Rib Tip Ideas: Mexican Meat Balls

I trim my spare ribs St. Louis style so I always have rib tip trimmings that I want to use.

Sure they are great in beans or cooked along with the ribs but sometimes you just want to do something different, right?



So I took tips and trimmings from 3 spare ribs and some scraps from a whole pork loin I had trimmed and ground them up. (I carefully removed bones and cartilage for a pork stock.)





After the first coarse grind, I split the meat into two portions. I saved one and used the other for this recipe. If you don't have rib tips sitting around you could just use 1.25 lb of ground pork

Holy Mole' Mexican Meat Balls
source: NibbleMeThis

Make 12 to 15 meat balls (I got 13) with

1.25 lbs ground pork
3/4 cup finely torn bread (I tore up leftover yeast rolls)
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp cumin, ground
1/2 tsp coriander, ground
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp red pepper flake



Make a mole' sauce:
Holy Mole Sauce
adapted from Alton Brown's Enchilada Sauce
3-4 cloves garlic, very finely minced
2 ea chipotle in adobo sauce, seeded and diced
2 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp roasted cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
6 oz can tomato paste
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups spicy pork stock
2 Tbsp turbinado sugar
1/2 ounce semi sweet chocolate

Make your sauce by simmering all of the sauce ingredients except 1 Tbsp sugar and the chocolate for 45 minutes. Since my sauce was heated up by the spicy pork stock I made, if you are using chicken stock or beef stock, add a tsp of red pepper flake. Shave the chocolate into the sauce and let melt. Taste for seasoning and add the 1 Tbsp of sugar and salt/pepper as needed.

Set your Egg up for direct heat at 350f. Add 1 Tbsp of oil and brown the meatballs (about 10 minutes).



Add the mole' sauce, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes.



Serve with rice and top with your favorite garnishes. I went with shredded cheese and chives.



We were all pretty impressed with this one. Not bad for using up scraps!

What are some of your favorite dishes made from scraps or leftovers?