The Salmon was King

The Seafood class was a big success, but there was no question that the hit of the evening was the Salmon.

It’s Time for the Holiday’s

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Once again it’s here, and I am talking about the Holiday’s.

Thanksgiving is this week, and many of us are still trying to nail down the menu for the big day. For most of us, the main attraction is Turkey, but where the decision comes in is how to cook that Turkey. Turkey cooked on a smoker with a little apple wood is my favorite, and will definitely be our preferred method for this year, especially since we have been on a diet for the last 5 months. But, we are planning to do a second Turkey also, and this one will be fried.

On an earlier article I did a write up on a Turkey fryer from Butterball, and that is what we will use, that piece of equipment is a no-brainer as far as I am concerned. But for this roughing it with the big pot over a gas flame, be very careful, here are a few things to keep your eye on;

1. The temperature, using a long deep fryer thermometer, you need to monitor the temp, and 350 would be the desired temp for the Turkey fryer.

2. Try to use 100% Peanut Oil, it has a high burn point, and imparts a lighter flavor than many other vegetable oils, and it’s not bad for you.

3. When you lowering the Turkey into the fryer, a good thing to do is turn the gas flame way down, or off until the Turkey is submerged, then turn the flame back up.

4. Make sure not to over fill the fryer with oil.

5. Last but not least, you will want to let the Turkey rest for about 10- 15 minutes when you take it out of the fryer before you carve it.

Here is a basic recipe below, including the injection.

Deep Fried Turkey

1 – 10 to 12 pound turkey

olive oil

Peanut Oil (for Fryer)

Injection

(mix with wire whisk until ingredients are dissolved)

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon salt

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons onion powder

1 teaspoon ground bay leaf

1 teaspoon ground thyme

1 teaspoon ground sage

1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

Seasoning

1 – tbls – salt

1 – tbls – pepper

(We use HomeBBQ.com Black Jack Rub)

Clean turkey and remove all giblets from cavity.

Inject Turkey

Oil outside of turkey with olive oil

Season outside, inside cavity of turkey with desired seasoning.

Heat oil to desired temp (350 degrees)

Cook uncovered for (3 to 4 minutes per pound) until the breast reaches 160 –165

And thigh reaches 175 to 180.

Let stand for a minimum of 10 to 15 minutes, carve and serve…

From The Cooking Class – Happy July 4th!

Happy July 4th everyone!

We know you will be cooking out today, and wanted to throw in a very nice, easy, potato recipe. We have made several variations of this in our cooking class, and today we will give you the works.

There are 2 very important ingredients, first the potatoes. It’s very important to choose a creamer variety, either a gold (Yukon Gold), or Red (Creamer Red) variety of potatoes. Why? the creamer potato is harvested young, and yields a very tender, moisture rich, almost buttery flavor and texture. The second very important ingredient is the onions. The best onion for this recipe is the sweet onion, preferably the Vidalia. Why? The Vidalia is grown in a specific region in Georgia, and in my opinion, even though there are look alikes, the Vidalia is king.

Cheesy Grilled Potatoes
6 to 8 Potatoes (Yukon Gold preferably) (Sliced)
2 – sweet Onions (Chopped)
1 – Bell Peppers (chopped)
1 -stick butter
6 to 8 slices – pre-cooked bacon
2 cups – Shredded cheddar cheese (or Jack and Colby combo)
Garlic Lovers Seasoning (or you can use Salt, Pepper, Granulated Garlic)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Combine sliced potatoes, chopped onions, and chopped bell peppers in aluminum foil.
Break bacon into pieces and combine with potatoes.
Drizzle olive oil over potatoes liberally
Place slices of butter evenly across top of mixture
Season liberally with HomeBBQ.com Garlic Lovers Seasoning cook over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes (or until potatoes are soft).
Immediately after Removing from grill, top with shredded cheese, and serve.
Enjoy!

Happy July 4th!

Is My Barbecue Ready Yet? – Cooking Pork

To many in Southeast US, the very meaning of barbecue, is pork. Pork is obviously a very generic term, and really could mean anything cooked from a hog. However for most of us, in barbecue, cooking pork means the shoulder, and for most, the desired cut from the shoulder is the Boston Butt, and this is what we will cover in this article.

The selection process I use for this piece of meat, includes finding one has the fat well marbled or dispersed throughout the cut.

Then, I start looking at weight, the higher the weight, the longer the cook, so I like them right in the middle (8-9lbs). You can find very small ones, which in my opinion are normally difficult to get tender (4-6lb), and the very large ones (11-13lb) are difficult to cook evenly.

