The meatball sandwich is a well-known sandwich in Italian-American cuisine. As the name suggests, its prime ingredient is meatballs. But there is also tomato sauce (or marinara), and of course, bread.
What's more, items such as cheese, garlic, and butter, may be added as well. Needless to say, all this makes for an amazing comfort food. So, if you couldn't decide on what to have for lunch next, you now got a perfect choice.
Meatballs have been around for a long time. They're made of ground beef in the form of a ball. And the method of cooking them includes frying and baking. Plus, other ingredients such as bread crumbs and onions can also be present.
Going back in history, dishes with meatballs were mentioned in the Apicius - a cookbook from ancient Rome.
In addition, such recipes were included in old Persian cookbooks. The usual instructions called for rolling seasoned lamb into balls the size of an orange. And an egg yolk or saffron would be added, too.
This cooking practice spread to a number of other countries. Thus, from medieval times we have the so-called pome dorreng or pommedorry. This was a dish made of coated pork meatballs. It was even on the menu when the English king Henry IV was getting crowned.
Other versions include Iran's kufte Tabrīzī, Belgium's ballekes, Serbia's ćufte, Denmark's frikadeller, Greek's keftédes, and many more.
Still, while meatballs were a regular food across the world, putting them in a sandwich only happened much later. Indeed, the general belief is that the meatball sandwich was invented in the USA around the start of the 1900s.
This is related to the immigration of over four million Italians to America between 1880 and 1924. Naturally, they brought over a lot of their dishes and culinary techniques. This included both meatballs and tomato and marinara sauce.
Since meatballs are a great fit for pasta, dishes such as spaghetti and meatballs became very popular. And alongside that, people integrated meatballs into sandwiches. This was made even more convenient when Italian rolls became widespread.
The number of meatball sandwich calories in a serving of 190 grams is around 440. This includes 18g of total fat or 28% of the daily value. The percentage is based on a 2000-calorie diet.
There are also 80mg of cholesterol (26%), 808mg of sodium (34%), and 476mg of potassium (14%). As for the total amount of carbohydrates, we got 41g (14%) and protein - 27g.
Moreover, there is 9.5% of vitamin A, 3.5% of vitamin C, 15% of calcium, and 27% of iron.
The meatball sandwich is a regular item on restaurant menus all across the United States. And as always, we at Slice got some great recommendations for you.
Hence, if you're in Las Vegas, we suggest heading to Sabatino's NY Pizza. They're open 7 days a week and you can find them on W Cheyenne Ave. Or you can also order them for takeout or delivery with the click of a button on Slice.
And for those of you in Chicago, one of the best places to get a meatball sandwich is Coluta's Pizza. Located on Harlem Ave, they offer dine-in as well as pickup and delivery. You even save 5% on any online order via the Slice app!
That being said, for any other place, just check the listings available on this page.