The Meatwave

So we've come to SuperBowl weekend. Usually I care about this mainly for the excuse to cook as much bad-for-you party food as possible, although last year I found myself oddly engaged with football through the postseason. I'm back to my old ways though, with food more top of mind than the game, which has given me time to consider how to make a good thing even better—barbecue meatballs. Sure a package of frozen meatballs thrown in a CrockPot with a bottle of barbecue sauce is satisfying, but how much better can it get if done from scratch and on the grill?

The easy-peasy norm of slow cooker barbecue meatballs has its allure, and I admit to enjoying them, but it misses so many opportunities to develop great flavor. So in making "true" barbecue meatballs, I wanted to really add depth from the beginning. This had me starting by sauteing onions until lightly browned, then adding to that garlic and chili powder.

This served as the internal seasoning for the meatball that consisted of equal parts pork and beef, and an egg as a binder. The onions and meat were throughly combined, then portioned out into 1 1/2" balls.

In true barbecue tradition, the meatballs needed a rub. I didn't do anything fancy here, just put together a standard sweet and spicy barbecue rub that was sprinkled all over the meatballs before grilling.

I took a slightly different cooking process to making these meatballs than I normally do. Instead of grilling over a direct fire until cooked through, I used a two-zone approach, first browning the meatballs directly over the flames, then transferring them to aluminum pan over indirect heat to finish cooking. I also threw a wood chunk on the fire to impart some smokiness as well.

Once in the pan, the meatballs were completely coated in barbecue sauce the the grill was covered to let them continue to cook. This gave time for the sauce to bake in and create the sticky, caramelized crust that adorns so much good barbecued chicken, ribs, and the like.

Unfortunately I made these at my birthday party while a bit inebriated and forgot them on the grill while I was boozing it up indoors with my friends. So this batch got a bit over done, but I could still taste them for what they were—awesomely flavored meatballs. They have everything I was looking for: a slight smokiness, a big meatiness, and an unmistakable barbecue flavor from the rub/sauce combo. There was so much more complexity compared your everyday slow cooker meatballs, which is what defines great grilling and barbecue, and makes these meatballs totally worth the extra effort.

Published on Tue Jan 29, 2013 by Joshua Bousel

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