Black Eyed Pigz

Archive for March, 2009

It’s sad but true friends, we’re not cooking this weekend.  This is the first real chance we get to beautify the backyard for the upcoming bbq season.  It’s time to clean up dog droppings, rake up any remaining leaves, dust off the patio furniture and freshen up the mulch.  Oh, and I have to finish the deck railing soon too.

So in the interest of party prep, the smoker will stand silent this weekend.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked, it started raining halfway into the day and the camera costs more than I care to replace.

I will be posting the photos I did get soon, and they’ll be in our upcoming Photo Gallery so you can have a look at the awesome results.  I wound up cooking a 9lb pork shoulder, 1 rack of spare ribs, and just shy of 2 dozen wings.  We made a citrus beer marinade for the wings, and poured the mesquite smoke to ‘em.

It was so much food that 2 days later I still have a week’s worth of leftovers.  We haven’t eaten anything but pork, ribs and wings for the last 3 days.  It’s just THAT good!

I did learn that my coal grate in the firebox is worn out and I had to keep stoking the coals to keep them burning hot enough, they couldn’t get any air underneath them to maintain on their own.  So there’s a project for next weekend.  I have a cast iron grill grate laying around, and I’ll be hooking up the grinder to cut it down to size here soon.

All told, we had everything on the menu, and continue to eat from it.  Total cost in food was under $40 and charcoal came in at about $25 with anoter $8 in wood chunks for smoke flavor.

For less than $75, we’re able to feed a family of 6 for almost an entire week and one day’s cooking.  Normally, we do this much food for a party of 8 people on top of our 6 family members and still have some leftovers for the week.

I do these cooks once in a while just to stay in practice for the friend get togethers and the upcoming tailgating seasons.

I suggest that you should be out there cooking now too, make sure all your equipment and recipes are in order and you’ll be set for the season!

Smoke on!

Just 6 hours away from starting the big cook today folks. I’ll try to take as many photos as humanly possible with two hands covered in pork drippings. Here’s hoping YOU’RE planning your first cook of the Spring!

First and foremost, I am NOT a beer snob.  I drink Miller Lite, Miller Genuine Draft and the occasional Bud Select.  I’ve never been a huge fan of craft brew, micro-brew or any other brew for that matter. 

It’s not that I have anything against Samuel Adams, for example, but I just don’t like to have to think about the flavors I’m tasting when chugging down a cold one.  

And for that matter, some people don’t like beer at all.  They prefer wine, whisky, etc.  And that’s great too.  I’m all for hearing about your fave beverages on cookout day!

But I’d like to hear what you have to say on the subject.  Be nice, you may hate Miller beer, but you don’t have to slam it.  Just tell us why you like what YOU like.  Maybe we can even work up a beer review section?

Tailgating.  A ritual of the sporting seasons.  And luckily enough, there’s always a sporting season going on in America!

But why do we do it?  What’s the draw?  What’s the compulsion to cook behind your car, in a parking lot outside of a stadium?  Surely you can purchase something to eat INSIDE the stadium or ballpark or racetrack.  And some of the professional venues have menus that rival those of 4-star restaurants.

And it’s not just about the cost.  Sure it’s expensive to go to a game, purchase a ticket, pay for parking and then get your refreshments, but most of us don’t mind, it’s like a mini vacation.

And that’s where I believe the compulsion for tailgating comes from.  The Mini-Vacation!  

Let’s face it, in our world of constant connectivity, we’re busier than ever.  Sure, we may not work 12 - 16 hour days like our ancestors did, but we’re always ON!  On the phone, on the internet, on the iPhone, on the Blackberry, On the road, On the way to somewhere or another, and we just don’t have the leisure time we would like.  Even when we do manage a day off, we tend to spend it catching up on household chores, family committments, personal errands, etc.  There’s just not enough leisure time to go around anymore.

Since nobody is going to give up on their electronic leashes anytime soon, we have to make a party out of any leisure time we do get.  That starts with a trip to the game!  Whether you’re into football, baseball, basketball, hockey, auto racing or something else, you make a day out of a trip to that event.  You plan it for weeks, and you invite as many good friends as you can get to go along.  It’s party time!

Now, you could probably make due with some sandwiches, chips and a cooler of beer, but that’s not enough to call it a tailgate PARTY.  That’s just a bunch of guys having lunch.  So we start bringing out the grills, the hot plates, the rechargeable blenders and we make an event into an EVENT!

