Smoked meatballs with Middle Eastern flavors

[Henrik]

I said in a previous post that I was gonna get back to you with a recipe, and my mother taught me not to lie , so here we go.

The meatballs are done in the offset smoker (of course), and I cook the tomato sauce separate from the meatballs. I want maximum bark on the meatballs first. At the very end the two shall meet, and then I add some grated parmesan cheese for that loving touch.

I wanted to give these a slightly different flavor and I've been inspired by a chicken dish traditionally made in Israel called "Maklube". It contains cardamom and cinnamon, and I decided to use that in this recipe. It works very well

The meatballs are made extra juicy by first mixing cream with breadcrumbs to let the breadcrumbs soak up some of the cream. This mix is then added to the ground beef.


Serves: 4
Cook time: 45 minutes
Smoker temp: 120° C / 250° F


Ingredients

• 2.2 lb ground beef
• 7 tbsp cooking cream
• 1 tbsp bread crumbs
• 2 tsp cardamom
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp Good quality pork rub
• 1 can crushed tomatoes (400 grams)
• 3 oz grated parmesan cheese (or any other full flavored cheese)

Instructions

• Mix the cream with the bread crumbs in a small bowl and leave it for 5-10 minutes to let the bread crumbs soak.
• Put the rest of the ingredients (minus the tomatoes, cheese and bbq rub) in a bowl and blend well with your hands. Add the bread crumb and cream mix also.
• Shape the ground beef to 8 meat balls. They should be slightly bigger in size, 2-3 inches in diameter.
• Place the meatballs on a flat tray and sprinkle the bbq rub evenly on all sides. Lower edges is good => more smoke for the meatballs.
• Cook the tomatoes separately from the meatballs at first. At the end of the cook we add them all together.
• Place a few wood chunks on the glowing embers for smoke flavor, and place the tray with meatballs on the indirect side. Put the lid on and smoke the meatballs for 30 minutes. In the meantime, pour the tomatoes in a pan with 2" sides that will fit the meatballs. Place this on the grill also.
• When 30 minutes have passed it is time to move the meatballs from the tray and into the tomato sauce. Sprinkle cheese on top and smoke it for another 10 minutes. The meatballs should reach 56° C / 133° F internal temperature.

Meatballs, ready for the smoker. Tomato sauce on the side




Action shot




And here's the dish that I put on the table

[Rod]

Henrik What meat to fat ratio for the ground beef do you suggest?

Also, 133* F for the IT? Shouldn't ground meats be cooked to 160?

[Rod]

Bkhuna I'm definitely not going to grind my own and don't know where I can get it confidence it was processed safely. Henrik Used "off the shelf store bought". So 160 it shall be.

[Bkhuna]

Rod Do you have a food processor? Voilà, you can grind your own beef. Just stay away from those big chubs of pre-ground meat and you'll be okay. Go with your preference.

[Rod]

Bkhuna I have a Kitchen Aid with a grinding attachment. Just too much work.

[58limited]

That looks really good. I've lightly smoked meatballs before but I haven't done the sauce on the smoker.

[Bkhuna]

That looks great, definitely going onto the list to do. I have a nice bottle of harissa so I may try adding it. Thaks.

[Henrik]

Harissa is always a nice addition!

[RonB]

That looks great.

[efincoop]

I'm feeling the love from this recipe. I'm thinking I would like to try it with ground lamb! Thanks Henrik!

[Henrik]

Yes! That sounds like a winner!

[58limited]

efincoop Thanks for the lamb idea. Just happen to have some ground lamb that needs usin'

[efincoop]

58limited I can't wait to hear how it turns out!

[FireMan]

What a great idea, Middle Eastern meatballs! Also, the heavy Pitmaster touch of maximum bark on the MBs! Bravissimo!

[Henrik]

Thanks my man!

[bbqLuv]

Was that paired with Middle Eastern flavored Beer?

[Henrik]

No, I drank a Swedish beer. I have heard of one or two really good breweries in Jerusalem, haven’t tried it myself unfortunately.

[Rod]

Made them last night. Incredible flavor! Definitely a lot of umami. A few things though:

1. They were a little dry. I took them to an IT of 155-160 as I used store bought GB and wanted to be safe. Is that why they were a little dry?

2. I used half and half instead of cooking cream. Couldn't find it. A quick Google search seemed to result in it being a European thing. Could that have contributed to the dryness?

3. I didn't put the dish with the crushed tomatoes on for 30 minutes as I wasn't sure when to do it because I was targeting a hire IT and didn't want it to reduce down too much. So when I put the meatballs in it, it really cooled them down. The cheese took forever to melt because of this. Even then it didn't get super melty.

4. Used already grated cheese. Will grate my own the next time.

Again, super yum. I just need to make some tweaks to maintain some moisture.

[Henrik]

Awesome! Real glad you tried it! So, some feedback on your questions:
1. That internal temp is too high in my opinion -> main reason for "dryness"
2. Yes, cook the sauce from the start, there is very little reduction going on.
3. Cooking cream is also called double cream (in the UK), the main difference is that the cream I use has 36% fat, while the (single) cream is less fat. So, if you used cream with lower fat than 36% then yes, it may have contributed a little bit to the dryness.

[Wedunne]

I knew some Brits who used heavy whipping cream as a substitute for double cream in their Irish coffee. Could it be about the same thing?

[CaptainMike]

Nice cook! With the Middle Eastern touch are these to be referred to as "Swede-ish Meatballs"? (someone had to do it...)

[holehogg]

Now we know who that someone is.

[Henrik]

Ha ha! Thanks for being that someone :-)

[58limited]

Gotta finish the elk ribs I cooked then maybe I'll make these meatballs next - with lamb. Maybe serve on orzo (or a curry risotto), maybe pair it with a tagine of some sort. Ideas, ideas...

[SheilaAnn]

These look fantastic….. I did not see this post until just now.

Ironically: https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...A6#post1208761

[klflowers]

Very nice, Hank. Goes on the list. Wonder what good quality pork rub I should use??? Maybe

[Rod]

klflowers I used MMD.

[Henrik]

That’s what I used 😎

[Troutman]

Nice work Hank. I’m loving meatballs lately as well !!

[CaptainMike]

Makes me think of an old AC/DC song.

[58limited]

My meatballs are always bouncing to the left and to the right,
I think that my meatballs should be served every night.

I like Meatballs
I like Meatballs...


Yeah, been drinkin'

[58limited]

Finally got around to making these today. I used ground lamb and made the meatballs using Henrik 's recipe. I used my meatball tagine recipe (recipe #3: https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...tagine-recipes ) for the sauce and made a curry risotto as well. The only problem is that I pulled some stock out of the freezer, one unlabeled pint that I thought was chicken stock ended up being some drippings that were very salty and it ruined the risotto Otherwise the meatballs were good, I'll probably add some diced onions next time.

Smoked on the KBQ using oak and crepe myrtle



The tagine was the Inaugural cook on the OKJ Bronco



Plated with the risotto. Good but too salty so I threw out the rest of the risotto. I sprinkled some Pecorino cheese on it after taking the picture.





Lesson learned: Label Everything!!!

[SheilaAnn]

"Lesson learned…". Been there done that! What was salvaged looks mighty good, though.

[Henrik]

Looks great! I love that tagine pot, thanks for trying out the recipe! Yes, diced onions is always a nice addition to meatballs.

[58limited]

I have 4 tagine pots and I don't use them as much as I should. They are great for low and slow cooking.