Meatball Madness

[Smokey Lew]

You ever get an idea in your head that you can't shake then you realize you probably shouldn't have gone down that path? Well here's my post on Meatball Madness!

We're having a party this Saturday and I thought it would be cool to make spicy cocktail meatballs as an appetizer. Our guest list is about 30 friends and family and the meatball recipe I have serves 8. That's with 1 lb. of beef mixed with 1 lb. of pork plus all the seasonings, etc. With some quick calculation I ended up grinding 4 lbs. of chuck roast and 4 lbs. of pork shoulder, bla, bla, bla.

Anyway, the madness part is that I have to hand mix the meat mixture and roll out who knows how many 1 inch balls before I can grill and sauce them. I started on them yesterday and then stayed up late last night getting the little _ _ _ _ ers rolled out and grilled. My plan was to get them out of the way early so all I have to do is sauce them on Saturday. Man, I got a lot of balls!

Ready, set . . . GO!


Cooked indirect first to firm up my balls before moving over to direct side for crisping.


Crispy balls


Finished tray from last night and one vacuum sealed bag from yesterday.


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[Griff]

Lew, I like the way you roll.

[bbquzz]

I'm with Griff, and won't even add a joke, but they look and sound great, only wish I were one of the 30.

[swampsauce]

Ballsy plan! But I think the results will be well worth the effort.

[3 Olives]

Lookin' good!

[Vermin999]

looks great, your on a roll!!!

[tbone]

Newbie here. Thanks for the tips/pics Smokey Lew.

I'm going to try my hand at grilling some meatballs on Thursday night. A friend of ours is straight up sicilian and has an outstanding family (and closely held) meatball recipe. So, I offered for her to form the meatballs and I'll cook em. Here's how I was going to approach it.

The meatballs will go on direct medium heat on the grill. I'll roll them around periodically to get a nice crust on the outside. Once they are a little crispy on the side i'll move them to indirect heat to cook the insides through. This differs from your idea of indirect first to firm them up which makes sense. Which method do people here recommend? Direct or indirect first?

Now, with regards to the sauce. What I was thinking was to put the sauce in a bread pan and heat it up on the grill while the meatballs are cooking. That way the sauce will have a smoky taste to go along with the meatballs. I'm planning on using some mesquite woodchips for the smoke flavor.

After the meatballs are cooked through (to about 160 degrees) I'll
move them from the indirect heat and dunk them in the sauce than has been simmering. The meatballs will simmer in the sauce and soak up the sauces/smoke until the sauce in the pan is reduced by about a half, probably about ten minutes.

Then I'll pull them off the grill, open a bottle of red, and enjoy. Thoughts?

[bigwheel]

Sounds plausible to me. Not that I have ever had the pleasure to cook meatballs on the grill..lol. The nice Eyetalian Lady from Noo Yawk City who taught me meatballs 101 poaches them in tomater sauce from the raw stage. She say only crazy Sicilians try to fry cook them in a skillet. She would prob have a heart attack if she heard about somebody gonna grill em. Depending on what kinda sauce you got there you could just mark em up a bit and throw them in the pot to finish. Not sure about the reducing the sauce by half theory. Would greatly depend on tic is da sauce I think. Let us know how it comes out. If the recipe aint no good..holler back. I got a killer. lol.

[tbone]

Well i gave this a shot, and things turned out pretty well in my guests opinion. Wheel, even the eye-talian enjoyed it! Only have one picture of the meatballs simmering in the sauce after cooking, didn't have time to take many others.

Cheers!

[bbquzz]

Good lookin' balls Tbone! I wish old Smokey Lew was around here now to see your post, I think he would appreciate it.

[Nick Prochilo]

Excellent job! 1 picture is fine by me, it beats 10 minute videos!

[Larry Wolfe]

Originally Posted by Griff

Lew, I like the way you roll.

I second that emotion!

[bigwheel]

What Buzz said!! Looks mighty tasty. Now we will need a bit more specificity on the "sauce" angle. Thanks.

[tbone]

Originally Posted by bigwheel

What Buzz said!! Looks mighty tasty. Now we will need a bit more specificity on the "sauce" angle. Thanks.

Thanks for the feedback y'all I'd love to share, however I don't have the recipe. The eye-talian wouldn't divulge the family secret. Oh well, at least it tasted good!

Cheers

[bigwheel]

Not sure it the same formula by any means but the genuine Eyetalian lady used 3 different brands of canned tomater sauce in equal proportions. She say one is too sweet..one is too salty..and something is the matter with the other one too but I forget what right now. The triad approach supposed to make em all live happily ever after. She also threw in a little red wine...maybe 1/4 cup to three big cans of sauce. She say the wine cut the acid..but then I get in a brawl on the net one time when some smarty say wine is acidic..so not sure of the true science behind the strategy. Do know it mellows out the sharp edges a bit. She say you can also sub out 2 t. sugar if somebody has drunk up all the wine. A combo of Hunts..Progresso..and Del Monte works well.