Thursday, March 14, 2013

One Bite Challenge - My Spin

Want an all expenses paid trip to the 2013 Memphis In May BBQ Contest?  Stay tuned until the end of this post. 

Just another reminder that the Kingsford Invitational BBQ contest will be on television March 17 on the  Destination America network at 10PM (Eastern).  That's this Sunday if you don't have a calendar handy.

That contest took the winners of 2012's biggest BBQ events (Memphis in May, Jack Daniels, American Royal, etc) and pitted them against each other for a winner take all $50,000 best of barbecue championship.  One of curve balls about this competition was a "One Bite Challenge" on the opening night.  Not only was this challenge worth a $5,000 bonus but it also gave them a massively important 1 point lead in the overall judging. 
The rules, from what I recall, were that the recipe had to pack in the most flavor
  1. In one bite
  2. with just 5 ingredients 
  3. cooked over a glowing bed of Kingsford coal fired grill in one hour. 
Here is what my attempt would have been in that event.   These are a spin on the "Turtle Eggs" that I normally do with pork sausage and bbq seasonings.  


Greek Turtle Eggs
yield:  12 appetizer portions

Ingredients
  • 1  lb ground chuck
  • 1.5 tsp Greek seasoning
  • 3 oz Neufchatel cheese 
  • 3 oz Feta cheese with tomato and basil
  • 3 oz Non-fat Greek yogurt
Instructions
  1. Preheat a charcoal grill to 400f.
  2. Mix together 1 oz feta cheese and 3 oz of Greek yogurt together in a food processor until thin and set aside.
  3. Make a quick beef sausage by mixing the ground chuck and 1.5 tsp of Greek seasoning.  
  4. Mix the cheese stuffing by mixing 4 oz of the neufchatel cheese and 2 oz of seasoned Feta.
  5. Divide the meat mixture into 12 equal ping pong ball sized portions (about 1.5 oz each) and press into  disks.   Top each disk with half teaspoon bit of the cheese mixture.  Bring up the edges and seal the seams.
  6. Grill over direct heat for 10 minutes in a grill pan, turning frequently after the first minute.
  7. Serve with the yogurt sauce.
The competitors played a little loose with Rule # 2 by counting things like "BBQ rub" or "Sweet Chile Sauce" as a single ingredient.  So I won't say that I was cheating here.  Let's just say that I "leveraged any ambiguity in the established guidelines in advantage of my favor" by using the Feta cheese that was already loaded with seasonings.


The patty should be the size of a thin small hamburger bun.

One method for cooking meatballs on the grill is a specialized basket.

Another method is using a basic grill pan.


Have an idea of what YOU would make if you had a great prize at stake?  Here is your chance.  Kingsford is giving one lucky winner a trip to the 2013 Memphis In May BBQ Contest.  Just go to Grilling.com and enter the One Bite Challenge giveaway.