Black Eyed Pigz

Archive for November, 2009

Proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy…

Friends, for years I have smoked foods using hickory, mesquite and apple woods. And it’s always been wonderful. However, until tonight, I have NEVER used wood to grill with.

Thanks to poor planning, I had just enough charcoal to start the grill, and had to fill in with Hickory wood chunks to do my actual grilling. Let me tell you….I am forever cooking over hickory wood now. No more charcoal grilling for me.

I knew how good BBQ was with hickory, or apple for that matter. But I never knew the flavor explosion I would experience using hickory to grill with. I made some simple little chuck steaks for me and the wife, and I grilled up a few hot dogs for the kids. Normally, my 6 year old will choke down 1 hot dog just to eat, tonight he devoured 2 dogs without question. So, after having my incredibly delicious chuck steaks (seasoned only with salt and pepper) and Hickory Smoke, I took a bite from a left over dog. OMG. It was like a gourmet hot dog. The sweet smoky taste of hickory permeated every bite. It was amazing!

If you’ve never GRILLED over hickory wood, I suggest you try it NOW. Stop what you’re doing, buy some hickory wood chunks and throw ANYTHING on that grill. It’s amazing. Simply. Amazing.

Ah…ABT’s.

Well, technically, it’s a jalapeno popper, but I change a few things up to make ‘em even mo’ better.

First off, you need jalapenos that are on the large side. We will be stuffing these, remember?

So, let’s figure on making 8 for today.

You will need:

8 Large Jalapenos
8 - 12 ounces Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
8 Slices Thick Sliced Applewood Smoked Bacon
8 Toothpicks
Rubber Gloves (don’t want those jalapeno oils in your eyes)

Wash your jalapenos. Then slice off the SIDE of the pepper, just enough to gain access to the inside of the pepper. Don’t cut these off at the end, it’s a pain to keep the filling inside that way. You want your pepper to look like a little green canoe when you’ve cut it open. Save the slices of pepper for later on.

Using the butt end of a soup spoon, dig out the white ribs and seeds from your peppers. You can either discard them, or add them to your filling if you really like HOT poppers.

Once your peppers are cut and gutted, finely dice the pieces of jalapeno you cut off earlier and combine with your shredded cheddar cheese. (Feel free to use blended cheeses here, but I like sharp cheddar). Once combined, stuff the mixture into your peppers. Get as much as you can inside there.

Now, take one full slice of bacon and wrap your peppers. Using a toothpick to secure it THROUGH the pepper.

Get your grill fired up and place the ABT (atomic buffalo turds) on the grates, AWAY from the heat and let them slow cook until the bacon crisps up.

To change things up, feel free to dice up some lil’ smokies (cocktail weenies) and add to your cheese mixture prior to stuffing the peppers.

These things are so good, you’ll want to slap someone’s grandma. But don’t.

Well, the camera isn’t charged, so I don’t have any photos for you of the pork today, but I wanted to update you on what’s been going on.

First, I got up late this morning, so the meat didn’t hit the smoker until 1030am. That means it’s been slow smoking for just over 5 hours at this point. I’m hoping to have it done in time for dinner. If not, we’ll grill some pizzas for tonight and have the BBQ tomorrow.

I slathered the roast with yellow mustard and dusted it liberally with my secret recipe rub. MMMMMMMboy!

The smoker is maintaining temps between 235 and 260, so all is good on that end. I used hickory wood today, as I was out of fruit woods. It’s still gonna be good in my opinion.

Then, since I had time to kill, I took a trip to the store and got all the fixin’s to make homemade potato salad and macaroni salad (amish style). That’s been in the fridge for a good hour now and man is it tempting to chow down on.

I also threw a handful of smoked sausages and italian sausages on the smoker to make full use of all the heat. They were done in just over an hour, and came out beautiful. The italians are getting sliced for grilled pizza toppings.

More updates to come. Can’t wait to eat.

I was just at the local Food Lion picking up a few things and wandered past the meat department.  They had boston butts on sale for less than $1/lb!!!  I got a 10lb butt for $9.78.

Guess what we’re cooking tomorrow????  Oh I love pulled pork.  This one will be dry rubbed with my special cinnamon chipotle seasoning tonight and on the smoker first thing in the morning.  If all goes as planned, I’ll include photos on the blog throughout the day.

We may even have to make a batch of Atomic Buffalo Turds to go with it.  Ya just never know where these cooks will take us.  Bacon wrapped cheddar stuffed jalapenos (aka Atomic Buffalo Turds) are the perfect appetizer to get you ready for some ‘Q.

http://www.jackdanielssauces.com/ezmarinader/ez_products.aspx

If you’re in a hurry to marinade some meat for the grill, look no further than the new Jack Daniels EZ Marinades.  It’s sold in a bag that will hold up to 3 pounds of meat.  And it couldn’t be simpler.  You just rip open the bag, throw your meat in, zip it tight and stick it in the fridge. 

And it’s delicious.  I just made 2 3lb chuck roasts using the Steakhouse and the Mesquite flavors for my roasts.  I let them marinade for about an hour then took them out to the charcoal grill.  I seared the roasts directly over the coals, then moved off of the heat, and allowed them to cook indirectly to an internal temp of 160 degrees and let them rest for an hour before cutting them up.  Not only were they cooked to perfection, they were DELICIOUS!

I highly recommend these marinades if you’re not in position to make your own.  Very flavorful, and not overpowering.

Oooh baby.  This is a good one.  I plan to do this to my turkey this year too.

I always try turkey recipes on chickens first, just to see how it turns out.  This one was a winner.  Now, one note, I don’t plan on butterflying the turkey like I did the chicken, but otherwise, it will be done the exact same way.

Basically a brine is like a salty liquid marinade.  And by liquid, I mean mostly water and beer.  It’s not thick, there’s no oil like most bottled marinades, it’s meant to soak into the meat of the bird to tenderize and moisten it for the upcoming cooking process.

The Brine:

4 cups hot water
¾ cup kosher salt
¾ cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon coursely ground black pepper
2 X 12 oz. bottles/cans cold lager beer
1 tray of ice cubes
2 cups cold water

Mix the hot water with the dry spices until the salt and sugar have dissolved completely.  Then add in your cold water, beer and ice cubes.  You’ll want to bring the overall temp of the brine down to 40 degrees or less for food safety reasons.

Now, take your bird (in this instance, a butterflied whole chicken and stuff it in a 1 gallon zip bag, cover with the brine, and seal.  Place it in your fridge overnight up to 24 hours.  When the time has passed, remove the bird from the brine, rinse and pat dry.

Apply your favorite rub to the meat underneath the skin and place in your well heated smoker for about 2 - 3 hours or until the temperature of the breast reaches 165 degrees.  Remove from heat, let rest under foil for about 30 minutes, then serve up.

This is the most flavorful and moist chicken I’ve ever made.  It even beats the beer can chickens I’ve done so many of in the past.  The only drawback is having to brine overnight.  But if you’re not in a big hurry, this is well worth the wait.

Ah yes, the one day a year entirely and officially devoted to food!  Most of us are used to the old dry turkey in the oven with terrible stuffing.  But you can act to change it.

Recently, turkey frying has become popular, but it’s dangerous alot of the time.  I’m not too keen on burning down the house for a meal.  But SMOKING a turkey, now THAT’s good stuff.

I’ll be posting my method for brining and smoking a whole turkey here soon.  And let me tell you up front, it’s quite possibly the most awesome taste sensation you’ve ever had.  Stay tuned!