To check the salt level in meatball mixture, take a walnut-sized piece, cook it completely in a pan, and taste the test meatball. Do not taste raw ground meat: bacteria from the surface of the meat are distributed throughout the mixture during grinding, so tasting it raw directly exposes you to that risk. Cooking and tasting a test meatball takes a few minutes and helps prevent the whole batch from turning out bland or too salty.
Ground meat behaves differently from a whole cut of meat. Bacteria on the surface of a whole cut are heated quickly during cooking; when meat is ground, its surface gets mixed into the interior and bacteria spread throughout the mixture. That is why ground meat is considered cooked only when its center reaches a safe temperature, and it should not be tasted raw. Even tasting a small amount with a finger carries the same risk. Onion, spices, and bread added to the mixture do not change this; they affect its flavor, not its safety.
Prepare the mixture fully for the test by adding salt, spices, onion, and breadcrumbs, then mixing it. Break off 1 walnut-sized piece, flatten it in your hand, and cook the 2 sides in a small pan with a little oil. Because the piece is small, it cooks in 3 to 4 minutes. The center should not be pink, and the juices should run clear when cut; however, color and clear juices alone do not show that ground meat is safely cooked, so a thermometer is the most reliable check: the internal temperature should reach 71°C / 160°F. You can also use a microwave: heat the piece on a plate in short intervals until the center is fully cooked.
Taste the test meatball once it has cooled slightly; a very hot bite makes the salt seem less noticeable than it is. If the mixture needs more salt, add a small amount and knead it again. Keep this second kneading brief, because ground meat mixed too much with salt can become pasty. If it is too salty, the cleanest fix is to add unsalted ground meat. If you have none, soaked and squeezed stale breadcrumbs or grated onion with its liquid removed can stretch the mixture a little. After adjusting it, cook a second test meatball. The test also shows the spice level: taste the cumin, black pepper, and red pepper flakes in that bite, and adjust them at the same time if needed.
Starting with a measured amount reduces the number of tests. Salt for meatball mixture is 1–1.5% of the weight of the ground meat; for 0.5 kg of ground meat, that is 5 to 7.5 grams. As bread and onion are added, use a proportion closer to the upper end. Add salt just before shaping the mixture; ground meat salted early becomes sticky as it sits. For this reason, cook the test meatball immediately after adding salt, make the adjustment within a few minutes, and then shape the meatballs.
The same method works for any raw mixture containing ground meat. Do not taste the filling for stuffed vegetables or rolls, the filling for Turkish pide, or the bulgur shell for stuffed meatballs while raw; cook a small piece to test it. Fillings that are cooked first, such as the meat filling for stuffed meatballs or savory meat pastries, can be tasted directly after cooking. The pan and plate used for the test have touched raw ground meat, so keep tasting spoons and serving plates separate from them.