Carolina BBQ Meatballs

[TasunkaWitko]

Smoke 'em, if you want to - they'll be even better!

Carolina BBQ Meatballs

For 16 meatballs:

1 lb. ground pork
1 tsp brown sugar, honey or sugar substitute
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp celery salt
1 egg
1/4 cup bread crumbs or almond flour
1 Tbsp water

For the BBQ sauce

1/4 cup yellow mustard
2 tsp Frank's Hot Sauce
1 Tbsp dried onion flakes
3 Tbsp brown sugar, honey or sugar substitute
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp ketchup
salt and pepper to taste

Start the sauce first so the flavors have time to develop while you are making the meatballs.

For the sauce.

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan, stirring until smooth. Simmer on low heat for about 8 minutes.

For the meatballs

Combine all of the meatball ingredients in a medium bowl and mix thoroughly. Form into 16 meatballs. In a large, nonstick saute pan, fry the meatballs over medium heat until golden on all sides and cooked through. About 3 - 4 minutes per side. Toss the meatballs gently in the sauce, then spread on a parchment lined baking sheet and broil (carefully!!) for 2 - 3 minutes.

Ron's notes:

These were good! The cumin was interesting and the acidity was on point, giving it the Carolina ambiance. I thought the ketchup would be too much, but it worked well, for sure. We used celery seed rather than celery salt, and chili powder rather than cayenne. Other than that, it was by the book and I liked it. It really was a bit like having Carolina pulled pork - not the same, but reminiscent of it.

For a side, we had a sort of "broccoli slaw," shown here:

http://www.greengiantfresh.com/value-added/broccoli-slaw

Topped the slaw with a homemade Italian sauce, and we were good to go.

Definitely worth a try as-is. I'm sure that a person could improvise it a bit to tweak it if they want, but it's really not necessary.

 

[applescrap]

Switch pork for beef and don't make the sauce and you basically have my hamburger recipe. I can see why people call them a meatloaf sandwich. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I took a screenshot to make that sauce

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Let me know how it turns out - we had these again last night - only difference was that we formed patties and grilled them. Very good!

 

[casualbrewer]

Some people here in SC will add a bit of grape jelly to the sauce... Looks good though

 

[TasunkaWitko]

You're the third person from South Calinky to mention this - there must be something to it, so I will definitely give it a try sometime!

 

[unionrdr]

Eastern NC has the vinegar sauce with hot pepper flakes & the mustard sauce with vinegar. Had both, pretty good on the right stuff. And celery seed, garlic & onion powders are always better than the salts, which are always mostly salt. Too much salt for my tastes. And is it just me, or does it feel like a Sunday afternoon to anyone else?