Preparation:

• Put the bread in a container and cover with warm water. The bread will float to the top, so place a plate or bowl on top of the bread to hold it under water. It needs to be left in the water until the water soaks through it (about 10 minutes) so do this step first.
• Put the meat in a large bowl.
  • Add 2 eggs (but not the egg shells)
  • Finely cut the shallots and garlic. Add them to the bowl.
  • Finely cut the chives until you have a handful of cut chives. Add them to the bowl.
  • Add the mustard. Add paprika powder and salt to taste.
• When the bread is completely soaked, pour off the remaining water. Then use your hands to squeeze the water out of the bread, before adding it to the bowl.
• Mix all the ingredients together.

Cooking:

• For this quantity of ingredients, you will need a large frying pan or two medium frying pans.
• Melt about 100g (3 ounces) of butter in the frying pan. The exact amount isn't important.
• Form the mixture into large balls, slightly flattened at each end. The quantity of ingredients listed above should make about 8 meatballs.
• Put the meatballs into the frying pan and turn the heat up to medium-high.
• Once the meatballs are cooked on one side, turn them over without breaking them (a spatula is probably best for this).
• Cook the meatballs on the other side.
• Cover the pan and turn down to medium heat. Leave them to fry until they are cooked all the way through (about 20 minutes). Periodically turn the meatballs to prevent them from burning on one side.
• Make sure that there is melted butter in the bottom of the frying pan at all times. If the butter is absorbed or boiled away, simply add more.

Serving:

• Traditionally, these are served with boiled or mashed potatoes. One can pour the melted butter from the frying pan over the potatoes for taste.
• If you don't like boiled or mashed potatoes, simply serve with whatever you normally eat meatballs (hamburgers) with.

If you have an extra 5 minutes and a few more ingredients (eggs, mushrooms, soft cheese, Parmesan cheese) you can prepare an alternative version of this recipe, Gourmet German Meatballs.

A mixture of beef and pork tastes best. However, if you don't have ground pork, simply replace the pork by the same amount of ground beef.

It is important that you use dry white bread, as using fresh bread will result in your meatballs going mushy.

The recipe makes 8 large meatballs. Hungry guests will likely eat 2, while less hungry ones will be satisfied with one. So this recipe makes enough for 4 to 8 people.

Once cooked, the meatballs keep well, without losing their taste. You can either freeze them or put them in the fridge for the next day. They can be warmed up in a frying pan, with a generous amount of butter (if frozen, they should first be defrosted).