Cowboy Meatballs with Cowboy BBQ Sauce

Now having meatballs in anything other than Italian Gravy is well, not right. Meatballs are supposed to be covered in thick, rich tomato sauce and loaded up with melted cheesy goodness.  Well wait, let me restate that…  I’m talking about those big fat honkin’ meatballs that go with pasta or on a hoagie roll. Appetizer sized meatballs are fair game.  I mean I’ve given you tons of meatball recipes here ranging from Protein Packed to Asian style. All are awesome.  But when someone brings out a tray of fat meatballs covered in sauce, you assume they are the Italian Style. I’ll be the first to admit, I assumed incorrectly.

See we were at a friend’s house for the holidays and she had a spread that could feed an army. She kept saying “Oh Lori, you have to try my meatballs.”  Now I love a great meatball and there have been very, VERY few meatballs I like that I didn’t make.  But I was more than happy to try them. 
As I came up to the plate I gave a perplexed face as they weren’t “normal” meatballs.  These were big and fat but covered in a deep, deep almost burgundy colored thick sauce.  However, I’m always anxious to try new stuff so I put one on my plate. 

I asked what was in it (I mean I didn’t want to eat funky meat – like venison *shudder*) but she assured me it was all beef.  I cut it down and took a forkful of meatball and sauce.  Seriously, people, this flavor was incredible!  Thick, rich, smokey and all kinds of BBQ-y.  It was really, REALLY good! 

So good I ate 3. Being who I am I asked what was in it and she said it was her secret recipe.  Knowing how recipes are coveted I respected that and didn’t ask anymore.  However, see what most people don’t know about me is that I have a very sensitive palate and can pick apart a dish easily figuring out what’s all in it. 

I had to recreate these.  I grabbed another, took it into Mr. Fantabulous and asked him to taste it.  This was more so for selfish reasons than anything – I wanted him to taste that dish and when I recreated it, tell me if I was spot on or still missing something.  Now I never make it taste exactly the same as I may tweak it a bit.  I mean I can but while her meatball was great, I wanted awesome.

A few days later I couldn’t shake my craving for those meatballs.  So I sat down and started working on my version of her recipe.  I started with a list of the ingredients I picked out but one thing that was stumping me was they were so unbelievably tender. 

This one made me sit and think for a while.  It wasn’t a seasoning but rather it had to be a liquid.  It wasn’t oil or a fat so it had to be milk perhaps?  THEN IT HIT ME!  My Mom used to use evaporated milk to tenderize cuts of beef when they were particularly tough.  She’d even put it in her meatloaf as well.  Hmmm… I wonder.

Wonder no more!

These meatballs were… hold on, let me sit here for a minute with my eyes closed and think about how heavenly they were.  The flavors were seriously some of the best flavor combinations I’ve ever tasted.  And once again Mom came through as her technique of using evaporated milk was exactly the trick to get these meatballs super, super tender.  Now when I make my meatballs I pan sear them first then I finish baking them in the oven.  I don’t like baking meatballs in sauce as the sauce tends to get oily, even with the leanest of beef. Plus to me, I think pan-searing them keeps the juices inside while they bake.

Just look how thick and rich the cowboy bbq sauce turned out.  It’s sultry and smokey with the lip smackin’ taste that makes you wanna go out and wrangle the wild west. 

This sauce is a true winner and will definitely be posted later on separately.  I have a bunch of ideas of how I want to use this in other dishes.

Now what I love about this recipe is that it’s pretty much 2 recipes in one.  One of the meatballs that you can use in other dishes (you can even make it as a meatloaf!) and the cowboy bbq sauce which I have tons of plans for!

The sauce I have to say I nailed on my first attempt.  It’s really, really simple to make and my God it’s amazing!  When I’m creating a recipe I will make a single batch first. 

I made one meatball and after it was done it was good BUT it was missing something.  It didn’t have that over the top WOW factor.  So I tweaked the recipe a bit, added a little of this, a smidge of that and a new spice.  I made another meatball and WOO HOO!  WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER… er um meatball dinner! LOL

So *I* knew they were amazing but I had to see Mr. Fantabulous’ reaction. So I put one on a plate for him and now unlike me where I would sit and look at the food, examine it and yes, most likely smell it.  Not him, he either inhales whole OR he cuts in half and then inhales.  So I made that almost fatal mistake of sticking my hand in front of his fork-to-mouth route and wouldn’t let him take the 2nd bite.  I wanted a comment.  He looked at me, grunted and huffed.  LOL,

I said, “Honey, really taste these, please.”  So he then decided to cut the remaining half into TEENY pieces and eat them one by one dragging it on forever! Needless to say, he was pushing my buttons.  Big brat! 

He finally said “Wow baby, these are really good!  These almost taste like those ones at the party but these are so much more flavorful.  The sauce is awesome and they are super tender! Did she give you her recipe?”  I grinned and said “Nope, you know I can recreate dishes. I studied the flavors while I was eating them and then went from sensory memory.”  Apparently he tuned me out over my big explanation as all he said was “Can I have more?”

Men!  LOL  But these are one of the best meatballs I’ve had in a long, long time!  And that sauce!  Dear Sweet Home on The Range Cowboy Lovin’ Yumminess!

With all of the big games going on right now, these would be PERFECT to serve!

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