Glen Oaks Academicians dish out the Largest MeatBall

There’s now more to Centreville than a covered bridge, the historic St. Joseph County Courthouse and the claim of hometown to actor Verne Troyer and Chicago White Sox pitcher Matt Thornton. The place has more to boast of apart from all these. A bunch of academicians who also possess a culinary bent of mind have come up with the largest meat ball   which has not only made  the place famous but also placed  the college  in the hall of fame.

What started off as a light hearted conversation   turned out as a unique attempt in the world.  The team led by  Professor of business  at Glen Oaks Lester Keith, instructors Bill Furr and Jim Cook   were determined to leave the world dazzled  by coming up with the mega sized meat ball weighing 254 pounds.  The team cooked nonstop for 32 hours   to get the meat ball ready to be served to everyone.

The colossal meatball topped by more than 30 pounds the previous record set by Nonni’s Italian Eatery, in Concord, N.H which had set a 222.5 pounds. Now that Glen Oaks holds the record, Keith said he plans to write a letter to Nonni’s and ask its owner to consider attempting a bigger meatball. He explained that the title belongs to a family-owned, Italian restaurant that uses the claim for public relations and advertising.

Keith   also said that that the record attempted by his team was a big thing indeed but however a onetime affair only. But for the original setters whose record Keith and his team had beaten could  mean a lot for  them as it was their core business.  Nonni  whose record was broken by Keith  could find it hard  to regain the legacy  and business of the later’s eatery in Italy. So Professor Keith like a good educated gentleman had written a letter to Nonni   urging him to come up with a bigger meat ball to safeguard his advertising and business reputation.

Mathew Mitnitsky, proprietor of Nonni’s, offered his congratulations to Keith, Glen Oaks Community College, Centreville and St. Joseph County for the feat.

Mitnitsky said the family-owned eatery broke the record some time back  during the community’s Fun Family Day. The restaurant sponsored meatball-relay races, a meatball toss and, in honor of its best-selling item, decided to pursue the world record for largest meatball. Mitnitsky said he understands some outer portions of the Centreville meatball were too charred to eat and some of the meatball’s interior was removed because its temperature was a few degrees shy of health-department standards. Mitnitsky said he was a chef by profession so making a   meat ball of the same standard was an everyday affair for him. So the meatball he make s for a world record attempt as well as making a meatball as a routine to serve his customers would mean the same for him as cooking being his profession he would by all means take it very seriously.

 Math and science instructor Gerald Barkley was enlisted to help craft the recipe. Mixed into the ground chuck was an assortment of spices and additives, including oregano, garlic powder, oatmeal, salt and a pasteurized egg mixture. Keith said that nearly  50 pounds of additives are included in the 400-pound blob of ground chuck. Keith said they stuck to the recipe and the physics and math guy directed them with the calculations  as to quantifying the ingredients proportionately in the mixture. Initially they had a trial run of the attempt on a  50 pound  meat ball before attempting on much larger scale for the record.

 It took a forklift to move the  largest meat ball to the scales, which recorded the weight at 405 pounds, including the rack, wok and wrapping. Organizers removed the last of the wrapping, deducted the weight of the not-quite-cooked core and some of the outside rim that was too charred to eat, and determined the final weight to be 254 pounds. 

The Largest meatball weighed 254 pounds and was set by the Professors of Glen Oaks Community College at Centerville, Michigan, United States of America on March 16, 2010.