Molten Meatball Recipe

I like to make my meatballs from scratch. They aren't complicated and they always come out much better than frozen ones. Recently, I decided to spice them up a little bit with some habaneros I had laying around and, bingo. A new favorite to share! These can be used for spaghetti or finger food cooked in the crock pot. Depending on the peppers you use, this will leave you and your guests saying "Mamma mia, that's-a spicy meat ball-a!"

*1 lb lean ground beef
*1 cup Italian bread crumbs
*1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
*1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
*1/4 teaspoon black pepper
*2 garlic cloves, minced fine
*4-6 habanero peppers, minced fine
*1 egg, beaten

Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix well, allowing all ingredients to disperse evenly in the meat. Depending on the size of meatball desired, take 2 to 4 tablespoons-worth of mixture and tightly roll it into a ball. Spread meatballs out on a cookie sheet and put it on center rack in oven. Broil for 5 minutes or until the meatballs start browning on top. Then place the oven on 350 for 10-15 minutes. Serve on top of spaghetti then coat with sauce.

Tips:
Wear gloves. Replace the habaneros in the recipe with any peppers you prefer. This recipe can be used with meatballs cooked longer in sauce or in crock pot without cooking in the oven first. I prefer the above method for a quicker meal but both come out great.

Hot Sauce For The Homeless

I have been creating my own sauces and rubs for a few years now. We use them in BBQ competitions and I have given them away to several friends, coworkers and fellow chiliheads. Thanks to popular demand, I decided to test the market with some sales and see what the public thinks. I created a name and a website for my creations: The Pepper Mart The reviews have been great so I began the process of making The Pepper Mart a true company but all the research made me dizzy. In the state of Tennessee, it is a very deep, expensive and time-consuming process to get a food manufacturing company up and running. I feel as if I have great products and I hold the recipes close to my heart. Pondering the idea for many months, I got a new calling that was more valuable of my time than spending it trying to make a profit of my own.

My brother and I are BBQ nerds. We love to cook it a lot more than eating it. You won't find either of us at a local BBQ restaurant very often and if we are, it's mostly experimental only or entertaining people from out of town. Since we love to cook it but not consume it, what do we do with all this meat? We thought of ideas about donating it to homeless shelters or St. Jude houses but a lot of these places cannot accept home-cooked foods. I branched out even more and began the process of creating a non-profit organization that cooks for local charities. This past Thanksgiving, we did our first cook, smoking 200 lbs of turkeys for a local organization called "Eat Memphis". Along with sides that we provided, we fed over 160 people in need and it was some good grub! Lots of people got great meals that day and I instantly fell in love with this concept.

Eat Memphis then asked me again for help with feeding people for Christmas on 12/23. The non-profit is still under the registration process so instead of asking for donations or funding the cook myself, I've decided to sell smoked hams for $25 on my Pepper Mart website, calling it Hams For The Homeless All sales made will go directly to a fund that will purchase the same hams which I will smoke for the cook on the 23rd. It then dawned on me that I should dedicate my Pepper Mart sales directly to this fund as well. I changed my vision and modified the website to reflect it. Every sale is a donation to feeding someone in need. I make nothing myself so all the time spent making the great products is from my heart to help those who need it the most. To me, the best thing in the world is to give and make people happy. What better way to warm someone's heart than warming the mouth of a chilihead?!

So place an order for some sauces, rubs, seeds and/or a ham. Someone out there needs your support and this is one tasty way of doing so!! See the links below for more information.

http://www.thepeppermart.com
http://www.hamsforthehomeless.com

Spicy Simplicity

Alex's Tavern
1445 Jackson Avenue
Memphis, TN
(901) 278-9086

For a long time now, I have been hearing about this dive bar on Jackson Ave that is famously known as Alex's Tavern. Many people claim it to have the best burger and hot wings in town. I tried several times to make my way there but it never seemed to work out with my schedule. Recently, I had a small window of opportunity. I went with it and it landed me on a bar stool at Alex's this previous Friday night.

I was told that this is a lunch or late-night hangout and there would be no crowd when I went. That was fine with me because I'm not a big fan of cigarette smoke anymore and felt like 8 PM was the best time to go. As it turned out, I was the only one in Alex's around that time so my journey there ended up being the most time-consuming part of the evening. I ordered one of “the coldest beers in town”, which was a Natural Light draft served in a cup for $3. The college kids who frequent Alex’s Tavern probably feel right at home with the red Solo cups filled with cheap beer.

I noticed the “World Famous Greek Burger” ad on the banner above the bar with prices written on tape underneath the title. Although I came here for wings, I wanted to see what the burger hype was all about. The menu was simple with only a few options for a late night crave. I then noticed that they didn’t take debit cards (cash only) so I counted my bills. I didn’t have enough so after a $3 ATM fee in the back of the bar, I placed my order for a burger. Since I was the only one there, it came out quickly and I indulged in it. I was impressed with the tenderness of the patty. Not much chewing necessary as it went down with ease. The fries were pretty good as well. Everything was sprinkled with Greek seasoning, which I tend to do myself at home so that was nice. I finished my beer and placed my wing order, telling the bartender to make them as hot as they can. They, too, came out quick. I said goodbye to Alex’s and made my journey home.

When I got to the house, I figured I would only eat a few and save the rest for later. The burger and fries was a huge meal in itself. I opened up the container and noticed that they were all drummies, 8 of them to be exact. They were very large. I paid $10 for this order which was very steep for what I received. I then hoped they blew me away with flavor to make up for it. I quickly found them not to be very hot at all. Rather, more of a spicy hot than any sort of heat. I’m guessing that they make their own sauce which did have an incredible flavor, just not very hot for my desire. I ended up eating all of them because they were really good. They were perfectly fried and overall I was impressed. I just wasn’t pleased about paying that much for an order of wings that, to me, weren’t a whole lot better than what I can get elsewhere. I’m sure they are much better at 3 AM after a night out on the town but for dinner, the journey was simply not worth it to me. I do not consider these to be the best wings in Memphis like so many people have claimed them to be. They were great wings, nonetheless, and maybe a late-night wing binge will land me on that bar stool again in the future.