).
The meatball is to Hawke’s Bay what the cheese roll is to Southland. In the Bay, a venerated wine destination with labels such as Te Mata, Tony Bish and Craggy Range, the people have voted: the humble is elevated to hero.
In Hastings the OG ball, says Gordon, is more like a croquette. “It’s deep fried. They make mince, onion and whatever else, like herbs, and a bechamel and they chill that mixture and roll them into balls, crumb and deep fry them.”
"It’s a nice thing for students to be doing meatballs rather than the fancy three-course meal. That’s going to be fun, interacting with the young ones.”
There’ll be meatballs of every description. “The locals are completely obsessed with the meatball and FAWC have taken it to a completely different level.
“Those deep fried ones are pretty yummy though.”
Not sexy, though, like an oyster.
“I dunno, if you’re there with your partner and you’ve both got sauces oozing down your chin it could be a little bit sexy.”
When Gordon was invited to take part in the festival, the chef who has cooked for world leaders like former US president Barack Obama, took a pause.
“I thought, how big do you have to make them? One of my students said they should be the size of a golf ball and I thought, I haven’t played golf for years. What does that even look like? Their weight is 18 grams each, about 2000 balls. How much mince? It’s funny when you’re ordering 60 to 70 kilograms of wagyu beef – that is a lot.”
Gordon’s creation will be a classic marriage of the unexpected from the so-called godfather of fusion cooking.
“I thought I’d pair it with a strained yoghurt like a labne, a kawaka salsa verde and I want the flavours to be salty and punchy. So I’m using Vietnamese mint, and we’re paying homage to the traditional Dutch meatballs, so there’ll be nutmeg too.
“Also miso and ginger and smoked paprika – the labne will go really well with the kawakawa salsa verde and there’ll be some little picked red onions.
“I think they will work because the tangy flavours will be like a kebab in a way. A nice rich fatty roasty meatball – it’ll be kinda nice.”
Other offerings will include a paua meatball, and a Thai curry meatball. Balls of every imaginable combination, served on compostable plates in a way made very pretty for Instagram.
“I made a career out of having restaurants that are generally not cheap, reasonably expensive to eat in,” says Gordon. “So I love that fun, anyone can come, priced between 4 and 10 bucks.”
Gordon will be making meatballs with cooking students from EIT in Hastings. “It’s a nice thing for students to be doing meatballs rather than the fancy three-course meal. That’s going to be fun, interacting with the young ones.”
But the last word must go to the meatball. Egalitarian and versatile.
“And it’s about turning something that’s cheap, generally, like mince, into something that’s kinda funky and tasty.”
FAWC 2025:
36 events including cocktail parties, cooking classes, wine tours, and elegant dinners.
From March 14-March 23.
Tickets: fawc.co.nz