Keiles BaconBowl 2010 Re-Cap

Okay, the Saints won. WHO DAT! But more importantly, WHAT DID WE EAT? Here’s the play-by play for the most incredible (and insane) Superbowl party I have ever attended.

Are you ready to attend the ultimate bacon bacchanal of Superbowl parties that has ever been seen by the likes of man? Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

The story essentially goes like this. Our friends Doug and Laura Keiles, who are competitive BBQ fanatics decide that they want to run a Superbowl potluck party where everyone has to bring bacon-themed or bacon-infused foods.

Sounds reasonable, seems like not that out of control an idea, except that we’re talking about the very same couple that decided to run a Halloween-themed Barbecue Bar-Mitzvah for their 13 year old son only a few months ago. So we expected utter chaos and insanity, and that’s how they like to roll.

Superbowl parties are generally chaotic, especially if a lot of people are coming over to the house. But this particular party had some rather interesting elements added to the mix, and not just because of the bacon theme (and there was indeed more bacon consumed at this event than human beings should ever be allowed). Virtually every recipe was untested, and even the main event, the smoked BBQ bacon and ribs were cooked on a brand-new, untested vertical-feed Superior Smoker.

Not only was every recipe and the cooking itself “Beta Testing” but the BBQ conditions weren’t optimal for a test run. Snowmageddon had just hit the East Coast the night before and it was freezing cold and windy outside in Hillsborough NJ, which added a lot of complexity to the already chaotic situation.

Doug Keiles, BBQ competitor, with his brand new, never used fire engine red Superior Smoker.

Doug is a KCBS judge as well as an award winning BBQ circuit competitor with his team Ribs Within. Here’s just one shelf of his awards.

And the other.

Doug opens up the smoker to check the meat. We’re noticing that there are some air flow issues due to the cold weather and the unit is cooking unevenly. With every new rig, it’s a brand new learning process for tweaking your ‘Q.

Time to spritz the meat to keep it moist. Doug uses an apple juice mop/baste, which is a good liquid for pork considering we we using Apple wood to smoke the meat.

We’re definitely not going to have a fuel problem.

The ribs on the top racks are shaping up well.

Time to take some off and see if they are fit for human consumption.

Yep I’d definitely say so.

Inside, the girls are working on desserts and Moinkballs, and chopping up LOTS of cooked bacon.

What’s a Moinkball? Well it stands for Moo+Oink, meaning a seasoned beef and pork mixture which is rolled into a meatball, usually wrapped in bacon and then grilled or smoked. This Moinkball mix was improvised, using mostly pork, pork sausage, with beef and bacon added with Doug’s special Ribs Within Texas rub spices.

Laura Keiles mixes the Moinkballs.

Doug wants to test out a new device, a Moinkballer. This is to hold the Moinkballs in place and to allow them to keep a round shape when cooking.

Moinkballs are wrapped in bacon and inserted into the Moinkballer for grilling.

The fresh bacon/pork bellies are sticking to the racks but they’ll turn out fine. Need to use a big spatula to get them off.

Spritz away!

Beautiful.

The pork bellies get pulled off the smoker and rest in the snow.

Grillin’ Moinkballs on the Big Green Egg.

Time to crisp them up on the grill.

A Bacon and Apple streudel topping is made for one of the desserts, a gluten free cake.

Which happens to be shaped like a football stadium.

Dark chocolate truffles, stuffed with bacon, flavored with cayenne pepper and chambord liqueur. These will later be rolled in cocoa powder before serving.

The guests begin arriving with their potluck dishes. This was a truly fantastic Pasta Fagioli Soup with LOTS of Pancetta bacon in it.

Here’s one of the three dish contributions Rachel and I made to the party. Two types of deviled eggs — the classic on the right with a bacon wedge, and to the left, my creation, an “Embryonic Chicken Wing” which has a strong Bleu cheese mixed in with the yolk and Frank’s RedHot sauce, garnished with Bleu Cheese, RedHot and Celery sticks.

Here’s how they came out on the platter.

Considering the amount of Bacon and Meats at the party we thought we should do a salad. This is a Spinach, Mushroom and Bacon salad with dried cranberries and spiced/candied pecans, with a simple vinaigrette dressing.

Our third contribution was stuffed fingerling potato skins, with a potato, bacon and cheese mixture topped with melted cheese. These went pretty quick.

The Moinkballs, looking pretty. Due to the heavy pork mix we decided to improvise on a Sake/Teriyaki/Hoisin/Mustard sauce with lime juice, to give it a nice acidic punch and Asian flavor. The result? Moinkiyaki.

Ribs being cut up.

Riblets being cooked on the Big Green Egg.

Everyone loves Bacon Wrapped Lil’ Smokies.

Shrimp with a Bacon and Brown Sugar dipping sauce.

Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus.

This is one of my favorite dishes brought, a “Jambalaya” of rice with pigeon peas, mixed with Italian Sausage, Bacon, Onions and Peppers. Puerto Rican-Italian Fusion.

Jambalaya portion closeup.

Game Time!

Hey, are you guys watching the game or just eating? Go Saints!