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Bar Snack Stall · Fried Meatball Bites

Mondeghili

Mondeghili — street food from Lombardia, Italy
Photo: user:SWT666 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

They're traditionally made from leftover boiled beef from making stock, not fresh ground meat — Milan's way of never wasting a pot roast.

Mondeghili are small, flat meatballs of chopped leftover boiled meat, bread, egg, and parmesan, coated in breadcrumbs and fried until deep golden. Milanese bars and market stalls serve them piled on a plate or tucked into bread as a quick bite.

Why it's made this way: They come from Milan's cucina povera tradition of stretching a Sunday pot roast into a second meal, so nothing from the stockpot went to waste.
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Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries. Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below. Photo credits.