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Mug Brew-B-Q BBQ Sauce Kit Giveaway

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The folks at Mug Root Beer have come up with what they feel is a great recipe, for a BBQ Sauce. 

They feel so strongly about it, that they want to send folks from HomeBBQ.com the recipe, and the entire kit to make it, there even throwing in an apron also.

As a Fathers Day promo of sorts, send me your name, address, and a brief description as to why you should be the one who gets this to kevin@homebbq.com

5 people will be chosen, and sent the Brew-B-Q Kit.

This promo will also be posted in the Forum, so from those who receive the kits we would love to see some comments on what you think about the BBQ sauce recipe, and if you think you made it better!

From the Cooking Class

As many of you know, almost every Wednesday night, we have been doing backyard BBQ and Grilling classes at All Grills and More in Oviedo, FL. In the classes Clara and I focus on doing recipes that can be easily reproduced for friends and family in their own backyard.

This has been a big hit, and I want to thank all who have participated, we continue to make new friends through this, and personally I love to hear how they made of the recipes from the class at a party they were giving and how much of a hit it was. It definately makes it all worthwhile.

A recipe that has been around for awhile in a few different variations, and has been a big hit in my rib class, is this Apple Baked Beans recipe. Not only does it have a very unique flavor, it is very much a conversation piece while we are making them. And now, I am going to share my variation of this recipe with you.

We start with pre-made baked beans, and my favorite for this is Busch’s Original Baked Beans. Here is the recipe;

Apple Baked Beans

4 (16 oz) cans Bush’s Original Baked Beans
4 slices (cooked) bacon, diced
3/4 cup HomeBBQ.com Sweet & Spicy BBQ Sauce (or your favorite bbq sauce)
1 lb crumbled cooked Jimmy Dean Maple pork sausage
1 (21oz) can Comstock Apple Pie Filling (break up large pieces of apples)
1 Large sweet onion (Vidalia preferred), finely diced
1 green pepper, finely diced
3/4 cup brown sugar (dark preferrably)
2 1/2 Tblsp. Lee & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
2 1/2 Tblsp. Yellow or Brown Mustard
1 tblsp. Hot Sauce (I prefer Texas Petes or Loiusiana Hot Sauce)
2 tblsp. HomeBBQ.com Rib Rub (or your favorite BBQ Rub)
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper

The easy way to do this, is to combine all ingredients and cook on the grill or smoker 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
The second method would be to saute the onions and green peppers, then add them and cook until hot.

Enjoy!

HomeBBQ.com Backyard BBQ and Grilling Classes Start Tonight!

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 Oviedo, FL – 5 Time FBA Team of the Year Champion, and the 2008 FBA Triple Crown Champion, Kevin Bevington, of HomeBBQ.com begins his first in a series of Backyard Barbecue and Grilling classes at All About Grills in Oviedo, FL, tonight at 6:30pm.

The first class will be “Basics on the Grill”, in this class he will cover easy to prepare dishes on the grill, including a side dishes and desert.

Every wednesday will be a class which includes recipes from the DVD’s from HomeBBQ.com, “Grilling with HomeBBQ.com” and “Backyard Barbecue with HomeBBQ.com”. Class details are below;

 January 14th - 6:30 pm       Basics on the grill

January 21st  -  6:30 pm     Classic Steak House

January 28th  -  6:30 pm     Beef on the Grill

 

February 4th  -  6:30 pm     Seafood on the Grill

February 18th  -  6:30 pm   All About Ribs

February 25th  -  6:30 pm  Barbeque Beef

March 4th  -  6:30 pm - Seafood

March 11th  -  6:30 pm – All About Pork

March 18th  -  6:30 pm – All About Chicken

Early Bird Registration – $45 per person, or $75 per couple

For more Information, Contact All About Grills at the contact info below;

 

 

All About Grills Oviedo
71 Geneva Drive
Oviedo, FL 32765
407-366-7301 

Carne Adovada — A Taste of Heaven

CARNE ADOVADA

RED CHILE PUREE

1-2 cups water 8-10 dried red New Mexico chile pods

(Hot) – (get Hatch Valley if you can)

Tear tops off of chile pods and use knife or finger (use plastic food preparation gloves to protect your fingers as they will start to sting a bit — do not touch your eyes with your fingers until you’ve washed them) to clean out seeds and veins inside of each one. Place pods in medium sized pot and cover with water. Heat to boiling on high heat. Boil several minutes until pods are soft stirring occasionally to make sure they boil evenly. Place drained pods (save liquid) in blender container, then pour 1/2 of liquid into blender (keep the rest in the pot and add more water for the next batch) and blend until smooth, add 1-2 cloves garlic if desired. Add more water if needed, but keep in mind this is a puree, thicker than sauce or juice. When pureed, pour into a large stock pot. Sometimes you might need to pour thru a mesh sieve to remove any skins that did not blend up in the blender. NOTE: You will want to make several batches of puree.

