Several of my coworkers attended the Food & Wine Classic event in Charleston last month. They returned, eager to pass on all the noteworthy tips and culinary treasures they discovered, and among them was a notable piece of advice from celebrity chef Maneet Chauhan. This extraordinary tip? A common household item can be utilized for crafting the perfect meatballs – an ice cream scoop.

Growing up in New Jersey as an Italian-American, crafting meatballs was an essential skill passed down within the family. One of my most cherished childhood memories is watching my father skillfully form meatballs using an ice cream scoop on a Sunday afternoon. The tradition is so ingrained in me that, despite becoming a pescatarian, I use the very same technique to shape my vegetarian meatballs. My tool of choice? A straightforward $18 OXO scoop.

A plain, open ice cream scoop would suit the task, but for best results, this OXO variant is recommended. It allows you to form meatballs of identical size and shape. This uniformity is key to ensuring that each meatball cooks evenly both inside and out, a factor of crucial importance for chef Chauhan and myself too.

The genius lies in the design. The scoop features a perfectly round mold that contains the meatball mixture. A light pack using the side of the bowl or a butter knife results in an ideal density.The mould does not reach the bottom of the scoop, so a quick smooth run around the bottom gives you a fully released, perfectly rounded meatball. I like to have all of them on a sheet tray, and then individually smoothen them out onto my pan.

One of the tool's best features is an integrated steel wiper, a design influence stemming from its original intended purpose - scooping solid ice cream or cookie dough. With this, the entire meatball can be extracted without any trouble, making the whole process faster and preventing the mixture from becoming overworked. Also, the handle is comfortable to grip and doesn't necessitate much effort to operate the wiper.

Most meatballs contain flavorsome ingredients - garlic, spices, and others, which means the scoop gets handed robust flavors continuously. So, it's essential that it doesn't retain those strong flavors or get stained. This scoop being stainless steel is an excellent benefit. The large 3-tablespoon scoop is the one I utilize most frequently - perfect for standard sized meatballs. Additionally, I own a 1.5-tablespoon scoop for medium meatballs and a 2-teaspoon scoop for miniature ones, which come in handy for meatball soup or lasagna.

I must mention, these scoops demand a little extra effort for cleaning, particularly the wiper mechanism. But the results they deliver are worth the effort. The best method is a rinse in hot water, followed by a soak in hot soapy water. Wiggling the handle in the soapy water helps clean the wiper, and a flexible straw cleaner to reach the stubborn spots is helpful too.

Considering the current season, where comfort foods like soups, stews, spaghetti and meatballs, along with other meatball variants (think Swedish and rounded koftas), are in high demand, this useful hack could not have come at a better time.