— ly brod

The quick answer is yes. And let me add a little bit of context. So meatball making meatballs, uh, fall within the broader category of sausage making. And one of the principles of sausage making is to mix the meat and, and the mixture enough so that a binder a is, is created and, uh, by mixing meat. So in this case, we're talking about, uh, the real thing. Um, that's, uh, ground, uh, sufficiently. As you mix the meat, the proteins will become sticky, and that acts as the primary binder in the sausage mix. So when you're making something like meatballs that are not encased like many sausages are, then you know, it's a good idea to create some degree of stickiness or binding by mixing the proteins, by mixing the meat, uh, with, you know, the other, uh, ingredients as well. So do keep that in mind. Uh, tofu to a lesser extent, will become a little bit sticky, uh, and adhere especially to it itself upon cooking, um, but not, you know, not nearly like meat will. So, you know, as you start to reach that halfway point of, of meat and the addition of tofu, then you start to weaken, uh, noticeably the binder, that binding effect that's created by the proteins in the meat. So, um, you know, you're gonna be able to create a, a more tender meatball at this point, that's gonna be the result, versus a full on 100% meatball, um, that's gonna have that full binding effect from, from the proteins present, from the meat. Okay? Now, in terms of the cooking method, um, you can bake them, absolutely, you can fry them, yes, that's another dry heat cooking method, um, that will draw out moisture and tighten up the texture. And then the last one is brazing, um, which, you know, in this case, uh, is gonna be first browning the meatballs, and then adding a liquid to finish cooking. Okay? So there you're gonna be fine, uh, but you gotta be careful because the liquid can also act to, to loosen up, uh, the structure of the meatball. So the temperature needs to be pretty gentle, okay? A very, uh, gentle simmer, okay? Uh, which is gonna be within that brazing, uh, temperature range. And then, uh, you know, you should be fine and, and avoid, uh, moving the meatballs around too much again, because you've got that tenderizing effect of the non-meat additions, in this case, the tofu, and, uh, to some extent a tenderizing, uh, or loosening effect, at least initially by the liquid, the flavorful liquid that's being added, uh, for the brazing phase, right, of the cooking.