CHILE COLORADO (Basic Red Chile Sauce)

2 T. butter

2 T. flour

2 C. red chile puree (see below)

2 C. chicken broth

3/4 t. salt

1/2 t. garlic powder

Dash oregano (use Mexican oregano if you can get it)

Heat butter in medium-size saucepan on medium heat. Stir in flour and cook for 1minute. Add red chile puree and cook for about another minute. Gradually add broth and stir, making sure there are no lumps, a whisk works best. Add seasoning to sauce and simmer at low heat for 10-15 minutes.

THE MARINATED PORK:

4 cloves garlic

1 T. salt

1 T. oregano

2 recipes or more of the Red Chile Puree (above)

3-5 lbs. (approx.) pork tenderloin roast

Add garlic, salt and oregano to chile puree. Cut pork loin into four large pieces (slice in half once horizontally and once vertically) and put them in a large, glass baking dish (even better, a stainless steel stock pot) and pour chile puree over to cover — turn meat to cover completely. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 24 hours (36-72 hours or more is even better — I like to marinate mine for a week). It is a good idea to stir it around once a day or so to make sure that every part of the pork soaks in the marinade.

FINAL ASSEMBLY AND COOKING:

Place marinated pork pieces in smoker or barbeque and cook using the indirect method to keep the marinade from burning(for best results, use some pecan wood chunks or chips for smoke flavor — pecan smoke is incredible with this dish but be careful not to over smoke) and cook until internal temp reaches around 150 (use a meat thermometer).

Remove pork from smoker and cut into cubes ½” to 1″ square and put into baking pan/dish about 3″-4″ deep. Pour chili colorado over pork cubes (the pork should be “swimming in it”) and put baking pan/dish into smoker – crank up the temp to around 325 (you can do this part in the oven inside if you want) and let it simmer (for best results, seal tightly with foil so the sauce doesn’t boil off and get too thick) for at least an hour – 2 or even 3 hours would be even better (if you simmer longer than an hour you must seal with foil or the sauce will boil off).

About 5 minutes before removing from smoker, remove the foil and layer on top (fairly thickly) a good amount of pre-shredded Kraft Mexican blend cheese. When the cheese melts (about 5 minutes) remove from smoker, let it cool for 5 minutes or so and serve with rice and beans and warmed flour tortillas.

NOTE: This recipe can be cooked in a regular oven (use a baking pan) instead of a smoker – you lose the pecan wood flavor but it is still incredibly delicious.

Big Dan

 

 

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HomeBBQ.com releases 2 New DVD’s

HomeBBQ.com has released 2 DVD’s for the backyard cook. “Grilling with HomeBBQ.com” and “Backyard BBQ with HomeBBQ.com”.

In “Grilling with HomeBBQ.com”, Kevin Bevington (5 time FBA Team of the Year Champion) demonstrates cooking on gas and charcoal grills. He starts with the basics and then goes into some great food, including full recipes, and preparation. This DVD will include; Hamburgers, Steak, Chicken, Tri-Tip Roast, Pork Chops, Grilled Salmon, Shrimp, Stuffed Flank Steak, Baltimore Pit Beef, Pork Loin, and much more..

In “Backyard BBQ with HomeBBQ.com” Kevin Bevington (5 time FBA Team of the Year Champion) demonstrates cooking low and slow on a small offset cooker, and a bullet style water pan smoker. He starts with the basics on how to start your cookers, maintaining even temp, goes through full meat prep, and the process of cooking and finishing these meats. This DVD includes full recipes, and preparation. Included are the following; Boston Butt (pulled pork), Beef Brisket, St Louis Style Ribs, Baby Back Ribs, Country Style Ribs, Standing Rib Roast, Turkey, and much more.

These DVD’s can be purchased now via CreateSpace.com through the links below.

Grilling with HomeBBQ.com – http://www.createspace.com/252519

Backyard BBQ with HomeBBQ.com – http://www.createspace.com/252518

We will make these available as packages on HomeBBQ.com online store soon.

Barbeque Fuels

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My name is Dan Colmerauer – aka “Big Dan.” You may know me from my booklet on how to modify a “backyard” offset smoker to make it perform better. The majority of my articles will deal with what goes into building proper fire in your smoker and related topics – but I will diverge from that from time to time. By the way, I will accept questions and comments via e-mail at: screenwriter2@earthlink.net or 2bigdan2@earthlink.net – I try to reply to any and all e-mails but I do not use my computer on weekends and sometimes it may take a day or two before I have time to reply so please be patient.

