Recipes Remastered: The Meatball Sub

welcome to episode six of recipes remastered joshua wiseman has been laying waste to fast food establishments around the world without much of a challenge so today i decided to remaster josh's meatball sub for my version i focus on key changes to the bread and sandwich construction technique in our taste test at the end of the video we answer the question have we made his meatball sub but better let's talk about that [Music] hey everyone i'm ethan a home cooking nerd who likes to find better ways to cook and share them with all of you so today we're doing the meatball sub recipes remastered style where we break it down talk about the adjustments that i'll be making and then finally do a side-by-side taste test i love these videos because they help really hone in my preferences of what i like and i actually get to taste two very good products completely side by side and we get to learn how the cooking process affects them so let's hop into the video and make some meatball hoagies the meatball sub or hoagie is a sandwich made of four key components the bread the meatballs the sauce and the toppings let's break them down joshua uses a 60 hydration lean dough which is shaped into a large baguette shape scored and topped with parmesan reggiano then baked with steam as we learned from harold mcgee steam increases the rate of heat transfer from the oven to the dough leading to more oven spraying a pretty key technique used here now this type of bread is a little different from your typical sub or hoagie bread more on that in just a bit for the meatballs he uses a pretty classic beef and pork blend with bread crumbs milk parmesan cheese seasonings and prosciutto i really like the use of the parm and prosciutto as these are foods high in free glutamate the same as in powdered msg which impart the fifth taste known as umami which is a savory meaty taste and just makes food taste delicious this is a perfect way to enhance those flavors in a meatball sub for the sauce another pretty classic preparation is used with simple flavorings of garlic and basil and again i like the use of the pancetta which provides some extra savory flavor for josh's toppings he uses provolone cheese which is great for melting but has a mild flavor so to up the flavor parmesan reggiano is added to provide a strong nutty flavor finally that sandwich is rounded out with some fresh basil i mean if you've had subway before you know they aren't packing much in the flavor department and this sandwich is packed with flavor that blows subway out of the water even though i think the flavors of this sandwich are pretty spot on the main reason why i wanted to remaster this dish is because of the textural components let's talk bread first for my first adjustment i'll be using the hoagie recipe i shared on the channel a few weeks ago which is a 65 hydration dough that uses milk instead of water which characterizes it as an enriched dough what's the difference well enriched doughs are tender with a soft bite and do not really have a crisp crust take a look at the difference between the two breads the lean dough is a crunchy on the exterior and quite chewy whereas the hoagie rolls are much softer without that crunchy crust i also added a few toppings to mine to replicate that italian herbs and cheese roll from subway now this is preference at the end of the day but i do much prefer the enrich rolls as they closely emulate what i'm used to getting in a sub or hoagie shop now let's talk meatball portioning regardless of which bread you choose i'm of the notions that meatballs should be in a single line in the hoagie roll the reason why less rolling around one thing subway does well is that it provides a nice swaddle of bread around the meatballs so they don't go everywhere if we put them two by two it kind of becomes much more awkward to eat this kind of reminds me of when you run out of hot dog buns and your mom says to put it on a hamburger bun it may still be bread and a hot dog but don't anyone try to tell me that it's the same experience so for my version the hoagie rolls are in that classically thinner shape and then once they are baked i actually remove the upper portion so the meatballs sit nice and snug lastly let's talk acid acid in the term of pickled chili peppers that is so this meatball sub is a pretty heavy sandwich with lots of bread meat and cheese so in order to provide some contrast and avoid palate fatigue a fresh ingredient should be added josh uses fresh basil here and i will use it in mine as well but in addition i like to add some pickled chili peppers as they not only provide a sharp sourness to work through the fattiness of the meat but also provide a great crispness to round out the sandwich now other options that could be considered are fresh lettuce pickled onions or parsley really important here is just to make sure you're adding some fresh component to this sandwich now i've made some other tweaks and changes along the way which are primarily just my preference so let's walk through my version and then we'll do the taste test at the end we'll quickly breeze through the hoagie rolls since i already have a video on the science behind them so make sure you check that out anyways to start get 260 grams of milk and warm it to roughly 100 degrees fahrenheit to optimize yeast activity to that add six grams of yeast along with 8 grams of diastatic mold powder and stir to combine meanwhile add 400 grams of flour 10 grams of honey 20 grams of olive oil and 8 grams of salt to a large mixing bowl then you can pour in the yeast mixture and vigorously mix the dough with your hands until no dry flour remains in the bowl and a cohesive mass forms then you're just gonna cover this and let it rest once rested knead the dough for about eight to ten minutes and i do advise setting a timer to make sure ample time is spent needing so we get that gluten developed then you can just let that rest until doubled in size for about 45 to 60 minutes though it could take a little bit longer depending on the yeast and room temperature of the dough once it's doubled in size just punch it down and we're gonna divide this into equal portions i do roughly 175 grams each then using your fingertips just press and stretch the piece of dough into a rectangle and then roll that up into a tight little ball and seal the seam on top add the roll to a baking sheet with some cornmeal over it then we're just going to shape the remaining hoagie rolls and let these proof for another 45 to 60 minutes until they're 1.5 to 2 times in size with the rolls proof using a razor or really sharp knife you're just gonna score the hoagie rolls in one long slash at a 45 degree angle to allow for oven spring then you're going to add an egg white and water mixture and lightly brush this on the outside to give us a better crust and then at this point the only thing that i changes was i made a mix of equal parts oregano parmesan cheese and red pepper to a bowl mix that together and then sprinkle that over the top to give us that kind of italian herbs and spices bread lastly bake the rolls at 375 degrees with steam for about 20 minutes in total until the crust is nice and golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 200 degrees fahrenheit you're gonna let these cool completely on a rack and these are some beautifully delicious hoagie rolls let's talk meatballs for the meatballs i kept