Are we looking at the same meatball because I don't see any darker areas? I see some flecks of spice, but that looks like an unseared ball of meat to me. There are some tinges of red, but those are from the sauce poured over it, not from cooking. You can see the remnants of the sauce at the base of the meatball mixing with another completely different sauce. Pretty sure that meatball is just unseared boiled meat.

Who knew dinosaurs had color image printing!

2 eggshells of water

What a random measurement! Does that mean just half the shell, full of water, twice? I realize precision here is probably unnecessary, but my brain is just really struggling!

You're awesome. We thank you!

Never heard of this program before. I can’t say that I like them as hosts but their information was decently high quality and accessible.

To recap, mix the meat longer to produce a crunchier meatball (if you want), sear the ball to produce umami flavor (if you want) and cook in sauce to impart flavor into the sauce and (over)cook the meatball (if you want). Though there was a dark horse, boiling raw meatballs in sauce for a sort of soup meatball texture.

Nothing inherently wrong with your baking method, but I have overriding trauma that would leave me stink eying you if I witnessed it. Caring about others’ food preferences beyond the improved expression of your own desired flavors and textures doesn’t make sense to me, for the most part. Almost always, really. I’m glad you found a food that produces such fond feelings for you and wish you many pleasant dinners.