Veal, ground, cooked, broiled

Ground veal cooks quickly and has a mild, delicate flavor and fine texture, making it common in meatballs, meatloaf, burgers, and Italian dishes such as veal-based bolognese sauce, often mixed with ground pork or beef for a richer flavor. Because it is leaner than most ground beef, it benefits from moist cooking methods, or from the addition of breadcrumbs, egg, and a little liquid when forming patties or meatballs, which helps keep it from drying out under direct heat like broiling. It pairs well with lemon, sage, white wine, mushrooms, and cream-based sauces, flavors traditional in classic veal cookery, and takes readily to a simple tomato-based sauce as well, absorbing seasoning easily thanks to its mild base flavor.

Buy ground veal from a butcher, keep it refrigerated and use it within a day or two given ground meat's larger surface area, or freeze it for longer storage. Broiled and cooked, it provides 172 calories and 24.4 grams of protein per 100 grams, with 7.56 grams of fat, delivering 49% of the Daily Value for protein while keeping sodium modest at 83 milligrams, which makes it a lean, high-protein option for a meatball or burger night when sodium needs to stay in check.