POINK Balls!

POINK Balls!

Wha wha what?  What in the wide world of sports is a POINK Ball?  It all started when I saw a recipe on The BBQ Grail.  The recipe was for MOINK Balls - Moo + Oink = MOINK - basically the recipe called for (beef) meatballs wrapped in bacon and smoked slow and low.  Sounded great to me!  Tried it!  Possibly one of the best things I've ever put in my.... er.... they were awesome!

Lately I've been kinda more picky about my meats.  I'd like to get as fresh as possible and know what's in my meat.  Ground Beef can be anything - ground chuck is better - it has to be what it says on the label - ground beef is - well - beef - honestly, that sounds kinda generic.  Back to the story.

No ground chuck.  Drat!  There goes my whole idea of MOINK Balls.  Wait a minute - what about ground pork?  I'm already wrapping these bad boys in bacon so obviously, I'm down with pork.  Would they be called OINK Balls?  POINK just sounds funner.....  So.....

Ground Pork - 2.5lbs
Bacon - Thick Cut - 1lb
Seasoning - whatever you think would work!

I added about 6 table spoons of Kirkland (Costco) Sweet Mesquite Seasoning to the ground pork.  You can use whatever meatball recipe you have but I was keeping it simple.  No bread crumbs, no eggs, nothing special.  I was worried that the meatballs would fall apart but they didn't.  This worked fine.

 I tried to form the meatballs into 1oz balls but they kept getting bigger as I went so instead of fighting my urge, I rolled with it.  They ended up around 2oz I'm guessing - a little bigger than golf balls.

 I cut the bacon pack in half and wrapped each meatball with a 1/2 piece of bacon.

Upon further inspection, you can see that I did not mix the Sweet Mesquite into the ground pork very well.  Next time I promise to do better.

 I thought adding another layer of flavor wouldn't hurt - since I didn't mix the Sweet Mesquite in too well, this would add another pop of flavor - Simply Marvelous Cherry Rub.  Steph from Simply Marvelous doesn't pay me (he should) for these comments so straight from my heart - buy his products!  You will NOT be disappointed!  All of his dry rubs are - well - Simply Marvelous!

 I put a healthy amount of the Cherry rub on each POINK Ball - then I flipped them over for another coat.

 Don't be shy with the dry rub!










I smoked the POINK Balls on my Royall 3000 Pellet Grill @ 225 F.

Disclaimer - Meat, Inc. BBQ Team is proudly sponsored by Royall!

No Royall Pellet Grill yet?  You can cook these on any direct heat source: charcoal, gas grill, or even in the oven!



You might have noticed that I had a few pieces of bacon left over.  If I had made the meatballs the correct size, this probably wouldn't have happened - BUT - I'm not going to throw away the tastiest meat known to man.  Let's make a little Pig Candy!  Basically sprinkled some more Cherry Rub on both sides and put the strips of bacon on the grate.



After about 1 hour, I flipped all the POINK balls over.  Not really needed since I was cooking indirect but it's nice to see the grate marks on the meat.  After 1 hour the internal temp was about 145F.






After 2 hours or so, the internal temp was around 180F.  Overcooked for pork for sure but I wanted to make sure the bacon was completely done.  I was mostly determining the "doneness" by the look of the bacon but I like to take the temperature of my ......um..... I like to verify the temp of my .....er.... I have to see if the meat is done.



I plated the POINK Balls up with some Napa Cabbage Slaw topped with Pig Candy and a side of pork chops.  Now, that's a meal!

 I was a little worried that the pork meatball would be dry since the internal temp was so high but it was super juicy!  You can see the smoke ring penetrated almost all the way to the center.  You can also see my poor job if spice distribution in the ground pork but - I can't beat myself up forever!

Let's eat!