BBQ Bacon Wrapped Meatballs with a Campfire
This recipe can be adapted to processes involving an oven, deep-frying, a frying pan, a skillet, a wok, or even a lukewarm meatball from a microwave.
Equipment
- 1 campfire
- 1 roll of aluminum foil
- 1 mixing bowl
- 1 plastic container
- 1 pair of tongs
- 1 cutting board
- 1 chef or camp knife
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 1 pack sliced bacon
- 3 onions, fresh, large
- 1 stick celery, diced
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 3 dashes cumin
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp mixed herbs, italian oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, majoram,
- 1 egg, large
Instructions
- Peel your onions and slice them in half. The number of onion halves large enough to "house" your future meatball is the number of your meatballs. Set these halves aside on your cutting board.
- Whatever smaller onion halves you have left, dice. Put two handfuls into your mixing bowl.
- Crack your egg and add it to the mixing bowl. This will help your meatballs with in shaping.
- Add your uncooked ground beef to the mixing bowl.
- Dice your stick of celery and add dice celery to the mixing bowl.
- Add all spices to the mixing bowl evenly and while mixing everything with your hand or fork.
- Mix thoroughly until a claylike consistency is achieved. Once you're satisfied everything is mixed evenly, start shaping your meatballs into balls that would fit into your onion halves.
- Prepare yor bacon for wrapping. — remove your bacon from its packaging and separate each slice. Stretch out each slice over the meatball without tearing the bacon. Depending on the size of the bacon slices, 2-3 slices should cover the entire meatball. Repeat wrapping with all of your meatballs.
- Once your meatballs are bacon-wrapped, firmly press in each side of your onion halves to each meatball.
- Wrap each meatball individually in foil, and then place them inside of your plastic container. You're now ready for transit and preparation is complete.
- Once you've set up a campfire, you can choose to cook your meatballs-in-foil around the fire or directly on the dying embers of the fire. Note that in the first option, you can begin cooking right away, and in the second, cooking would take place after the fire has died down a few hours.
- If you want to cook the meatballs right away, then make sure there is a ring of stones around your campfire or a clear edge where the hottest flames cannot reach. Otherwise, you risk burning your recipe.As nearest to the edge of ash you can get to, place your meatballs-in-foil with your tongs. Cooking should take between 10-30 minutes depending on how strong your fire is, and where you have placed your meatballs. To check your meatball, decide wisely, for opening one too early may result in a less tasty meatball. Open the foil, slice into the center of the meatball and check that there is little to no pink coloring (or you can use a meat thermometer ~160° F).
- If you want to cook on the dying embers of your fire, this is one of the best recommended ways to get the best flavoring through your campfire. If you're chosen wood that's aromatic (smells good), it'll enchance your meatball significantly.Place one layer of aluminum foil directly on the embers of your fire (you can forego this step if you're confident no juices will leak from your original foil wrapping). Place your bacon-wrapped onion meatballs-in-foil on the foil to cook in the campfire.Cook for 10-20 minutes depending on the level of intensity of your fire. On checking your meatball, see the step above.