Food has always brought people together, and the more food you have, the more people you can bring together.  We enjoy our friends’ company, we enjoy having nothing more to worry about than possibly burning the bratwurst or running low on beer.  We enjoy ENJOYMENT.  

So, at each professional sporting venue, or even college level, you’ll find a sea of tailgaters and their pals hanging out around a portable grill with a television or radio playing the highlights from the day’s other games.  Some will be playing a game of touch football, others will be tossing the baseball back and forth, but everyone will be having a great time, eating great food and just RELAXING.

Share your stories of tailgating, your recipes and your ideas with us here at Black Eyed Pigz.  You can respond in our comments section or you can use the Contact Us link at the bottom of the site.  We look forward to tailgating online with you, our newest friends

There are alot of options out there for fueling your BBQ cooker/pit.  They range from the standard Briquet Charcoal to Lump Charcoal to Wood and sometimes even Propane or Natural Gas.

I’ve never BBQ’ed using Propane or Gas, I don’t see how you can keep the temperature down low enough using that as your fuel source.  Some have, and have had great success with it, but I am not one of them.  I used to use propane for grilling a long time ago.  It’s fast, but it’s not for me.

Now onto the different types of solid fuel:

Briquet Charcoal - ie: Kingsford Charcoal
Briquets serve a purpose and I have used them with varying degrees of success.  My biggest problem with this type of charcoal is that it’s a conglomeration of materials.  It’s not JUST wood.  There’s clay filler and such in there and it makes for a huge mess of ashes to clean out when you’re done.  It is, however, always available most anywhere, and great for grilling.   But for BBQ, I prefer something more natural, and less processed.  The briquets seem to lose that natural wood flavor from the processing method.

Lump or Natural Hardwood Charcoal - ie: Original Charcoal Company
Now this stuff, I just love.  It’s natural hardwood charcoal that hasn’t been mashed into a powder and formed into little briquets.  It’s real wood.  Period.  Different varieties of hardwood are used for this, but it results in a more durable flame, less ashes and a mild hint of smokey flavor imparted to your meat.

Wood - ie:  wood
I’ve never cooked solely with wood, though I use chunks of apple, mesquite, etc to SMOKE my food with while using Lump Charcoal.  This is a great fuel if you have a big enough fire box.  The trick is to get it burning, then let it die down to a smolder.  This cooks out any impurities and nastiness that might be left in the wood, prior to putting it near your food.  

More to come, but this is just a quick overview.  I will try to get more info for you regarding these fuel sources.

Alot of people get these two terms confused.  I hear people tell me all the time, “Come on over we’re going to BBQ this weekend!” only to get there and find out they’re firing up the propane grill and burning burger meat and tube steak.

This isn’t BBQ folks.  That’s called GRILLING.  There’s a distinct difference.

For the outdoor cooking impaired, I’ll break it down for you:

BBQ, or Barbecue, or Bar-B-Q is not just a sauce you pour over something.  It’s a method of cooking food.  Primarily, when you are BBQ’ing, you are cooking over indirect heat, at lower temperatures for longer times.  The idea is to slow cook with charcoal and/or wood, resulting in a very tender, moist food.  

Grilling, is when you are cooking directly over the heat source.  Whether you are using electric, gas, propane or charcoal, this is direct heat.  You light the fire, put the grill grate over top and slap your food down on it.  It’s a much faster cooking method, and is primarily used for meats that are traditionally leaner and more tender cuts.  

Just TRY grilling a beef brisket.  You’ll get it cooked, I guarantee you that, but it’s such a tough cut of meat, you won’t be able to chew it.  By BBQ’ing that same cut of beef at a lower temp for a longer time, you are allowing the connective tissues and fats to break down.  This will render the meat juicy and tender.

So please, don’t tell me you are BBQ’ing when you’re having hot dogs.  It’s not the same thing.

Oh are you in for a treat!  I have never shared this blend before with ANYONE, for ANY reason.  Why?  Because I always believed every cook should have at least one secret recipe.  

“So why are you sharing it now?” you might ask?  Because, I think it’s time to loosen up a bit and give you something with my new site.  And, because I want to hear how much you LOVED it when you try it out!

It’s all dry ingredients, no cooking, no refrigeration needed.  Just an airtight container to keep it in.  Adjust it to make more or less, this recipe will make enough rub for 2 whole racks of ribs and 1 pork shoulder.

2 cups Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Chili Powder
1/4 cup Cinnamon
a few dashes Cayenne Pepper
A few grinds Fresh Ground Black Pepper
2 tbsp crushed Chipotle Pepper seasoning 

It’s not a science or anything, just combine and mix well.  Then adjust a little to suit your tastes.  Rub it liberally on your pork or beef and slap it on the smoker.  You won’t need BBQ sauce, trust me!

