Re: [CH] Meatballs (thanks!)

JohnT (Love2Troll@kc.rr.com)
Tue, 20 Sep 2005 09:23:17 -0500 

Mary-Anne,

Thanks for the suggestions!

Looks like your posts still aren't getting to the C-H list :(  No 
idea what Vegeta is & will have to google it after send this.  Sure 
hope it isn't anything like Vegemite (which I got tricked into 
trying once by an evil antipodean)

More burrito making today...  different ingredients entirely.  Will 
have to chainsaw my way out of the driveway as a large branch fell 
during the night.  Need to go buy more tortilla wraps.

jt


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Mary-Anne Durkee
To: JohnT
Cc: chile-heads@globalgarden.com
Sent: Monday, September 19, 2005 1:45 PM
Subject: Re: [CH] Meatballs (thanks!)


Try a 50/50 ground beef and ground lamb mixture.  Awesome.  Also if 
you aren't familiar with Vegeta try it plus garlic, and add 
sparkling soda water (no flavour) just adds a lovely moistness and 
allows them to brown nicely if grilled.  Cevaps/Cevacici is made 
this way by the folks of Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, etc. 
My son-in-law is from there and taught us to make the cevaps.

Cevaps with lapinja (a flat Bosnian bread) is eaten with sour cream 
and hot ajvar (as in chiles) as their fast food.

Mary-Anne


On 9/19/05, JohnT <Love2Troll@kc.rr.com> wrote:
Meatballs start-up
http://www.fototime.com/F9CD7053EF42825/standard.jpg

Meatballs at aprox 2 hours
http://www.fototime.com/5BD70AA0045B8D7/standard.jpg

The smoker
http://www.fototime.com/9F45DD81DBDDC0D/standard.jpg


Smoked at a pretty steady 250° using lump charcoal and one nice
chunk (maybe 1 1/2 lb) of seasoned pecan wood.  The lump charcoal
burns a little hotter and a lot cleaner than briquettes...  with
absolutely no petrol taste.

The meatballs turned out quite well.  I made two batches & the first
batch is pictured above.  Took aprox 3 hours for each batch.  The
RisaG ones I smoked until internal temp of 167° and the DaveD batch
172° I think.

RisaG:

1 lb ground pork
1 lb ground chicken sausage (subbed ground Honeysuckle turkey)
2 eggs lightly beaten
4 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
4 cloves minced garlic
2 tsp dried oregano (crumbled)  (I used a tad less)
6 tbsp oat bran
2 grinds black pepper
2 tsp sea salt (I used only one)
    (I added 1/2 cup chopped Vidalia onions to her recipe)

All but the front row 5 meatballs were covered with Plochman's mild
yellow mustard before smoking.  Added a very light dusting of
Zatarain's Creole Seasoning on top of each.


DaveD:

1 lb ground beef  (I used 80/20 ground chuck)
1 lb ground pork
2/3 cup chopped onions
4 tbsp flour
2 tbsp fresh minced cilantro
1 tsp dried oregano (I used slightly less)
1/2 tsp ground cumin (I ground up cumin seeds)
2 eggs beaten
6 tbsp vegetable oil (I used canola)
I added 4 minced cloves garlic to the meatballs as didn't make his
sauce

The meatballs were covered with a 50/50 mixture of Plochman's
mustard and JimC's "General Hurtin'" hot sauce before smoking

Was very pleased at how the mustard/hot sauce worked in
combination...  even though 3 hours at a pretty steady 250° there
was still some heat and a lot of sauce flavor.  And I think some
chopped celery would work in both recipes.

Today will be out on the deck cooking the spaghetti and trying to
decide which sauce to use before rolling everything up into
burritos.   I have Classico Roasted Garlic, Bertolli Garlic Alfredo
and Mezzetta Roasted Garlic.

Some of you know that I practically live on Saran Wrap(ped) frozen
ho-made burritos.  Nuke for 2 minutes, remove the SW, slit them
across top lengthwise, add cheese sauce, hot sauce or whatever and
nuke for an additional minute.  Absolutely perfect for someone that
eats only one meal per day and only cooks a couple times per week.
Not sure how warming them up on my smoker will work at Open Field.
We will see.

And thanks again to Risa and Dave for the recipes!






-- 
Mary-Anne