I’ve been slacking..

Well, I thought I would be more active than I have been, but that doesn’t seem to be the case, does it? Has it really been 5 months? Big fail on my part..

Here are some of my recent cooks with commentary..

Smoked meatloaf with a stuffed bellpepper.. Came out amazing! Loooooove smoked meatloaf!

Reverse-seared burgers.. My new favorite way to do them.

Gotta have the cheese!

St. Louis-style spareribs.. Low and slow for 6+ hours and they fall off the bone!

Chicken bomb.. I was introduced to these on a forum and had to make them. It’s a chicken thigh stuffed with a cream cheese-filled jalapeno popper, wrapped in bacon and sauced with Sticky Fingers Carolina style BBQ sauce. Delicious!

My first spatchcock chicken.. It’s like a rotisserie chicken. Just take the backbone out and lay it flat. So tender and juicy! Also put a little butter under the skin and some rub on top.

My most recent cook.. A 5+ lb brisket. Rubbed it with Bad Byron’s Butt Rub cut with a generous helping of brown sugar.. It came out amazing! One of my favorite things I’ve done so far.

Well, that should catch us up for now.. Hopefully I can keep this up a little more regularly. Till next time!

Super Bowl feast via the BGE

Yesterday we hosted a Superbowl party.. Unfortunately we weren’t watching the Saints in this one.. But that’s a different story for a different time.

I decided that I was going to attempt a butt (8 lb) and my first small packer brisket (7 lb) at the same time on my large Big Green Egg and do it the day of the party. Not having a DigiQ or BBQ Guru, I thought I would do what is called a ‘Turbo’ butt (i.e. quickly cooked, and my first attempt at one) and be safe on getting the cook done properly.. I wasn’t sure how I was going to cook the brisket quickly, but the Travis method I found on the EggHead Forum worked well.

I fired up the Egg around 8.. Let it get to temp and put in some maple chips and the platesetter.. Then I started prepping the butt.. Rubbed it with yellow mustard and lightly some Steak N Shake seasoning that my wife loves.. She doesn’t care for the bark, so that worked well for that too.

Put the butt on around 8:45 at 300 and started prepping the brisket.. I was a bit panicked about how to cook it quickly without drying it out.. I had seen the Travis style brisket mentioned numerous times but never saw the original thread.. Luckily someone helpful on the forum pointed me to it, and I got in gear. Had to run to the store for a couple supplies (pan, Worcestershire, and beef broth). Came back and rubbed the brisket, cut it to fit in the pan and then poured Abita Double Dog and onions into the pan. It hit the Egg around 9:30.

A few hours into the cook I realized my temp was slowly declining.. A quick check, and sure enough, I had burned through most of the lump.. Minor panic set in, but then I made a plan for removing everything and did it flawlessly.. Dumped some more lump in, opened the vents wide to get it back up to temp, and put everything back in place. The Egg did its job and got the lump burning quickly, almost too well as the temp hit 400 and had to be brought back down..

We ran to the store to get some final items for the party.. When I walked back in the door, the wireless remote monitor was beeping.. The butt had just hit 200 in 5.5 hours.. Checked the temp on the brisket, and it was at 205. Pulled both off and FTC’d (foil towel cooler) them in the same cooler.

Then I got the grill ready for some wings, raised direct at 375 – 400.. Had some marinating in teriyaki sauce.. Did another set with Obie Cue rub that were later glazed with honey on the grill, and some more went on plain and got some Sweet Baby Ray’s sauce.

Once the wings were done about an hour later, I put some Conecuh sausage (the best) and some Nathan’s beef dogs on there to finish out the cook..

It all came out awesome.. Big props to the guys on the EggHead Forum for the help!

Brisket (foreground) and pork butt

Finished brisket

Sliced brisket – note the prominent smoke ring at the top of the slices

Finished pork butt being pulled

First Pizza on the BGE

Lots of firsts posted lately, but I guess that’s to be expected with a new obsession.  🙂

On a whim today, I threw together my first pizza on the BGE.. I cheated as far as dough (Pepe’s) and sauce (Ragu) were concerned, but it’s what I had handy.

My wife wanted her half with mixed cheese, pepperoni and bacon.. I did my half with provolone, pepperoni, bacon and diced jalapeños..

The finished product really came out great and had a good crunch to the crust.. I spread out the dough with a rolling pin on a Pampered Chef stone and put it in the Egg at 350 for about 15 minutes to get the crust going.  Then I took it out and put the toppings on and let it cook between 350 and just over 400 for another 15 minutes or so.  No preheating of the stone, and I propped the stone up over the gasket level (legs down platesetter) with my BGE drip pan.

Anyways, let’s get to the pics..

First attempt at homemade mustard sauce

Lately, I’ve really loved (and often craved) vinegarry, mustardy BBQ sauces.. I think it’s the tang of the vinegar that gets me.

Today I attempted to make my own for the first time.  It really came out great I think, although my wife sure was complaining about the smell while it was simmering. LOL.

Here’s the recipe:

1/2 c yellow mustard
1/2 c horseradish mustard
1/2 c Abita DoubleDog (vanilla flavored)
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
1/4 c honey
2 Tblsp brown sugar
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder

And here’s a pic..

And look, here are some ribs just waiting for sauce!

BGE Mod #1

First real mod I’ve done on the BGE and/or table.. These will come in handy for sure.

First Pork Ribs on the BGE

Pork ribs have always been a favorite of mine.  Being able to smoke them properly has taken some time to learn.  As with most things, patience is key.

I bought just a single rack of ribs from Sam’s.  It took me a little while to get around to smoking them, but once I did, man, they came out good.

Prepping the ribs, I slathered them down with some French’s yellow mustard.  This helps the dry rub to stick and may also help break down some of the connective tissue.  I also trimmed a thin strip of pork off the back of the rack.  It didn’t go to waste, however, as I cooked it along with the ribs.

Once the mustard was on, I applied the rub.  For this cook, I used Bone Sucking Sauce dry rub.  I like this rub due to its sweeter taste.

After putting the rub on, I let the ribs sit in a tray covered with foil in the fridge.  This gave them time to cool, which helps them to absorb smoke better without raising the temperature of the meat as much.

This also gave the BGE time to get to temp.  Temperature for this cook was between 225 and 250.  The ribs smoked for 5.5 hours at this temp.  I didn’t apply any BBQ sauce initially, but the wife wanted some on her portion.  Slathered some on and threw them back on the grate to finish them off.

Anyways, here are some pics..

First post..

This is the first post of hopefully many to come.. Plan on posting BBQ creations here, both for sharing with others and keeping track.