Here in South Carolina, the weather is warming up and the plants are starting to come back to life!  So what better time to get back into the BBQ mode than to host my first cook of the season?

I’m not over-doing it, just need to get some smokey meat on the table.  The warm weather has me jonesing for a taste of that BBQ!

The menu will be as follows:

Spare Ribs
Pull Pork Shoulder
Smoked Chipotle Chicken Wings
Homemade Potato Salad
BBQ Beans - I cheat and use Bush’s for this.  Man they’re good. 
Homemade Peach Pie - much like a cobbler only round
Cold, COLD Beer! 

So what, you may be asking.  But fear not, I plan to share some more intimate details.  Just be patient and wipe your chin, you’re drooling.

First, my smoker.  I have a Charbroil Silver Smoker with a side attached firebox.  This was a Father’s Day gift 2 years ago, as my first smoker lasted 6 years and finally rusted through.  Granted that first one was a cheapy import, but it did the job.  I’ve not modified my smoker in any way, it works great as is.

I use natural lump charcoal whenever possible.  My favorite is made by the Original Charcoal Company, in North Carolina.  However, it’s hard to find here in South Carolina, so I’ve been making due with Royal Oak natural lump charcoal.  Why not briquets you ask?  Because they’re mostly filler and clay, and you don’t get a real good taste from them.  It’s just heat.  Natural lump is REAL hardwood charcoal and still has some of it’s flavor tucked away.  It just enhances the meal.  AND it burns longer in my experience.

This week, I’m smoking with Mesquite wood chunks.  I prefer apple, but again, it’s not readily available in my neck of the woods.  I always seem to run out when I buy it.  Mesquite is good though, as is Hickory and Oak.  

The Meats!

I always use a home grown blend of spices on my meats prior to BBQ’ing them.  Everyone seems to have their own take on a spice rub, and some even prefer to marinate as opposed to using a dry rub.  To each their own, but mine has been raved about by all those who have sampled it.

When smoking pork or beef, I always coat the meat with a layer of Yellow Mustard before applying the rub.  This helps the spices stay put and creates the beginning to a nice crust on the meats to seal in their juicy goodness.  Usually I will apply this the night before the meat goes on the smoker.  It gives it time to blend with the meat a little.  And of course, I always sprinkle a little more on the day of the cook, right before it hits the pit.  

The potato salad is a family recipe from my wife’s side of the family.  And man is it good.  Just the right amount of sweet and sour.   

The peach pie/cobbler is a specialty of my wife’s as well.  She decided to make it last year, just because.  And it’s just awesome!  A little scoop of vanilla ice cream on that steaming hot peachy goodness?  Oh it’s good.

And of course, BEER.  My brew of choice is Miller Lite.  I’m not a beer snob, I like a good light bodied American pilsner.  You can have your craft brews, if you roll that way, but I prefer something that tastes good with ANY meal.

I will report back during the day this Friday, March 13th, with some updates and photos from the cook.  It’s just a family cook, so don’t expect drunken buddies hanging out looking like fools.  At least, not this time!

I’ll try to post some recipes for you to try out, along with some beginner’s BBQ tips and tricks.  If you’re already an experienced griller, sign up and post some comments!  It’s FREE and it’s FUN.  And it’s FOOD!!!!!

If you’re into tailgating, partying or just cooking out in the backyard, this is the place you’ll want to be.  Our goal at Black Eyed Pigz is to get you jazzed about having fun outdoors with friends and family!

Whether you’re into tailgating, or just hosting a few neighbors for a cook out, we’re aiming to help you make it special!

We’re primarily into grilling and BBQ here at Black Eyed Pigz, but that doesn’t mean you won’t find some great stove-top recipes as well.  We’ll add them as we test them, and you’re always welcome to submit your own for inclusion on the site.

Make sure to bookmark this site and come back often, as we’re going to hit the ground running and start throwing all kinds of knowledge your way.

Got a favorite party spot, or tailgating venue?  Do you have a special recipe or method for cooking?  Maybe you just want to tell the world how YOU party in the great outdoors?  Well send your ideas and info to us through the contact page, and if it measures up, you’ll get listed as a contributor to the site.  This is a community driven site, and without you it’ll just be us standing on a soapbox, screaming at the world.  Jump in anytime you’re ready!

The Black Eyed Pigz Crew