2020 NFL Draft Tailgate Special

2020 NFL Draft Tailgate Special

Not only do we like to talk about Football and the Lions we also like food, and in particular BBQ. Until this year I was a Competitive BBQ Cook. I would travel around the Midwest doing BBQ comps on most weekends from May-October. We will share some recipes and tips from time to time that you can do in your backyard or at your next tailgate.

For the Draft I have come up with an easy yet unique menu to get you through the weekend of watching the Draft.

Appetizer

This one goes way back in the BBQ world; we call it a Moink Ball. It is a bacon wrapped meatball that you can smoke or grill and is a very flavor bite. Your will need:

1 lb of your favorite bacon. Try to stay away from thick cut as it takes longer to cook

1 1lb bag of traditional meatballs. Do not use Italian Style

1 Shaker of your favorite bbq rub. I use a rub called Smoking Guns Hot.

1 bottle of your favorite bbq sauce. I use Blues Hog Original

Toothpicks, enough for the amount of meatballs you have

Directions:

Cut the bacon into thirds (measure using a meatball and wrap a full piece of bacon around it once to get the length you need)

Wrap the bacon around the meatball and stick a toothpick through the bacon and meatball so it is all the way through. The toothpick will hold the bacon on the meatball. Do this for all the meatballs that you want to make.

Using your favorite rub, season the meatballs and bacon on all sides. Once you do that set aside and fire up your grill or smoker. I like to throw a chunk of Cherry wood into the fire right before I put the meatballs on.

The trick here is to get the bacon done the consistency you like. I like using the indirect method on my Weber Kettle and shoot for about 350 degrees.

I put the moinks on a tray with holes in the bottom, they are made to grill veggies so they don’t fall through the grates. This work sperfect for the moinks. I place the tray on the cool side of the grill and shut the lid. I check them about every 15 minutes and give them a little turn. Once the bacon is done to the consistency that you like (some like it more crisp than others), usually around 30 minutes or so (the meatballs are pre-cooked so they just need to be heated through to at least 140 degrees) get your favorite sauce and a brush and glaze the sauce onto the moinks. Be sure and get all sides. Once that is done close the lid and let the sauce tack up real good for about 5-10 minutes. Pull them out, let them cool off a bit and dig in!! You have made Moink Balls. You can serve with a bowl of bbq sauce for extra dipping.

Main Course (sort of)

Grilled/Smoke Bologna – This takes plain ole bologna and turns it into a flavor explosion!! You will need:

1 1lb chunk of bologna. You need uncut bologna. You can usually find this in your grocery store in the cold cuts section, if not ask the deli for a 1 lb chunk

1 shaker of your favorite bbq rub – For this I use Butcher BBQ Wild Cherry Rub

1 bottle of your favorite bbq sauce – For this I use Blues Hog Original BBQ Sauce

Directions:

You can put your knife skills to work here and score your chunk of bologna down the length of the chunk several times and then score around the chunk if you would like or you can leave it whole.

Season the chunk of bologna (remember to take the covering off if there is one) with your favorite rub.

Using the same method as above for the moink balls, put the chunk of bologna on the grill again using the indirect method. I am looking for 350 degrees, if I was doing this in a smoker, I would be at 250 degrees and it would be fine, it would just take a little bit longer.

The time it takes to cook will vary but since it is already cooked, I go by color, usually after about an hour I have reached the color I am looking for.

Glaze the bologna with the bbq sauce, again making sure to cover the whole piece of bologna. Let it tack up on the grill for 5-10 minutes.

You can cut it up into smaller chunks for snacking or I like to cut a nice thick piece off and while my grill is still hot put it right on the grill and grill it up for a few minutes each side, put a piece of cheese on it and make fried bologna sandwiches. These are not your mom’s sandwiches!!

Dessert

Grilled Strawberry Shortcake – The grilled shortcake adds a whole new layer of flavor.

This is actually a pretty simple dessert, use your favorite strawberry shortcake recipe to make the strawberry mix (strawberries and sugar usually). But use an Angel food cake for the cake piece.

You will need:

Strawberry Mix

Angel Food Cake

Whipped Topping

Again, using your grill and setup for indirect cooking at around 350 degrees – slice the angel food cake into the sizes you want to serve. Place the angel food cake pieces (1 or 2 pieces at a time) on the grill near the fire, not directly on top but near. This will go fast so stay alert. Once you get a good golden brown color on one side (about 30 – 45 seconds) turn to the other side and so on. The grill will caramelize the sugars in the Angel Food Cake. Pull from the grill and cover with the Strawberries and whipped topping and enjoy!!