This Old School Ground Beef Appetizer Deserves To Make A Comeback

Today's snacking landscape skews heavily toward classics like expert-level charcuterie boards and quirky stunt foods like vodka butter that might merit a few clicks on social media. But peer into the past and you might just spy some super satisfying bites that also impart a bit of festive, vintage appeal. And whether you were alive and imbibing during the actual "Mad Men" era, or are just known to host a themed throwback fête now and then, cocktail meatballs are the blast to the mid-century past that your next bash needs.

Although they do evoke a kind of kicky 1960s style, cocktail meatballs were, of course, in circulation well before and after the famed decade. That the oft grape jelly-coated spheres seemed to peak a couple of generations ago makes them all the more ripe for a resurgence — whether you wish to cloak them in the sweet, sticky stuff or not.

Sweet and savory is, to be fair, a classic combination. Those erstwhile recipes typically called for you to cook the meatballs (sometimes from store-bought frozen) in a combination of the grape jelly and something like a barbecue sauce. Alternatively there was the option to bake or sauté the meat and suspend it in the maximally convenient sauce a little later. Real retro devotees can replicate the old ways, or you can create some riffs of your own.

You could simply minimize the meatball recipe of your choice and use the petite version as is with an array of dipping sauces like sweet chili sauce, cooling tzatziki, or vibrant chimichurri. You can also make a whole batch of creamy Swedish meatballs, and serve them with lingonberry jam, take an Italian tack and simmer them in marinara, or lean just a bit into the original recipe and fully commit to the barbecue sauce bit. There are enough cocktail meatball possibilities, in fact, that you'd need another whole mid century to make them all. Pair the meatball preparation of your preference with whiskey for an even deeper dive into the decadent decade.