I am a backyard cooker only — I don’t do catering or cook-offs, etc. I have, however, been barbequing in one form or another for almost 35 years. Originally from Buffalo, New York I was often seen barbequing and grilling even in middle of the biggest snow storms. I now live in Phoenix, Arizona where some days in the summer I swear all you need to do is put the meat in your smoker and wheel the smoker out into the sun. I have a Hondo offset smoker, a Weber Smoky Mountain, a Weber “kettle” grill, and a barrel smoker and I use them all.

Knowing how to build and maintain a fire is the most important part of barbequing. You can have the greatest recipe in the world – buy the best quality meat you can find – yet if you can’t build and maintain a long, steady fire, your final product will suffer.

Today, I’d like to discuss fuel. There are three basic fuels for barbeque: wood, lump charcoal and briquettes.

Typical briquettes are made from powdered charcoal mixed with binders and fillers such as coal dust. Their biggest advantage is an easily controlled, steady fire with very little temperature fluctuation. Their biggest drawback is the large volume of ash produced when burning briquettes. In an offset style smoker the ash will actually build up and snuff out your fire in about 4 hours – not enough time to barbeque much of anything. Plus, there are too many additives that can alter the flavor of the final product for my taste. But, they are inexpensive, readily available, easy to use and certainly can turn out a fairly decent final product.

There are briquettes available (but very hard to find) that are made out of 100% hardwood charcoal and all natural binders. No additives – no strange fillers – just pure 100% hardwood charcoal. I have used Rancher 100% hardwood briquettes and Royal Oak 100% hardwood briquettes and was pleasantly surprised – both at the flavor and the performance. While producing much more ash than lump charcoal, I was still able to maintain a steady 220 for over six hours. And the flavor was a huge improvement over regular briquettes. In an upright “water smoker” such at the Weber Smoky Mountain these are probably the best fuel you can use. I ran mine for over 22 hours with the Rancher briquettes without refueling and still had briquettes left in the smoker to burn. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find either Rancher or Royal Oak 100% hardwood briquettes in over a year.

Natural lump charcoal (sometimes called “charwood”) is my fuel of choice. Lump charcoal is made by burning hardwood in the absence of oxygen. The process burns off all the impurities (creosote, etc.) leaving a final product that is free of all the bad stuff that can ruin the flavor of the meat. It burns hotter than briquettes and a quality lump charcoal will leave very little ash – which means you will achieve a long, steady burning fire which will impart a wonderful “woodsy” flavor to the meat with a nice touch of smoke. There are a large number of brands of lump available – some not much better than briquettes and others darned near the “holy grail” of barbeque fuel. Hopefully, you will have a good brand available in your area.

The ability to use wood as a fuel is seen by many as the hallmark of the true pitmaster. I don’t necessarily agree.

The single most important factor in whether you can successfully use only wood as your fuel source is your smoker. The typical backyard smoker is simply too small to use wood as fuel unless you burn it down to coals first. In fact, many commercial pitmasters (especially in the barbeque belt) will burn the wood down to coals first no matter what type of smoker they have. The reason for this is simple – you want to burn off the impurities before exposing the meat to the smoke.

So — I tried this once. I used over $50 worth of wood – spent six straight hours burning wood and shoveling coals and the ribs came out tasting exactly like they did with lump charcoal. Some Internet research revealed what has since become my mantra: a glowing lump of hardwood charcoal is IDENTICAL to a glowing coal/ember burned down from logs. The only difference is how it got there.

Interestingly enough – at the more recent bbq cook-offs I’ve attended (I do love to eat good ‘que) I’ve noticed that most of the competitors were using lump charcoal in even the biggest of smokers because —- a glowing lump of hardwood charcoal is IDENTICAL to a glowing coal/ember burned down from logs.

Now, what about wood chunks or chips for added smoke flavor. They work, but you have to be very careful because there is a very fine line between a little extra smoke flavor and over-smoked, creosote-coated meat. Cross that line and you’ve ruined a nice hunk of meat (unless, of course, you like the flavor of creosote). This is more of a problem in the offset smokers than with the uprights. The man in Phoenix who sells cooking wood to all the local restaurants taught me a neat trick if you like to use chunks or chips for a stronger smoke flavor. Simply take a piece of heavy duty foil and gently place it on top of the meat – don’t “tent” it and don’t “wrap” it – just gently lay it on top. The foil will catch most of the bad stuff before it settles on the meat leaving the meat exposed to the remaining flavorful part of the smoke.

Next time I’ll discuss exactly how to build a fire using the Minion method for a long, steady fire.

For now….

Keep on cookin’!

Big Dan

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