them pretty basic for what i had on hand so to start crack one egg into a bowl and whisk that up then for the seasonings i really just eyeballed these and added fennel seed parmesan reggiano red pepper flake grated in some cinnamon oregano and crushed in a clove of garlic then for our salty ingredients i did weigh these because we are essentially making a sausage so i don't want to over salt them so i used 10 grams of soy sauce 3 grams of salt and 3 grams of msg now the soy sauce and msg are going to provide glutamate which will up the umami flavor but if you aren't using these just use 6 grams of salt finally add 30 grams of bread crumbs and mix that all together then if it's looking a little bit dry i add a splash of milk then finally add the meat i use the half pound or 227 grams of ground beef and 227 grams of ground lamb for no other reason then i thought it would be interesting to use instead of pork like i normally do now the key here is to really mix these ingredients together until they're cohesive and start to stick and then to form the meatballs get a little bowl of water splash it on your hands and this will help it from sticking on your hands while you form them once formed you can let these rest in the fridge or cook them right away set a cast iron over medium heat and crisp up on the sides i shoot for at least three well brown sides that you could just do two you go for four really do whatever you want to at this point the meatballs aren't going to be cooked but we'll finish them in the sauce for the red sauce i used a riff on marcello hazaan's three ingredient sauce except i added a couple of ingredients right after cooking the meatballs pour in a can of crushed tomatoes four tablespoons or 56 grams of butter one shallot two cloves of garlic some parmesan cheese oregano salt and pepper then just give that a stir and let it simmer for about 10 minutes also i know people may be worried about tomato sauce in my cast iron but it's very well seasoned and it's only there for about 25 minutes in total with the meatballs so it's really not an issue after simmering for 10 minutes add the meatballs to the sauce and let them simmer for about eight minutes to let them cook i like to pull mine out when they reach 150 degrees internal so they are still moist no one likes a dry meatball lastly i turn off the heat and add a handful of fresh basil leaves to stir in the sauce i think it's time to assemble first slice the hovey roll in half while maintaining the hinge then rip out the top portion of the bread so the meatballs can feel safe then i pop this under the broiler for about 60 seconds just to harden the crust a little bit to help stand up to the sauce once out of the oven i rub some butter on the bread followed by rubbing a raw garlic clove it may not seem like much but this provides a nice bump of garlic flavor and this is actually the technique used for a classic bruschetta next we slather a layer of sauce followed by the four meatballs rank and file and a little more sauce on top add two slices of provolone cheese or mozzarella would be good too and place under the broiler until melted pull that out and hit it with another little sprinkle of parm then add another layer of sauce to the top piece of the bread followed by those pickled chili peppers lastly hit it with some more fresh basil and there we have it close everything up nice and snugly and there we have how i would make a meatball sub i'm mouth-watering all over again luckily i have leftovers anyway let's do our taste test everybody it is taste test time and i have this other road mic that's normally on my camera my lav mic died so hopefully this audio doesn't sound too bad um but we'll get it fixed for the next video so let's give josh's a try first really good sandwich i'll try this one and then we'll compare and contrast them all right so as we started the video both very delicious let's kind of walk through those four components starting off with the bread which as i said was the big change that i wanted to make in this sandwich hands down like this hoagie style bread is just it's like way better for me this kind of reminds me of like garlic bread which garlic bread is good as garlic bread but i don't necessarily want it to be my sandwich for this instead i love the soft chew of this it holds together better and this like really reminds me of like what you would get for a typical you know meatball sub or meatball hoagie if you ordered it out which is why i really really prefer this bread then we add the little you know herbs and spices on top with the red pepper little oregano and parmesan the bread is just a clear winner for me across the board as far as the meatball goes both phenomenal meatballs like there's i'm not one's not better than the other i love the prosciutto use in um in josh's it's a killer meatball recipe and like i said mine's really good too i typically don't have like prosciutto and things so that's why mine is a little bit more simple i typically have all these ingredients minus maybe ground lamb or pork i just had to pick up one of those so that's why mine is kind of more on the simple side just because that better reflects what i would have actually have in the fridge on a day-to-day basis i wouldn't have things like um prosciutto to add to mine but that said if you do have it go make josh's meatballs they're absolutely killer just the sauce goes again both sauces are really good i love simplicity in mind both these sauces are very simple just garlic i added some shallots to mine i kind of followed marcello hazans but kind of tweaked it a little bit josh's used a very simple one but instead of butter like my sauce he uses olive oil so with the butter the big difference you're going to get is it's going to be a little bit more emulsified a little bit more creamy which i'm a fan of personally but olive oil-based sauces i love them too so the sauce is absolutely phenomenal i also really like the pancetta in josh's really really good then that last key thing is really just the topping so like i said i love the acidity and crunch from something pickled in there whether it's you know these spicy pickled chili peppers or maybe some pickled onions or banana peppers something like that i think that really helps round out the dish and kind of cuts through kind of the heaviness of the sandwich because i mean these are cheesy they're really meaty so i feel like adding that little bit of acidity a little bit of crunch really helps around the sandwich compared to just using um just basil and you know adding more parm and cheese but all in all these are both phenomenal sandwiches again the big differentiator between the two is really just the bread i really love the hoagie style bread on this and that was kind of like the main big technique change that i wanted to make to mine so that is how i would remaster the meatball sub now josh's is great don't get me wrong but this is the one that i'm making if i'm gonna make a meatball sub so hopefully you guys have enjoyed the video if you did definitely drop me a like and subscribe we'll keep this train rolling i'm still super thankful for all of you for allowing me to make this my job i mean i got to spend like six hours in the kitchen today making meatball subs and like i was just thinking how many people get to say that um is their job so appreciate every single one of you i'll catch you all in the next one peace [Music]

