Chipotle Bacon Bombs

 Grandville's Cajun
Gourmet BBQ Sauce

Chipotle Bacon Bombs

My friend Tony, the Sailorman, came down for a visit last week. Patti went to see a friend. That left two guys, a BBQ and a refrigerator of beer. Man Food. We didn’t ever think of any kind of sides or veggies. That’s Patti’s department. Just BBQ and lots of it. I also trimmed up a beef tenderloin and put it on skewers, ate as it came off the grill.

I have been thinking of doing something with meatballs for some time now. I just hadn’t found the time to make and cook the meat balls. Then I saw where Larry Gaian’s post on Sizzle on the Grill where he said “The key to this appetizer is the simplicity. Some people want to make fancy meatballs, but it isn’t necessary.”

Duhhhh…

Well that was me all right. Patti got me a 10 pound bag of the best frozen meatballs she could find. Liking things with a little ZING I gave them a good sprinkling of Chipotle chili powder and used Grandville’s Cajun BBQ sauce. Grandville’s Cajun is about a 7 or 8 in ZING.

Larry calls his Moink Balls, I call mine Chipotle Bacon Bombs. I have Larry’s original here followed by mine. The only difference is the chipotle and the grills. But it’s all fun and all really good!

This makes a good tailgater for the super bowl to.

By the way, Patti and I are also contributing Guest Chefs of Sizzle on the Grill.

LARRY GAIAN'S ORIGINAL MOiNK BALLS
FROM SIZZLE ON THE GRILL, NOVEMBER - 2009

The key to this appetizer is the simplicity.  Some people want to make fancy meatballs, but it isn’t necessary.  After smoking, saucing and with the bacon most people can’t tell.  The important part is that it’s beef meatballs and bacon.  That’s what a MOINK Ball is.

The term 'Moink' comes from two sources of barbeque cooking and eating pleasure, beef and pork. I first came up with these when I was preparing a catering job and felt I needed something more. I had some frozen meatballs and plenty of bacon - so beef meatballs with bacon. MOO (Beef) + OINK (Pork) = MOINK - Larry

Prep time: just a few minutes for a dozen or so
Cook time: until the bacon is crispy

Ingredients
1 dozen frozen pre-cooked beef meat balls
6 strips of your favorite bacon, cut in half to make 12
Your favorite BBQ sauce or glaze

Directions

   1. Place meatball in center of bacon pieces and wrap bacon up and around thawed meat balls - secure with a toothpick out of the top - makes a great handle on an appetizer tray
  
2. Place the Moink Balls on oven safe trays or racks

3. Set trays in cooker, smoker or grill (set for indirect heat) and registering approximately 225F degrees

4. Leave in place - checking about every 30 minutes - turn or adjust individual MOINK Balls as necessary.
  
5. Cook until bacon is crisp.  Brush with sauce and continue cooking for 20 minutes or until sauce has set.

The key to this appetizer is the simplicity.  Some people want to make fancy meatballs, but it isn’t necessary.  After smoking, saucing and with the bacon most people can’t tell.  The important part is that it’s beef meatballs and bacon.  That’s what a MOINK Ball is.

Larry Gaian The BBQ Grail is a well-know barbeque expert and contributing Guest Chef of Sizzle on the Grill

You can see more from Larry at: http://thebbqgrail.com  or http://www.charbroil.com 

Ready For the Grill

Prep Time: 10 minutes, Patti made them before she left for Marie’s

Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Grill: Traeger

Pellets: Hickory

Ingredients: Chipotle Bacon Bombs

24 frozen pre-cooked beef meatballs, thawed
     (you can do more or less)

1 Lb. bacon, sliced in half.

Toothpicks

Chipotle Chili powder

Grandville’s Cajun BBQ sauce

Directions: Chipotle Bacon Bombs

Cut bacon in half, I find that kitchen shears are the easiest for cutting bacon. Then take a piece of bacon and wrap it around the meatball and hold it in place with a toothpick.

Then season to taste, you can use whatever you like and as much. I like Chipotle. Put them on a platter and head for the grill. I let them “Cold Smoke” for 30 minutes before turning the heat up to 300.

Cooking Directions: Traeger

Open the lid and set the dial to “Smoke”, after about five minutes shut the lid. Give it about 10 minutes to heat up. Patti has lined the drip pan with foil for me, it makes for easier clean up. Place your meatball directly onto the grill and just let it hang out in the smoke and get happy for 30 minutes or so.

After 30 minutes, turn the digital control up to 300 degrees for 15 minutes. You should have a temperature around 310 at the stack or dome thermometer. Then brush them with your BBQ sauce, roll them and brush them again. Leave them on 300 for another 15 minutes then turn them back down to smoke for 15 minutes. This is when the bacon is crisp and the sauce does its magic. 

Note: I use a spray bottle when cooking on the grill filled with a Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke mix that keeps things moist and adds tons of flavors. (Mix is 3 parts Worcestershire with 1 part liquid smoke)

Note: I get a lot of questions about the kind of pellets you can use with a recipe. Keep in mind that a recipe is just an outline. Some you need follow closely like when you are making bread, but most you can do anything you can dream, our favorite way to cook. Feel free to mix and match the pellets until you find a combination you really like.

Directions: Gas Grill
Preparing Grill: Medium- Low Indirect Heat

Preheat your grill to medium heat (250-300) and turn off one side so you will be cooking with indirect heat here for about 45 minutes, or until your bacon is crisp... Add your wet hickory chips over the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this. (Note: you can add your hickory directly to the grill or you can use foil smoke packets.(Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.)

Note: I use a spray bottle when cooking on the grill filled with a Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke mix that keeps things moist and adds tons of flavors. (Mix is 3 parts Worcestershire with 1 part liquid smoke)

Preparing Charcoal Grill

Get the grill ready, you will want your temperature of around 250-300 degrees. Remember, you are going Medium Indirect Heat here for about 45 minutes, or until your bacon is crisp. Bank your coals over to one side of your grill. Add your “drained wood chips” and you are good to go. Your cooking times and temps will be the same as above.

About our Recipes

We do our recipes on our patio where we have a lineup of grills. Including, Traeger, Charmglow, Char-Broil, Brinkman and Weber. We call it our “Wall of Grill”. Our grilling styles will fit pellet heads, gas, and natural wood and even charcoal purists. Almost any of our recipes can be done on any kind of good grill.

The important thing to keep in mind is TIME & TEMPERATURE. You can even do some of them in the oven or crock pot.  But, then you lose all the flavors you get from cooking outdoors. However, sometimes it does rain.

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste.

Take it and run with it….

Enjoy,

Ken & Patti

Hey, if you are interested in learning more about Traeger Grills or for fine meats and sausages for your grill, go see Jacob. He is a Sausage Meister and we are not kidding. If you get a chance, go and see him. It will be a fun day trip. (Take an ice chest; we always fill up a big one.) Or check him out @ www.tandhsausage.com
or call him 760 471- 9192.

For REAL GOOD BBQ Sauce check out
Grandville’s Gourmet BBQ Sauces 

Steve 360 943 2861 @ www.grandvillesbbqsauces.com

I really like Grandville’s Gourmet BBQ sauces. First thing you think is that I am paid to say this. Wrong, I have NO PAID ADS on our site at this time. But, I am lucky enough that a few folks think well enough of our site that they have sent us samples to review. To me it is real simple, the things I don’t care for I don’t use and you don’t hear about. The Good Stuff (Hot & Spicy) I use a lot. If folks keep sending it, I’ll keep using it. We have no problem with any one sending money either … LOL.