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Taste test
As part of the official weigh-in, Guinness World Records judge Mike Janela must sample the meatball to certify that it is edible.
Photo by Mic Smith
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The man with the plan
Chef Joe Sullivan of Mulberry Street Trattoria (far right) supplied the recipe, multiplied it 520 times and supervised the multiday cooking process to create the 1,707-pound, 8-ounce meatball. “It is the recipe that I’ve been serving at the restaurant for years,” he says.
Photo by Mic Smith
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Serving it up
Samples were served to spectators at the Italian Heritage Festival, but most of Hilton Head’s prize-winning meatball was immediately packaged into 3- to 5-pound portions and donated to Second Helpings, a nonprofit agency that distributes rescued food to those in need.
Photo by Mic Smith
It was the biggest meatball anyone, anywhere, had ever seen—a massive sphere that tipped the scales at more than 1,700 pounds. Volunteers from the Italian-American Club on Hilton Head Island had babysat the big boy around the clock for five days as it cooked away in its custom-made oven.
The aroma wafted through the air at Shelter Cove Community Park and prompted more than one passerby to seek out its source. A group of women trying to concentrate on a morning yoga routine jokingly suggested that it was challenging their resolve to live a healthy lifestyle.
But, no one was pretending that this huge meatball was in any way a testament to low cholesterol and a trim waistline. The whole purpose of its creation was to secure a coveted place in Guinness World Records. To do so, they would have to best the admirable efforts of an Italian-American Club in Ohio that had waddled into history in 2011 when it cooked a meatball that weighed in at 1,100 pounds.
And, now, a representative—an adjudicator—from Guinness World Records was on hand to determine if the Ohio record would fall.
One for the record book
It is notoriously difficult to earn a world record. Guinness World Records reviews some 50,000 applications each year; only 3 percent are successful.
For the Hilton Head meatball to roll into the record books, Guinness World Records insisted on three stipulations: it must outweigh the Ohio meatball, it must not fall apart when removed from its cooking pod, and it must be edible.
Adjudicator Mike Janela, wearing a blue blazer with a Guinness World Records seal emblazoned on its breast pocket, watched as a forklift removed the meatball from the oven. The forklift set it gently on the ground long enough for volunteers to remove the top of the cooking pod.
With the meatball held in place by a well-cooked outer crust, the forklift once again raised its cargo and placed it on a giant scale. Television crews, reporters, magazine photographers and scores of curious onlookers armed with camera phones pressed in close to record the moment. Someone called out the weight as the crowd cheered, “We broke the record!”
The crowd turned to Janela for confirmation, but his face showed no expression.
“One of the rules is that it must be edible, so I am just doing my job here,” he said, tearing off a small sample of meat and popping it into his mouth.
Again, everyone cheered, but Janela revealed nothing. He spoke briefly with Rob Lembo, a spokesman for the Italian-American Club, and then the two men moved away from the group of onlookers to talk in private.
Some in the crowd watched the two men carefully and wondered what was taking so long. Was the meatball indeed edible? Was it round enough? Had they overlooked something?
“It doesn’t look like it’s OK,” said one man watching Janela and Lembo like a hawk. “Look at their faces. Something’s up.”
Go big or go home
The Italian-American Club on Hilton Head has about 180 members. Besides sharing a love of their Italian heritage, the organization holds numerous fundraising events throughout the year and then donates proceeds—usually around $30,000—to local charities. There are wine-tasting galas, golf tournaments and Sunday Italian dinners. Their flagship event and biggest moneymaker is the annual daylong Italian Heritage Festival.
Two years ago, Rob Lembo and his business partner, Christina Belen, cooked up an idea to boost attendance at the festival. Why not, they suggested, attempt to break the Guinness World Record for World’s Largest Meatball?
“Well, there was a lot of laughter, and nobody really took it seriously in the beginning,” Lembo recalled.
When a little research proved that the feat could be accomplished, the club members went to work, said president John DeCecco. “Initially, we thought it was a long shot, a lot of work. But then we thought, ‘We are the Italian-American Club. We can do it.’”
Chef Joe Sullivan of Mulberry Street Trattoria in Bluffton provided his recipe, multiplied it 520 times and helped secure the staggering amount of ingredients needed: more than 1,800 pounds of beef and pork, 700 eggs, 250 pounds of breadcrumbs, 25 pounds of oregano, 56 pounds of salt and an equal amount of pepper. There was some Parmesan cheese in there, too, and some milk to keep everything nice and moist.
Joe Carpinteri, a retired civil engineer, took on the task of designing a cooking pod, measuring just over 5 feet in height and 3½ feet in diameter, and a 7-foot-square, custom-built oven. Construction of the pod fell to Kevin Lawless, a local blacksmith, sculptor and artist.
The plan called for the club to unveil its creation on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017, as the highlight of the 2017 Italian Heritage Festival. Preparation of the meatball began the Sunday before when volunteers joined Sullivan and his son, Chris, at The French Bakery, where the owners donated their oversized, 200-pound mixer to combine the ingredients.
The next morning, the meat was loaded into the cooking pod, and the pod moved into the oven. Carpinteri switched on the oven, and, from that time on, volunteers stood round-the-clock “meatball watches” and recorded temperatures every half hour.
Friday night, four days after cooking began, Chef Sullivan personally supervised the final hours of cooking. He stood watch all night, catching bits of sleep here and there, but always logging the temperature readings on time.
By Saturday morning, the meatball was cooked through, and the oven was switched off. A loudspeaker played Frank Sinatra tunes as the festival got under way with food vendors, live entertainment, a 5K run and a meatball-eating contest.
Hilton Head Mayor David Bennett turned up and, along with -countless others, peered through the oven window at the meatball. And, the local Italian priest, the Rev. Monsignor Ronald R. Cellini of Saint Gregory the Great Catholic Church, offered up a spontaneous prayer at the request of some of the club members.
Moment of truth
Once the weigh-in was complete and Janela had tasted the meatball, it was loaded back onto the forklift and slowly moved to the center of the stage. Still unsure if the meatball had met the strict requirements imposed by Guinness World Records, many listened as Janela took the microphone.
“Hope everyone is doing well today,” Janela told the crowd, which responded with tentative applause and somewhat listless whistles.
Janela picked up on the vibe and added, “Everyone sounds a little bit anxious.”
Club members stood on stage with Janela; all of them looked anxious, indeed.
“What you guys see here is a pretty big meatball,” Janela continued. “It was trying to be the biggest in the world. I am here on behalf of Guinness World Records to see if that is the case.”
Still not tipping his hand, Janela talked about how the club had been in regular contact with his organization as the creation of the meatball progressed. Finally, after keeping the crowd in suspense a bit longer, Janela got down to business.
“All right. So, the record to beat was 1,110 pounds, 7.84 ounces,” he said. “Today, the Italian-American Club of Hilton Head made a meatball with a weight of 1,707 pounds, 8 ounces!”
The crowd began cheering.
“I would like to officially congratu-late and welcome you to Guinness World Records,” Janela said, holding up a framed certificate. “Congratulations! You are officially amazing!”
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