Channel: Ethan Chlebowski

Views: 486,862

Keywords: Ethan Chlebowski, meatball sub, meatball sub recipe, meatball sandwich, meatball sauce, meatball recipe, meatball and sauce, meatball hoagie, meatball sub subway, joshua weissman, homemade meatballs, subway meatball sub

Id: oOY5YACLG50

Length: 14min 55sec (895 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 03 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/wiseapple]

He never slammed it at all. He complimented the sandwich multiple times. He gave what he liked about it and what he changed. The biggest difference is in the bread. He went with a soft bread vs. Josh's 'cronchy' bread. The other twist was the pickled peppers, which I suspect would make the sandwich better.

I thought Ethan did a good job and it seems to me that Josh would be happy to work with Ethan and would recognize his suggestions as a preference. No slams here.

[u/diabetodan]

How is he slamming it? Talks about a lot of what he likes about Josh's recipe before he makes it in a way that he likes better.

[u/[deleted]]

I like his style. "Bake at 375 with steam." I love Josh, but I like that this guy assumes a much higher cooking level. I don't need to be told how to boil water and put it in the oven.

[u/archbish]

Hey OP do you work for a tabloid by any chance? This isn't a "SLAM" by any Olympic reach.

[u/Chowdahhh]

I really want to like Ethan's stuff, and even think some of his recipes are good, but I just can't get myself to like him. Like I don't mean to be a hater but his "recipes remastered" videos kinda rub me the wrong way, like he kinda got his big break on YouTube because he targeted some of the bigger channels. I also kind of feel like he thinks of himself as an amateur home cook and a professional chef at the same time. His videos are well put together and have a high production value, but I just can't get myself to like him. Food science is cool, but I feel like it really bloats his videos up to the point where I have to skip forward to get to the point, and it seems a little off to me that all he does is regurgitate his food textbooks during them. Like it kinda reminds me how back in school everyone would look for long quotes on english/history essays to take up more space to get to the page minimum.

Sorry if this was a bit too negative but I haven't really gotten a chance to voice this opinion anywhere

[u/EverydayObjectMass]

I know everyone is "slamming" you for your misuse of the word "slam" but, regardless, thanks for sharing! Otherwise I wouldn't have heard of this guy. Subscribed!

[u/Awesome-Genome90000]

This is proof that Joshua Weissman is weak.